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Archive for San Sebastian

Eating San Sebastian – Fuego Negro

Aug03

Restaurant: Fuego Negro

Location: Calle 31 de Agosto, 31, 20003 Donostia, Gipuzkoa, Spain

Date: June 23, 2016

Cuisine: Tapas

Rating: Good, but didn’t try enough

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Fuego Negro was another very highly rated tapas bar.

The name means “black smoke”.

But as they were only open for dinner, and we couldn’t actually get a table for 8 to house our giant party, we just popped in and sampled a couple items.

The menu.

Home made pickles. Olives, anchovies, peppers. I just love these fresh marinated gems.

Makcobe with txips. A kobe beef slider with pickles. A good little burger to be sure. About the size I like my burgers, actually.
 Crunchy risotto of sheep & cuttlefish. Not sure what the sheep part was, maybe cheese. The cuttlefish is the pasta like stuff on top. The rice had a crunchy texture not too far off from cocoa crispies! Overall yummy though.

We didn’t try enough items at Fuego Negro to get a solid opinion, although clearly this is a good and inventive kitchen. The menu is fairly small too and I like how they list the dates for the dishes.

Click here to see more Eating Spain posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating San Sebastian – Borda Berri
  2. Eating San Sebastian – Baztán
  3. Eating San Sebastian – Atari
  4. Eating San Sebastian – Abakando
  5. Eating San Sebastian – Akelaŕe
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: eating-spain, Fuego Negro, San Sebastian, Spanish Cuisine, Tapas

Eating San Sebastian – Borda Berri

Jul27

Restaurant: Bar Borda Berri

Location: Fermin Calbeton Kalea, 12, 20003 Donostia, Bizkaia, Spain

Date: June 23, 2016

Cuisine: Modern Tapas

Rating: Awesome New Wave Tapas

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Borda Berri was one of the many tapas bars recommended by my foodie friends.

It’s located on a typical San Sebastian old town street.
 The interior is tiny, with no seating. Outside there is a small table or two. While many pintxos bars have the food out on the counter waiting to be selected, Borda Berri makes you thrust in and order food in the same manner as you order drinks (and to the same people). They cook and plate back in the kitchen and call out when each dish is ready. I then dutifully returned to the bar to ferry them to our microscopic table.

The menu in Spanish and English.

Sangria.

Rosado wine.

At most there were two tables in the alley. Standing room only.

Gazpacho with watermelon, basilic and mozzarella. This was a stupendously delicious gazpacho. It’s hard to imagine it didn’t have tomato in it also, but there was a strong watermelon and basil flavor, along with the rich olive oil and the snappy vinegar. I so love good gazpacho. Too bad it gives me heartburn.

Toasted goat cheese salad. A lovely salad with a bit of sweetness on the cheese.

Bomba rice with wild mushroom. This was a nice mushroom rice, with that more paella-like texture. Probably one of the more boring dishes we had, but that’s not really fair in this company.

Cod Tripes and Pil-Pil sauce. Sounds gross right? Well the texture was solidly gelatinous, and probably not for everyone, but boy did it taste good. I ate almost two plates of it. Very rich.

Puntalette’s risotto with Idiazabal (Basque Sheeps Cheese). Wow, fabulous cheesy risotto. Everything you would want in a cheesy mass of rice.

Ravioli squid in its ink. Very tender, with briny sweet flavors. Yum!

Euskal Pork Ribs “Kebab.” This “Kebab” turned out to be basically a amazingly tender and flavorful BBQ babyback rib with a bit of sauce. Fabulous.

Borda Berri cooked up some really fabulous flavors. Additionally, freed from the confines of the pintxos format they serve fresher hot dishes in more of a small plates format. This is a little different, and perhaps a bit harder to just graze, but it provides for a more restaurant-like cuisine, even if the format is extremely bar-like.

Almost everything we had here was great, and fairly novel too. Just looking at these pictures makes me drool over the gazpacho, risotto, and lamb — and I could even mack down another plate of the cod tripes.

Click here to see more Eating Spain posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating San Sebastian – Baztán
  2. Eating San Sebastian – Zeruko
  3. Eating San Sebastian – Atari
  4. Eating San Sebastian – Abakando
  5. Eating San Sebastian – Akelaŕe
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Bar Borda Berri, Borda Berri, eating-spain, San Sebastian, Spanish Cuisine, Tapas

Eating San Sebastian – Abakando

Jul20

Restaurant: Abakando

Location: Tolosa Hiribidea, 37, 20018 Donostia, Gipuzkoa, Spain

Date: June 21, 2016

Cuisine: Spanish

Rating: Nice seafood

_

Another evening, another San Sebastian restaurant.

Again follow a friend’s recommendation we headed to Abakando. This was the only non starred “white tablecloth” restaurant we ate at in town.

The interior is very modern.

Menu.

After visiting Rioja I’ve been discovering the pleasures of Rioja Blanco.

Homemade croquettes txangurro. Stuffed with crab and some of the usual béchamel.

Tomato salad country, tuna and romescu.

Seafood soup with clams, cockles and shrimp. That rich local soup again.

Seasonal mushroom ravioli, prawn and Idiazabal cheese sauce. Really nice and cheesy.

Mushroom risotto seasonal. We were given the impression by the waitress that these were tiny portions and ordered two each. They were huge and stuffed us.

Black rice with aioli begi-haundi. This one was great, with a nice sweet brine.

Hake and fries.

Hake in green sauce with Galician marine clam. This is a very traditional dish, wand was quite lovely — too bad were were all so full.

DO Castilla Suckling lamb baked at low temperature. Not the most attractive meat, but tasty.

Overall, Abakando was tasty, but it filled a strange middle ground. It wasn’t as amazing and inventive as the starred places, nor as fun and casual as the tapas/pintxos bars. Plus, we drastically over ordered and were really stuffed.

Click here to see more Eating Spain posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating San Sebastian – Atari
  2. Eating San Sebastian – Zuberoa
  3. Eating San Sebastian – Akelaŕe
  4. Eating San Sebastian – Baztán
  5. Eating San Sebastian – Zeruko
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Abakando, eating-spain, San Sebastian, Spanish Cuisine

Eating San Sebastian – Atari

Jul13

Restaurant: Atari

Location: Calle Mayor, 18, 20013 San Sebastian, Gipuzkoa, Spain

Date: June 19 & 23, 2016

Cuisine: Spanish Tapas

Rating: The best traditional tapas we had in San Seb

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San Sebastian is packed with tapas & pintxos bars, but the quality varies wildly from okay to awesome. We had the most success using recommendations from Foodie friends who had visited in previous years, even though a good percentage of the top bars were “mysteriously” closed for vacation.

Atari was on the recommended list and is located adjacent to the entrance to the big baroque church.

The interior is typical and there is an extensive patio as well.

El menú.

Typical bread.

I find Albarino, even this so-so one, to be a fabulous tapas

Atari has a counter full of pintxos. We didn’t really focus on these, but here are a couple.

Grilled tuna with cream of marmitako and vinaigrette.

Marinated white anchovies with crushed pepper. I just love these tangy little fish.

Fried green padron peppers. Salty but good.

White tuna pickled, green peppers, anchovies, and olives. This is a to die for set of marinated goodness. I particularly love the olives and the mildly spicy skinny green peppers.

Home-cured salmon with a horseradish cream. Like little sashimi cubes.

Salmon tartar. There was something sauced in here that led to a very interesting and addictive flavor.

Pate of foie gras on toast. Tasted as good as it looks.

Tomato salad.

Cod croquettes. Declared the best croquetas of the trip.

Patatas bravos. Above they appear as patatas frito.

This is the bravos part. Personally I prefer the orange potent sauce and covering the potatoes.

Fried calamari with confited garlic aioli. Great example. Nice chewy strips and great fry.

Scrambled eggs.

Some Rioja Blanca to step up the white wine.

Oyster mushrooms ravioli with foie gras sauce. We ordered 4 orders of these!

Grilled octopus with bravos sauce, potatoes, and onions. I feel bad about eating octopus (it’s a smart animal) but this one tasted so good — and actually the bravos sauce and veggies was even better.

Grilled foie gras with white chocolate and sweetcorn cream. Just amazing.

Rice of the day. Basically a chicken paella. I think it had chicken skin in there.

Hake with seasonal sauce.

Beef cheek with… (like mom’s beef stew — super tender)

mashed potato.
 Plate of Spanish cheeses.

Overall, the group consensus was that Atari was the best “straight up regular” restaurant we went in the San Sebastian area. The dishes actually tasted better than most of the modern tapas. We weren’t comparing to the Michelin level restaurants, as it’s a totally different thing, although it was tastier than Mugaritz. haha. More on that later.

Basically the dishes are contemporary traditional, but the execution is superlative. Tons of flavor. Good ingredients. All that.

Click here to see more Eating Spain posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating San Sebastian – Baztán
  2. Eating San Sebastian – Akelaŕe
  3. Eating San Sebastian – Zeruko
  4. Eating San Sebastian – Zuberoa
  5. Eating Barcelona – Paco Meralgo
By: agavin
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Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Atari, eating-spain, San Sebastian, Spanish Cuisine, Tapas

Eating San Sebastian – Zuberoa

Jul11

Restaurant: Zuberoa

Location: Araneder Bidea, Barrio Iturriotz, s/n, 20180 Oiartzun, Gipuzkoa, Spain

Date: June 18, 2016

Cuisine: Basque

Rating: Really tasty and effective (1 Michelin star)

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We rented a lovely house outside of San Sebastian in the Basque Country town of Oiartzun — and turns out, it has a 1 Michelin star restaurant of its own, a mere 200 yards from the house.


Zuberoa is located in a charming 600 year old building! The same family has owned it for several hundred years and it was originally a tavern.

Above is part of the main dining room.

And they also have this lovely patio, which was packed on Saturday night and a smoker’s paradise.

The tasting menu.

Cava to start.

An amuse of foie gras with cherry reduction.

This was insanely good. The dollop on top was like a maple syrup foam and together with the cherry lent it a sweet, rich, candy-like quality.

Sea urchin royal to the fennel flavor. A sort of foam of fennel and urchin. Delicious too.

Lobster salad, its coral vinegar and lemon. Just a little lobster here. “Coral” must be the roe.

2006 Pazo de Señoráns Albariño Rías Baixas Selección de Añada. VM 93. Aged for 34 months on its lees in stainless steel tanks. Vivid yellow-gold. Highly complex bouquet of candied citrus fruits, almond paste, white flowers, smoky lees and minerals. Bitter orange pith and pear skin flavors gain sweetness with air and pick up an exotic floral nuance. Rich yet lively wine with superb finishing power and mineral-driven persistence. This singular wine is ready to drink and should hold well for at least another five years.

Poached cod fish to the olive oil with brandad, its skin sauce and its jelly´s crispy.

Spider crab and prawns ravioli in his broth. An awesome little rav.

Scallop, cauliflower and spring mushrooms (zizas) emulsion with brazed endive.

Confited cod fish chin, brandad and “Vizcaina” sauce. This part of the cod fish is super special and a specialty of the area. It has a particular gelatinous texture that is very prized. My extensive Chinese dining has prepared me for such culinary travels.

Egg yolk spring-like. A really delicious egg prep with a fascinating textural combination. The green was somewhat like a pea soup.

Roasted anglerfish and stir friend squid tallarine. Very nice piece of meaty fish. We googled the anglerfish and had quite the laugh at his hideous countenance.

Steamed hake with its pil-pil and pickled yellow peppers.

1981 C.V.N.E. (Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España) Rioja Viña Real Gran Reserva. JG 96. This was certainly a great older Rioja. No decant but allowed it to evolve over hours. Garnet color consistent with previous, very little fading. There is an earthiness and attractive mustiness on the nose with surprisingly bright raspberry and strawberry. Palate brings light cherry and raspberry, warm spring earth, and pleasing umami flavors. Still enough of a tannic backbone to lend sufficient structure to the melange. This bottle would have still had many years of life ahead of it. If only every bottle performed this well.

Fried hake and French fries was enjoyed by my son.

Roast pigeon, liver toast and turnip filled up with mushrooms.

Roasted lamb ribs. Some very flavorful tender lamb ribs. Almost like lamb/veal.

Peach and passion fruit “ crème brûlée “ with raspberry ice-cream.

Pineapple sorbet coat in fermented coconut milk..
 Confited cherries, lemon thyme flavored with its own sorbet and Danish cookie. Pretty awesome fresh in-season cherry prep.

Chocolate, coffee, and banana set and orange nappage.

Alex enjoys his chocolate gelato!

Some finishers.

Overall, Zuberoa was really quite lovely. The food was varied, very Basque in style, and supremely tasty. While still modern in style it was a little less “wild” than the 2 and 3 star places we dined at, but in many ways this made it more approachable. Service was fabulous and they easily accommodated our varied party and even our young son. Plus it was quite reasonable by the standards of such an elaborate and fantastic meal.

Click here to see more Eating Spain posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating San Sebastian – Akelaŕe
  2. Eating San Sebastian – Baztán
  3. Eating San Sebastian – Zeruko
  4. Eating Saigon – Hoa Tuc
  5. Eating Barcelona – Hoja Santa
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Basque cuisine, eating-spain, Michelin 1 Star, San Sebastian, Spanish Cuisine, Zuberoa

Eating San Sebastian – Zeruko

Jul08

Restaurant: Bar Zeruko

Location: Arrandegi Kalea, 10, Donostia, Gipuzkoa, Spain

Date: June 17, 2016

Cuisine: Modernist Pintxos

Rating: Funky Zoo

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At the zenith of craziness on the mountain of “typical pintxos format” is Bar Zeruko which serves up an individually plated bread of modernist pintxos.

This is awesome for 2 people popping in for a drink and a bite to eat — but on a busy Friday night with 7 people a meal is a bit of “an experience.”

Let me explain how Zeruko works. While some of your party crams around a spare stool or two — likely in 2-3 separate clusters far from each other — you elbow your way into the fantastically crowded bar. There, after trying your best impersonation of a hot 23 year-old 100 pound girl (doesn’t work so well at twice that age & weight not to mention the wrong gender) you attempt to gain eye contact with one of the two extraordinarily overworked bartenders. After accomplishing this miracle, you might order a drink and ask for a plate — albeit a tiny one. You then load up your plate with appealing looking confections without any regard to what they might actually be. If you are lucky the bartender will take back your plate and then proceed, after some extended length of time, to individually cook, plate, and dress each item. These will be serially thrust back at you and you can offer them to your companions to eat while standing.

How the staff actually manages to prep these things in such short order (meanwhile serving drinks) is also a miracle.

Oh, and how they keep track of what you ordered? You can pay much latter after multiple such orders and I never saw a pencil or other recording device. I suspect they “lose” 10% of all the pintxos served.

In any case, on to the food. Unfortunately the insane crowds didn’t really allow me to photograph the plated dishes, which is a shame because they looked rather lovely. Here are some in their larval formal, before cooking, prepping, and dressing.

Fruity gel ball? Hard to tell what this was other than it was sweet and had a somewhat jelly-like texture. It was good though.

Below was a peppers, cheese, and egg pintxos.

You can see mushrooms, sliders, and the like.

These foie gras wrapped in chocolate gel with truffles. On toast, of course. Rich and super yummy.
 A seafood something on a dry ice cone. It’s really sad that I didn’t capture more of the creative and whacky output. Sigh.

Overall, I really needed to come back to Zeruko during a quiet lunch or something — with no more than 3 people. If I had, I’m sure I would have been able to pick, photograph, and sample their wares much more effectively. I actually tasted about 15 pintxos the night I went, and many of them were delicious, and most looked very cool, but the chaotic nature of the “scene” and the demand of two different groups of family to be supplied with new dishes made it impossible to document.

If you are in San Sebastian I recommend you try it yourself. Just don’t go with a big group!

For more Eating Spain dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Eating San Sebastian – Baztán
  2. Eating San Sebastian – Akelaŕe
  3. Eating Rome – Metamorfosi
  4. Eating Barcelona – Catalana
  5. Eating Barcelona – Paco Meralgo
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Bar Zeruko, eating-spain, pintxos, San Sebastian, Tapas, Zeruko

Eating San Sebastian – Akelaŕe

Jul06

Restaurant: Akelaŕe

Location: Paseo Padre Orcolaga, 56, 20008 Donostia, Gipuzkoa, Spain

Date: June 16, 2016

Cuisine: Modern Spanish Gastronomic (Michelin 3 star!)

Rating: Amazing. Playful and delicious

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Akelaŕe is the first of the “big guns” in our dining schedule.

3 Michelin stars and helmed by Pedro Subijana, this is a world class dining establishment in every respect.

The view alone is a stunner, perched on the cliff tops of the amazingly beautiful Basque countryside about 15 minutes west of San Sebastian.

No drama here.

The dining room floats above the Atlantic.

The view from our table most decidedly set expectations.

Akelaŕe currently offers three different tasting menus, two current and one more of a “best of” from the restaurant’s long history (it’s the same age as me, having been founded in 1970 and climbed from 1 star in ’78 to 2 in ’82 to 3 in ’07).

Cava to start — always!

This “dish” served as an amuse for our 7 year-old son. It wins hands down for presentation. Sort of “bathroom” themed it consists of a number of playful items. A toast in which the “liquid soap” is used as a condiment. A cheese dish disguised as face cream, and a Shirley Temple in a cough syrup bottle! Great fun.

A tomato amuse. Even I, tomato hater that I am, enjoyed it.

A sort of ravioli, or unusual skin of food with one of those “caviar” not made from fish eggs. A kind of ajo blanco underneath. I remember it being delicious.

Reconstructed olives. These looked like olives, and somewhat tasted of them, but were reconstructed out of olive paste mixed with something else. They were delicious.
 Fried zucchini “chips”.

Mussel fritters. Like a fried mussel, but in croquette-like ball form.

Bread, of course.

2012 Tricó Rías Baixas. 89 points. Light golden color; floral notes and lemon zest on the nose. Lively and fresh on the palate. Good acidity. Medium light body. This is pleasant to drink, very crisp and food friendly wine.

Cubed tear green Peas. The center batch is in an edible “plastic” bag.

Then a pea soup is added.

Lobster salad with Cider Vinegar. No shortage of lobster here! Particularly considering this is just 1 course in a big tasting menu.

White asparagus meringue. Smores anyone?

Pasta, Piquillo and Iberico Carpaccio, Mushrooms and Parmesan. This alternate version of the classic Italian carpaccio has the “meat” replaced with a pasta. It did look and taste pretty meaty, but pasta like at the same time.

Prawns cooked in “Orujo” Fire. Not quite sure what the fire part was, but this was a delicious prawn.

And in a very Japanese style, it also came with the fried head. Bugs of the sea!

This bread took on an “interesting” shape.

Hake in Seaweed steam. Plancton and Oyster Leaf.

Very thin and Light Beef Tartare and…

new Potato Soufflé and Aromatic Herb Bread.

The leaves and the Foie under the rain.

Okay the name was a little confusing. It had “salt and pepper” on top — except it wasn’t salt and pepper but I think a sugar and and some kind of chocolate maybe? Hard to say, but it was delicious and a huge chunk of foie.

2013 Ossian. 90 points. An unusual heavier Spanish white.

Rice with Snails and Periwinkles in Tomato and Basil film. Sounds funny, but was delicious. Tasted like some kind of Chinese fried race, maybe a snail sausage fried rice!

Whole-Grain Red Mullet with Sauce “Fusili”.

One of the fusili, which was some kind of corkscrew of sugar? filled with a broth. Interesting. Wasn’t oily or fishy like many red mullet preps too.

I’m not sure what this dish was. May have been mushroom.

“Desalted” Cod Box with Shavings. It just comes in the box.

It was plated like this and basically like a nice piece of cod.

Sea Bass “UMAMI”.

The “Umami” was this separate grouping of stuff that you could put on the seabass to add, you guessed it, umami. I think it was made of anchovies and other bits like that.

2006 Bodegas Muga Rioja Gran Reserva Prado Enea. VM 92. raised in large oak vats for a year, followed by three years in small, used American oak barrels): Dark ruby. Highly fragrant scents of redcurrant, dried cherry, pipe tobacco, leather and rose oil. Lively and precise on the palate, offering deeply pitched red fruit and floral pastille flavors and a hint
of black pepper. The youthfully tight finish features excellent clarity and lingering spiciness.

Roasted Pigeon with a Touch of Mole and Cocoa. The thing on the left was a kind of cookie with spiced pigeon meat inside — delicious.
 Closer picture because this pigeon was SO GOOD. Just amazing. Tender rare meat, and an awesome rich mole sauce.

Carved Beef, Tail Cake “Potatoes and Peppers”.

The Tail Cake in focus. Like a meat tiramisu.

Some dessert amuses.

Melting Cupcake. Like a semi-fredo.

Xaxu and Foaming Coconut Ice Cream. The styrofoam looking stuff tasted like coconut gelato.

Gin & Tonic on a plate.

The Broken Jar of Yogurt, “Gatzatua” and Berries. This won the cool look award for the night. Everything was edible! It was made of yogurt too.

The different Apple Tart. I don’t know what the “plastic” was made of, but it was edible (and good).

The inside was basically a perfect crunchy apple tart like pastry. Really quite awesome.

Some various petite fours.

This was an amazing meal. The style at Akelaŕe seems to be playful reinterpretations of classic French/Spanish/Italian dishes. It uses modernist techniques, but not so heavily as to distort the dish into unfoodlike forms. And most importantly, the dishes retain solid flavor profiles with balance. They don’t always taste exactly like you’d expect, but they taste good and in the “frequency range” of whatever dish roll they serve in the meal. I.e. a savory, while perhaps having sweet notes, still tastes like a savory. As general rule the dishes are also complex, involving multiple ingredients working in harmony, but the chef has a fabulous sense of pairing and I don’t remember anything with a jarring or off-putting combinations as is sometimes a problem in extreme modernism.

Setting, as you can see, was magnificent, as was service. Not only were they extremely attentive, but they easily dealt with several different dietary rule sets, including our young son.

Certainly a worthy three star experience. Akelaŕe is crafting cutting edge food that sings on the palate.

Click here to see more Eating Spain posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating San Sebastian – Baztán
  2. Eating Barcelona – Mian
  3. Eating Orvieto – Maurizio
  4. Eating Senigallia – Uliassi
  5. Eating Rome – La Pergola
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Akelare, Akelarre, eating-spain, Michelin 3 Star, Michelin Guide, San Sebastian, Spanish Cuisine

Eating San Sebastian – Baztán

Jul04

Restaurant: Baztán

Location: Portu Kalea, 8, 20003 San Sebastián-Donostia, Gipuzkoa, Spain

Date: June 16, 2016

Cuisine: Pintxos

Rating: “Straight up” Basque Tapas

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I’m choosing to use Baztán as a sort of light introduction to San Sebastian tapas — in part because of its normality.

San Seb is packed with Pintxos bars. Dozens upon dozens of them and they vary wildly in style, quality, and crowds. Baztán is a pretty typical type.

First of all, the offerings are dominated by straight up pintxos (stuff on pieces of bread). These, for the most part, sit on the counter. You grab a plate (or 2) and load up as many as you like, then hand it to a bar keep along with your drink order. If something needs heating he’ll do that. Most things here don’t and usually they are eaten pretty much as they sit on the bar. Let’s look at some examples.

Salmon and cream, salmon and anchovies, tortilla espanola, fried fish, seafood salad and anchoives, egg, peppers & anchovies, etc.

Peppers and olives, seafood salad, octopus, cheesy scallop, ham & goat cheese, fried thingy, chorizo, egg, and pepper.

More salmon, mushrooms & eggs, gazpacho, peppers, etc.

More fried stuff, black pudding!

Sangria.

Flan. Quite a nice one actually.

And lots of pictures of the bar.

More.

And even more.

There are some funny things on bread, like stacked meat balls, a couple sausages and even skewered French fries pinioned to the toasts! See the chorizo and fries on the right!

Here are the meatballs. Some shrimp, steak tartar etc.

The desserts.
 Straight pintxos like this is a funny cuisine. First of all, if the bar is crowded at all it’s sort of a nightmare: Nowhere to eat, very hard if you have a large party. 1-2 people, no problem, you just grab some stuff when you order your drink. 8, that can be a challenge! There is also no particular rhyme or reason to the distribution of plates (sometimes they are at the bar, sometimes you ask the bartender) or a mechanism for getting his attention so you can pay, order, etc. I found it much like a crowded club bar.

Then there is the pintxos themselves. They certainly taste very good, and you can pick what you want to try by looks and in small increments, but I soon tired of all those slices of thick French bread. I’m not the sort to eat 10-15 slices of bread! So I ate about 2 and then resorted to eating the toppings off. Felt kinda like eating the fish off the rice at all-you-can-eat sushi.

Still, this was a fun and tasty experience, and a good intro as we delve later into more exotic tapas/pintxos formats.

Click here to see more Eating Spain posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Barcelona – Catalana
  2. Eating Barcelona – Paco Meralgo
  3. Eating Barcelona – Mian
  4. Eating Barcelona – Ca l’Isidre
  5. Eating Barcelona – Montiel
By: agavin
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Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Baztán, eating-spain, pintxos, San Sebastian, Spanish Cuisine, Tapas
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