The food of Spain - San Sebastián - Pintxos...

Spain = Jamon

Two weeks in San Sebastián is only enough to scratch the surface of the amazing food culture that is present here. My last blog post was all about our amazing experience at one of the finest restaurants in San Sebastián - Mugaritz, but this blog post is a bit grungier, a bit more easily accessible, quite a bit more budget friendly and just as impressive in many ways. The world of "pintxos" was opened up to us in Barcelona on our last visit a couple of months ago, but San Sebastián is the birthplace of "pintxos" and also the master of it.

So, what are pintxos, you ask? The word "pintxos" is the Basque version of the more readily used word of "pinchos" - literal translation - thorn or spike, very similar to the more well known to Aussies "tapas" but it is different to the regular tapas in that they are traditionally held together with a skewer - hence the name pinchos.

These little delicate morsels of food are generally eaten standing up in a bar, if you are lucky enough you may even get a small bit of table or bar to lean on whilst juggling said pintxos along with your choice of beverage, whether that be sangria, maybe a glass of Cava (local sparkling wine) or beer. Traditionally, they are eaten as snacks, in between meals, or before going home for the main meal, but as we are only in San Sebastián for two weeks, we generally find ourselves trying so many of them that there is no room left for an actual meal.

A couple of our favourites included:

La Cepa Bar - de Agosta Kalea, 31 - great jamon and queso (ham and cheese sandwich)

A Fuego Negro - Calle de Agosto, 31 - this was owned by the cousin of my teacher from the cooking lesson I had - pictures of his food later but a couple of maust haves include the quinoa salad and the rabbit with garlic

Goiz Argi - Fermin Calbeton Kalea, 4 - our first bar stop in San Sebastián, we met a couple from Newcastle, Aust there and started to enjoy our "pintxos" experience!

Bar Azkena - in Bretxa Market - according to Trip Advisor the best coffee in san Sebastián - I have to disagree with them on that but they did have the best Patata Tortilla - Spanish Potato Omelette - and we tried plenty!!

Txuleta - de la Trinidad plaza, 2 - old style pintxos at its best - when we arrived here we lowered the average age of the place by a couple of years - but its traditional pintxos were unbeatable!

Santa Lucia - Calle Puerto, 6 - Not actually a pintxos, but the churros had to get a mention too! We frequented this place just a couple of times! Don't be put off by its "diner_ like appearance - these guys slam out their meal and churros because they are used to getting slammed!

So to set the scene for those that have not come across pintxos for themselves yet. You walk into a bar. The bar is laden (and I mean laden!!) with many different platters of these little (some not so little) items of food. Mostly, the platters are on different heights so they can fit more onto the bar top and although some of the bars also have menus, a lot of them don't. You choose with your eyes. Not sure how you would go with any food allergies - luckily, I don't have to think about that for any of my family! You indicate to one of the bar staff that you are here for food, they hand you over a plate and you choose whatever you like! Yes, with your own hands! No sneeze guards, no tongs, no food safe gloves - strange world for someone that has come from working in a HACCP accredited kitchen environment - but it seems to work! 

Bar Azkena - the Patata tortilla in the background, still warm from the oven...

The wait at A Fuego negro is well worth it for itsnew age spin on the old fave's and its molecular gastronomy on it's new creations

Goiz Argi - our introduction to the phenomena!

From here, things can differ slightly - some bars ask to see your plate again before you eat (they may also heat up some of your selections at this point), at others you just start eating and by some miracle, the staff bill you at the end for what you ate, and at others you just collect the little skewers that hold the pintxos together and they charge you by the stick. Sometimes as low as 1 euro per stick, although, more commonly about 2.50/3 euro per stick. Whatever the method they choose, it seems to work for them. I would imagine that there is a fair bit of trust involved - not too difficult to get rid of a stick or two and therefore not be charged for it! 

Most people move from place to place, selecting the pintxos that they prefer from each of several bars, which gives a real bar "hopping" atmosphere to the whole of the "old town" of San Sebastián. Thousands of people walking the streets from bar to bar is a normal sight. The good bit about that is that you really want to go to one place in particular, it is never too long a wait to get a spot at the bar, or at least get access to the bar so you can choose your next mouthful of food!

 A few favourites of ours from A Fuego Negro: 

White quinoa salad 

Kobe burger with chips

Conejo con ajo - Rabbit with garlic - was established originally as a play on words but what a great combination!

 And a couple from Txuleta:

Pimentos

Calamares

Jamon croquettas

And from Zeruko (another fave but we didn't take a photo of the front of the bar!) - these guys did some really cool things with their food - there was smokes, foams, emulsions of strange concoctions and some other flavours that we just had to sit and enjoy as there was no explaining them!:

Left - olive encased mango cream explosion; middle - crepe with salmon and cream cheese foam; right octopus with tomato and paprika

Left - shredded egg and lettuce; middle - crepe with chorizo; right - empanada (like a small beef pie)

The locals all have their favourite bars and particular pintxo. We were told by just about everyone that we met which place we just had to go to, and which pintxo we should choose from there so we kept a little list (which ended up being quite a long list!) of where we HAD to go! We managed to get to most of them in our two weeks, and here I share a couple of our favourites to add to your list for your next visit to San Sebastián!!

Zeruko - marinated mushrooms on brioch with seeds

Zeruko - Smoked cod that came out on the smoker - we had to cook it for 15 seconds each side - tasted amazing!

Zeruko (again) - stuffed capsicums - the capsicums had been cooked and almost jellied - filled with an amazing cod brandade

And just to finish off...a couple of churros from Saint Lucia!!

Next stop, Madrid!

xoxo