This could be the title of a movie. “One night and one day in San Sebastian”. It is not. It is my adventure day in San Sebastian, in the North of Spain, after a surfing trip that did not go well at all. I will write about it when I am ready. For now, I can tell, I was happy about that day in San Sebastian (Donostia in Basque) that somehow compensated for my awful surf experience.

San Sebastian, a pintxo paradise

San Sebastian is one of those European cities, like Lyon in France, whose identity cannot be dissociated from its culinary fame. Indeed, San Sebastian is home to countless Michelin-starred restaurants, pintxo bars and gourmet shops. This time I focused on pintxo bars. I have had some pintxos in Barcelona, but San Sebastian’s ones are much better, in my humble opinion.

First, what is a pintxo? It is a piece of bread with toppings usually speared with sticks. Normally, you pick them up from a counter, and at the end of the night, you pay for them, showing the total number of your sticks to the barman. In San Sebastian, small dishes are also considered pintxos. The normal way of going for pintxos is on a pintxo crawl: have one pintxo and a drink, then move on to the next place. In each place, I tried a few dishes. Therefore, I could only visit a limited number of pintxo bars. I want to say, though, this city is a pintxo paradise with so many bars offering from traditional pintxos to experimental and creative ones.

Barcelonabyt’s pintxo places in San Sebastian

I did not get to eat in many places. But the ones I tried… OMG… were all fabulous. Most of the good places are in the old city. Around the 31st of August Street, it seems.

My favourite one is La Cuchara de San Telmo. It had no single pintxo displayed on the bar. The offer was written on a board, and everything made to order. I went with what I think I would like. Here I had an amazing pintxo of foie gras with apple compote. I also had kokotxas (hake cheeks), my least favourite dish – although good – and a plate of razor clams with a glass of cider (for 1.5 euros). That was the most amazing razor clam dish I have ever had in my life. They were outstanding. They cost 9 euros a plate of 4. My foie was 4,5 euros and the hake cheek 5 euros. But here, the ingredients were high quality and very fine.

My second address is La Viña for their speciality, a pipe of cream cheese with anchovy (Canutillo de queso). It won an award in 1999. Quite a while ago, but I can see why. It is crunchy, creamy and salty at the same time. What a delicious morsel… I also had two meatballs that were so good. Then noticed that locals and foreigners were raving about the cheesecake, apparently THE best cheesecake in Spain. I checked what the deal was about. And… it was quite disgusting… Just kidding! It was creamy yet firm, not too sweet…It was just sensational. La Viña is more traditional than La cuchara de San Telmo. There were dirty napkins on the floor, pintxos on the counter and batches of cheesecake at the end of the bar. The prices were more “affordable” too: 2,30 euros for a meatball; 2,5 euros for a slice of cheesecake; 2,20 euros for the Canutillo.

Then I went to Fuego Negro, more modern with creative and cute pintxos. I ordered a makcobe, a mini burger with Kobe meat, their star dish. It was nice. The rabbrownie looked intriguing. The richness of the melting tail presented like a brownie combined with a lightly sweet cream worked well. I also had the “tigreton de mejillones”: a verrine of mussels, tomato puree, bechamel and pork rind bits. The verrine was light, given that it had bechamel and pork rinds. Very nice. My favourite pintxo was a skewer of fat olive, chilli, and anchovy. So simple yet so tasty. The prices were between La Cuchara’s and La viña’s: tigreton, 3,60 euros. 3,90 euros for the rabbrownie and the makcobe. 2,5 euros for the skewer.

What to do when you don’t eat pintxos?

So what did I do when I was not eating pintxos? I arrived late on Thursday afternoon, walked from the train station to my accommodation: Roger’s house, conveniently located in the old town, close to the pintxo bars. It is a lovely hostel apartment with shared bathrooms and kitchen. Once I checked in and settled, I left for pintxos to Fuego Negro. I was so full after 4 pintxos…Then I headed to Market San Martin to meet with the friends I made at the surf camp and attended a live concert. The market had a few food stalls. Then we walked around the old town for more pintxos (I could not eat more) for the others. At one point, we had drinks on the stairs of the Basilica de Santa Maria and soaked up the atmosphere.

I did not have much alcohol on that trip, but I drank a few glasses of cider. Cider in Basque Country is an institution. It is poured from a long distance to aerate. You get a small amount in the glass, and you must chug it straight away because if you wait too long, it won’t be drinkable as it loses the aeration. Chemical reactions…I still have pending on my to-do list a visit to a proper cider house for the food and the unlimited cider from the barrel. I will probably stop at two drinks but getting the option is nice.

On Friday morning, I went to Guipuzkoa Square with its romantic garden and cafés. I entered one and was surprised to see people eating pintxos for breakfast. That was way too early for me. I found instead a very nice bakery/café called Gogoko Goxuak. It had a wide selection of pastries. I got a plait with red berries and a coffee. The plait was so nice I bought a second slice. It goes by the weight and 120gr of plait is worth 2,40 euros.

Then I went up Mont Urgull, near the old town. There is a Christ statue overlooking San Sebastian and a castle, Mota Castle, on top of the hill. You can only walk up there going through paths bordered by lush and green vegetation. The terrace of the castle offers a viewpoint of the city.

In the afternoon I walked around the old city. I saw the Constitution Square, famous for being an old bullring and its neo-classical buildings. On the balconies, we can still see the numbers allocated to them. Interesting fact: the town hall used to own the balconies and rent them out to spectators.

Then I headed towards the city hall, a massive and striking building overlooking Concha Beach. Concha Beach is San Sebastian’s iconic shell-shaped beach (hence its name), also famous for its guardrails. A man was drawing in the sand. He was quite skilful, and I want to help him out by publishing a picture of his work on my blog.

The end of that trip…

The best way to discover San Sebastian, in my opinion, is to go on a walking tour. I found a free guided one run by Golocal tours, but I had so many pintxos for lunch I was not motivated to walk around. I still want to mention them. I was in San Sebastian at the same time as the Film Festival as well; however, I did not see any movies nor Robert Pattinson. Sad smiley face…

I ended the day meeting up with my new friends for the last time then I left San Sebastian. I have not seen everything I wanted. So I plan to come back. Then I will check out more pintxo bars, a Michelin-starred restaurant and the Comb of the wind. I will also go to a cider house and hike around… So many things to do still… Soon we will meet again, San Sebastian!

Addresses:

La cuchara de San Telmo – Santa Korda Kalea, 4, 20003 Donostia, Gipuzkoa

La Viña – Calle 31 de Agosto, 3 | Casco Viejo, 20003 San Sebastián

Fuego Negro – 31 de Agosto Kalea, 31, 20003 San Sebastián-Donostia

Mendaur – Fermin Calbeton Kalea, 8, 20003 Donostia,

Roger’s house – Juan de Bilbao, 13 – 20003 San Sebastián

Gogoko Goxuak – Andia Kalea, 11, 20004 Donostia

Go locals Tours San Sebastian – Sarriegi Plaza, 9, 20003 Donosti