City Spotlight :: San Sebastián - Part One

I went on a day trip to San Sebastián with my roommate J on Saturday. We definitely had an interesting time. It was an amazing trip, mixed with some bad luck and an unfortunate ending. Anyway, here goes.

This city is officially known as Donostia-San Sebastián and is located in northern Basque Country, right on the southern coast of the Bay of Biscay. It is a beautiful and picturesque city.

It was raining on and off, but I was able to enjoy a brief moment of sunshine and capture a few photos of the beach.

I think I´ve already mentioned how Basque food is supposed to be the best in Spain. Well folks, Donostia-San Sebastián is known to have the best Basque food in Basque Country! And I must say, I have to agree. 

J and I arrived in San Sebastián around noon, and almost immediately, we went pintxo hopping.

First stop was Goiz-Bargi. The second photo is "txangurro para calentar," a spider crab dip, served hot and with bread. The third photo is "brocheta de gambas," a skewer of freshly grilled shrimp with some sort of salsa on top. We ordered this after one of the servers told us that it was the house special, and we were so glad we did. It was perfectly grilled and seasoned.

Next stop, Bar Borda Berri. Here, we ordered "carrillera de ternera al vino tinto," beef cheeks braised in red wine sauce. OMG, the meat was super tender and flavorful. This was by far one of the best dishes I´ve tried in Spain. We also tried "risottos de hongo," a creamy and cheesy risotto. I didn´t put up a picture because it came out too blurry.

Next up, Tamboril. I tried their "croqueta de bacalao," a deep fried mixture of cod and potatoes. J tried "taco de bacalao," which most certainly did not look like a taco, but was really tasty.

Finally, the last stop of our afternoon pintxo run was Txepetxa, a place known for their fresh anchovy pintxos. I tried the anchovy pintxo with sea urchin roe. It was good, but I definitely prefer pintxo calientes (hot pintxos) because it is cooked to order.

After a successful pintxo run, we decided to check out San Sebastián´s international film festival. Apparently, we missed Julia Roberts by a few days!

After taking photos like quasi-celebrities, we took shelter from the pouring rain at a nearby bar for a mid-day coffee and pastry break.

I had a café cortado and a custard filled pastry (name unknown). While sipping our cafés and eating our postres, we decided to watch one of the films listed in the festival. It took us about half an hour to figure out what to watch because we were looking for films subtitled in English. We decided on "Lo que más quiero," a film by an Argentinian director.

This was the theater where the film was showing. Very cute. Afterwards, we wandered around the city for a bit before going for our second round of pintxos.

La Cuchara de San Telmo, which literally translates to The Spoon of San Telmo. This joint is known for their foie gras with apple jelly, and of course we had to try it for ourselves!

A huge chunk of foie gras, grilled and placed on top of a delicious apple sauce. This was definitely a piece of heaven in my mouth! I would definitely come back to San Sebastián solely for this (and the beef cheeks).

I don´t remember the name of the next bar, but it was a hole in the wall place, popular with students for the cheap eats and drinks. We ordered patatas bravas, potatoes smothered in garlic mayo and tigres, mussels in a slighly spicy tomato sauce. 

One eccentric thing I´ve noticed in Spain is that people throw their trash on the ground. It is actually rude to place your used napkins back on the bar countertop. Don´t believe me? See below. Very strange, and something that I´m still not used to.

For our last pintxo stop for the night, we went back to Goiz-Bargi and ordered the house special again (the shrimp skewers). We ordered another item recommended by the same server. I forgot the name, but it was grilled calamari.

  Delicious!

And that pretty much sums up the first half of my adventure in San Sebastián. Stay tuned for part two.