Eating Pinxtos in San Sebastian

Oct 24

Oct 24 Eating Pinxtos in San Sebastian

For a post entirely about food, this will have an embarrassingly low number of food photos. Zero, to be exact. Because as much as I love thinking about, looking at, and eating food, I couldn't take a decent photo of food if my life depended on it.

I'm also very judgemental about people taking pictures of their food (shocking, I know). It's there to be eaten, not photographed. But if you want to see a photo of any of the food I'm recommending, you'll find it on Trip Advisor. And I wouldn't judge you for that; I spend a lot of time down that rabbit hole, too. I'll put the links in.

First, ten observations on eating pinxtos (pronounced peen-chos) in San Sebastian:

You're not going to look any more or less dumb than 99% of the other tourists who are also trying to look like they know what they're doing, so don't worry about that.
If a bartender (or every bartender) seems curt, he or she is just really fucking busy.
If you find a place you love, don't worry about going back again and again because you might otherwise end up in a bunch of places you don't love and then get full or run out of time.
Every single place you go to will seem too packed to get in. It's not. Just have a bit of patience, wait for a few people to clear out, and don't underestimate the bartenders' ability to serve you from 10 feet away.
Don't just eat off the bar. I would say don't eat off the bar at all, unless you really like something you see. All of the best pinxtos I had were made to order.
Look around at what other people are eating (especially if they're older and Basque) and then order those things.
Order something that is a complete mystery to you.
Chat with the people around you. You're going to be standing practically on top of them anyway, so at the very least, you might as well get their recommendations on the best food they've eaten.
Don't be shy (see point 1). You're probably going to have to shout your order at the bartender across a crowd of people, and 99% of the time they'll understand you perfectly and it will all be fine. If they don't, well that's the worst thing that's going to happen to you.
Wear loose pants!

Okay, my top three pinxtos bars in San Sebastian and what you should order:

1) Bar Sport

I know this doesn't sound like traditional pinxtos bar (and maybe it's not), but it's amazing. I went there 5 days in a row and it still didn't seem like enough. The bartenders are friendly (especially when you go so often they know your name and what you want to eat), the menu is simple and delicious, and they're open longer hours than a lot of other places.

If you eat nothing else here, you have to get the Fois a la Plancha–an entire goose liver seared in brandy, placed on toast, liberally drizzled with olive oil, and sprinkled with coarse sea salt. Biting into it, you're not entirely sure if it's olive oil dripping down your hand or just delicious, liquid fat from the liver. If that sounds appetizing to you, you'll definitely love it. If that sounds disgusting, you'll still love it, but you'll probably be too scared to try it.

2) La Cuchara de San Telmo

This place is no stranger to food blogs, and a few recent reviews suggest that it's not living up to some peoples' expectations, but I find it hard to believe that anyone would have a bad experience here if they like eating.

Small caveat: that last statement was not true. While I was here, I actually saw a pretty heartbreaking exchange between an older Chinese woman and the bartender. She had come alone and fought her way to the bar to order just the fois gras (in pretty broken English). The bartender attempted to clarify by saying something to the extent of "Just the fois? No drink? Nothing more? Nada mas?" He supplemented his efforts with a hand gesture vaguely resembling a firm "no" – though his intention was just to make sure she didn't want to order anything else. Anyway, this poor lady clearly thought that he was saying no to her order and she ran out of the bar (as fast as you can run through a dense crowd of people) with her head down. I was standing right next to the bartender a few moments later and he was so confused about what had happened and he felt really bad for scaring her away. So I guess it is possible to have a bad time here, but not as a result of poor service or bad food.

Now that I've depressed everyone, here's what you should order at La Cuchara de San Telmo: Carrillera (braised veal cheeks) and Coxinita (suckling pig). We also had the fois gras–obviously, because I need at least three servings a day–and it's delicious; more subtle and less viscerally organ meaty than Bar Sport, so it would be a good intro for less adventurous eaters. Or a good starting point for working up to Bar Sport.

There are no pinxtos on the bar here, so everything is made to order and they have three sizes: pinxtos, medios, and raciones. I would recommend starting with a pinxtos earlier in the night and then coming back later on to split a larger size of your favourite thing.

3) Txepetxa

If you don't like anchovies, you clearly haven't eaten enough of them. And Txepetxa is the perfect place to fix that. They do have a few other seafood items on the menu, but we didn't order any of them and there are too many anchovy varieties to try anyway, so why bother?

Unlike a lot of other pinxtos bars, a stop here is unlikely to fill you up so it's worth working in to your route every night. It's pretty much all anchovies on toast, all the time–but with lots of creative toppings. For lukewarm (or non) anchovy fans, I'd recommend something like the jardineria or olive topping–both of which neutralize any fishiness pretty admirably. If you love anchovies, try the crema de centolla (crab cream) or blueberry jam. You really can't go wrong here, so just decide on what fishiness level you're comfortable with and ask for a suggestion.

Bonus: the bartenders here are adorable. Well, mostly just one of them. They're all cute, but one of them might be the friendliest, smiliest and most adorable bartender in all of Donostia. Or the world.

That's it. Those are my top three recommendations. We didn't really have any bad food though, and wandering around is half the fun. But, because choosing a top three is hard, here are some other great places:

Atari Gastroteka: good for lunch or dinner and you can take your drinks and food to the church steps across the street and sit in the sun. Really good bacalao reveulto.
Borda Berri: not quite as good as it is popular, but it's right next to Bar Sport and you're going to be there anyway so you might as well pop in. Definitely get the risotto.

It's also worth mentioning a bar that doesn't actually serve food, but is a great place to go to watch the sunset or have a post-food coma drink:

Akerbeltz: you can start your night here with a light fruity beer to watch the sunset outside, and then end your night with a nice chocolate-y stout in the cave-like bar itself. Really friendly bartenders. Lots of young people. Varied and extensive beer selection.