PINTXOS in San Sebastián
It’s famous for having one of the highest concentrations of Michelin stars anywhere – but it’s not these restaurants that make San Sebastián a must for your culinary bucket list. It’s the Basque version of tapas
Whatever you do, don’t ask for tapas in San Sebastián. In this regal Basque seaside town – perched on a half-moon of golden beach, lapped by cool surf – they don’t have tapas: they eat pintxos. To the uninitiated, these bite-sized dishes might look the same. But from the varieties to the quality, to the whole culture around consumption, one night in Donostia, as this town is called in Basque, will teach you otherwise.
Facing north towards the storm-churned Bay of Biscay, San Sebastián has pedigree: with its sculpted seafront architecture and fine sandy beach, it was much beloved by 19th-century Maria Christina of Austria, who holidayed in the town – indeed, the city’s top hotel still bears her name – with its fine belle époque promenades and expansive beaches. But it’s in the tight-knit backstreets of the old town, where well-worn bars open up on to cobbled streets, and crowds ebb and flow between nibbles of prawn or tortilla, that the real magic happens.
You see, pintxos aren’t about single dishes or individual bars, they describe an evening-long experience, taking in a living, breathing web of eateries. Each night, locals and visitors alike begin the crawl around their favourite haunts. They might start, say, at Bar Sport (Fermin Calbeton Kalea, 10), with a crisp glass of txakoli and curried sea urchin; then move on to Borda Berri (Fermin Calbeton Kalea, 12) for a taste of their octopus. No fixed plans required, nor reservations. As they go, they graze, eat, talk, ordering the best bites from each bar. The joy is in the journey and the camaraderie as much as the food itself.
And what makes a pintxo what it is? Purists will say that it has to do with the serving method: ingredients skewered by a long toothpick (the pintxo). The first to be made was the Gilda, named after Rita Hayworth’s femme fatale in the film noir, purportedly invented at cosy, wood-lined Bar Casa Vallés barvalles.com in the 1940s. A trio of plump olive, salty anchovy and pickled pepper, it looks simple, but the umami-rich flavours combine to make a gastronomic masterpiece in a single bite.
It’s the very essence of San Sebastián.
Things have escalated since then. You’ll find Gildas in every Donostia haunt, along with ribbons of wafer-thin jamón, slivers of cheese, toast-crowned delights, all laid out on polished bars with a theatrical flair. Gourmets flock to Atari Gastroleku atarigastroleku.com for cod croquettes, or to the likes of La Espiga laespigabar.com for fat Cantabrian anchovies and egg and mayo on toast. And no visit to the old town is complete without a thick wedge of La Viña’s lavinarestaurante.com now Instagram-famous cheesecake. Gorgeously charred splotches on the exterior reveal the warm, creamy baked cheese within, spongy and seductive.
Some pintxos are especially hot commodities. Each day, down a small street, Bar Néstor bar-nestor.negocio.site cooks up two wobbling tortillas, one for lunch, one for dinner, and punters flock hours in advance to reserve a rare velvety slice of the potato, onion, pepper and egg fry. A few minutes away
– in this town everything is a few minutes away – at Gandarias restaurantegandarias.com you have to arrive early to bag the solomillo. Here, beef cooked until rosy (its juices still running) tops a wedge of crusty bread – like edible blotting paper. To finish? Green peppers and crackle of sea salt.
It seems wrong to come to San Sebastián and not sample the lauded Michelin-starred restaurant scene. So, finally, make for Mugaritz mugaritz.com – almost reminiscent of (very swish) pintxos with its multi-course menus that are sometimes two dozen dishes long. Tucked into a renovated farmhouse on the outskirts of town, as the seaside town melts away towards the mountains, it’s a fitting ending to your visit to Basque Country.