Sagastume

SEAFOOD SHOP

Last November, Marisquería Sagastume opened at Alameda del Boulevard in San Sebastián.this establishment has brought a novel variety of products to the city – a variety which has caught the eye of individuals and renowned restaurants in the Old Town.this seafood shop is the crown jewel of a group of fishmongers that provide fresh products of utmost quality to the municipalities of Rentería,villabona, Beasain, Alegia, Lasarte, and Ordizia through the establishments they have in each of those villages.

This family business got its start in 1939, after the Civil War, when Gabriela Iñale returned to the Basque Country from exile. One day, to survive, she sliced up a tuna and began to sell it around the streets of San Sebastián’s Old Town.that was the start of the Sagastume Seafood Shop, now run by the family’s third generation.

Their new establishment in San Sebastián, designed by decorator Myriam Larrea, catches your attention as soon as you go inside due to its glass floor that allows the shop’s fish hatchery to be seen – a place inhabited by spiny lobsters, clawed lobsters, and spider crabs. While the area for tending to customers may appear small, the shop has another two floors: one for offices and the other for product handling and cooking. The latter of those spaces, which almost looks like a submarine, is equipped with cold storage, a cooker, and a cooked product cooler where the saltwater is kept at 3º C (allowing the flesh of the shellfish to reach the desired

hardness and separate from the shell).those in charge of the establishment invite the curious to visit this “submarine” so as to discover for themselves the fineness required to prepare these delicacies.

Sagastume offers a great variety of live products: shrimp, king prawns, spiny lobsters, clawed lobsters, spider crabs, goose barnacles, oysters, clams, razor clams, bay scallops, coquina clams, Norway lobsters, and brown crabs. Amongst the delicacies that are especially loved by their customers are the king prawns and white prawns from Huelva, flat oysters, goose barnacles, and clams from Galicia, and the famous Gillardeau oysters. Sometimes they surprise their buyers with unconventional items like the swordfish and the giant spiny lobster.

Likewise, the seafood shop has a corner dedicated to the sale of canned foods and wines.the Cantabrian Don Bocarte as well as Maisor, the cannery of Getaria, provide high-quality products: Biscay white tuna, sardines, anchovies, and tuna belly in olive oil, wild bluefin tuna marinated in citrus fruit, etc.all of that is paired with champagnes, cavas, txakolis, and white wines from the Rías Baixas region, as well as labels from the La Rioja, Somontano, and Ribera del Duero wine regions.

Its abundant culinary variety and the excellence with which its products are prepared have made the shop the first choice of many families when ordering baby eels to celebrate San Sebastián Day or seafood at Christmas time – as well as on any other occasion when guests must be entertained with a feast.