Sagastume
SEAFOOD STORE
The elver, or young eel, is born in the Sargasso Sea (to the east of North America) and is carried to Europe by the currents of the Atlantic. Upon reaching European rivers, due to contact with fresh water, it acquires its characteristic black back. It is in this phase that it is captured, before becoming an eel. Catching it is not easy, as this must be done manually with a sieve at dusk and under the weak light of a flashlight. The scarcity of this product and the difficulty of capturing it have made its value soar, with a price that has reached €1,000 / kg. Despite this, “angulas a la bilbaína” (“Bilbaostyle eels”) served in a dish made of clay with garlic, olive oil, and smoked chili pepper is the star dish of San Sebastián Day, which is held every January 20.The Sagastume seafood store is one of the few establishments in San Sebastián where you can buy this delicacy – a delicacy which has been caught, in this case, in rivers located between Asturias and the French Basque Country. Thanks to the effort made by Sagastume to secure exclusive products of the highest quality like elvers, in the short time that the business has been open (it was inaugurated in 2019), this store has become a leader in everything related to the purchase of seafood, preserves, and the best fish.
While its arrival to San Sebastián is relatively recent, Sagastume has deep roots in the province of Gipuzkoa because it has fish markets in Villabona, Beasain, Alegia, Lasarte, and Ordizia. In fact, this company first came to be in 1939 and it is the fourth generation of the same family that currently runs the business. For decades, adaptability to the preferences and needs of its customers has been a constant theme: last spring, for example, due to the lockdown brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the seafood house established a free home delivery service which it will continue to offer from now on. Likewise, in summer, it launched its online store, a store through which it supplies all of Spain with the best products.
The San Sebastián establishment has cooking facilities and a fish hatchery within sight of the public where customers can choose the spiny lobsters, clawed lobsters, and spider crabs they want to buy.the selection of live products is quite varied: shrimp, prawn, spiny lobsters, clawed lobsters, spider crabs, percebes (goose barnacles), oysters, clams, razor clams, variegated scallops, coquina clams, Norway lobsters, and brown crabs. Among the most popular products are the exquisite Gillardeau oysters, the white prawns from Huelva, as well as the sea urchins, percebes, flat oysters, and clams from Galicia.
Due to the increasing demand for Japanese food, Sagastume has recently started to make and sell sushi – delights made by hand with their own fish and seafood ingredients: trays of maki, nigiri, sashimi, hosomaki, and California rolls. Also noteworthy is its careful selection of preserves from Maisor of Getaria, featuring anchovies and tuna belly in olive oil, albacore, and wild bluefin tuna marinated in citrus fruit.to pair with this plethora of delicacies from the sea, Sagastume also has a selection of wines.
Whether to celebrate San Sebastián Day by enjoying some elvers in a gastronomic club with friends or to delight the family with a good seafood feast, hake kokotxas, sea bream, or wild turbot –all selected daily–, Sagastume is the ideal option. The company’s firm commitment to products caught in a sustainable way, which includes methods as selective as the green-stick fishing method for wild tuna, speaks for itself in terms of how the entity does business.