Pintxos, Fine Restaurants, and Cooking Class—Luscious Food in the Basque region of Spain
- Candace Ahlfinger
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
First, and foremost, what are pintxos (pronounced PEEN-chos) and why am I so in love?
Pintxos are small bites of lusciousness in Donostia/San Sebastián, Spain. The name comes from the Basque word “Spike” which refers to the toothpick, or skewer, that holds the snack, tapa in much of Spain, together. (Think tapas for the rest of Spain.)
So how do you order pintxos? You make your way to the restaurant bar and catch the eye of one of the servers. (Don’t wave your arms and fingers around.) Many restaurants have pre-prepared pintxos on the bar, but most also serve hot pintxos to order. Some bars specialize in one type of ingredient, such as La Mejillonera which sells only mussels but prepares them in numerous ways.
Once you make it to the counter, order a drink, preferably the local cider or txakoli (local white wine), choose your pintxo, pay, and eat standing up either inside or out. Visiting with people who are sharing the same space makes the evening even more enjoyable. During our visits we have talked to people from England, Scotland, Poland, the US, Spain, and more.
After one or two pintxos, you go to the next bar for different tastes and more drinks. The first night of our five-night stay in San Sebastián, we took a food tour with Devour Food Tours and our great guide, Begonna, who gave us a great overview of the food scene and the city. The tour took us through many bars and drinks—you can drink water or soft drinks if you prefer—that were so amazing. (We had another great guide around the city the next day, Sylvia, who also provided lots of ideas for pintxos.)
We visited many other pintxos bars during our remaining days. We did not have a single bad pintxo. From luscious steak, to sardines, to mussels, to duck, to…you get the picture---everything was beyond wonderful! Our tour, which also included historical information and recommendations for other things to see and places to eat, was so fantastic that we signed up for another Devour Tour on our next trip, this time to Venice.
Some of the many pintxos that we had during the tour and in the following days in San Sebastian were from these locations:
Gandarias for fantastic beef tenderloin and seared foie gras.
La Cuchara de Telmo for seared foie gras.
La Viña for Basque cheesecake which originated at this restaurant. Basque cheesecake has a “burnt” exterior that doesn’t taste burned at all. The center is gooey and there is no crust.
Bar Sport or Casa Vallés for Gilda. Gilda is a skewered combination of manzanilla olive, meaty salt-cured anchovy, and hot pickled guindilla pepper named after Rita Hayworth in the movie Gilda.
La Mejillonera for mussels and patatas bravas, crispy potatoes topped with a wonderful cream sauce.
Sirimiri for duck that can pass for an excellent steak. (In Basque, Sirimiri means a light mist.)
Txepetxa for anchovies.
Borda Berri for risotto—we missed this bar, but everyone raved about it.
Bar Bergara—located in the Gros neighborhood. It is worth the walk for their mushroom risotto! A Michelin-noted restaurant.
Theoretically, pintxos are eaten as appetizers but it is so difficult to leave room for the fantastic Michelin-starred restaurants that abound in the area. On our first visit, we ate Michelin-recommended restaurants. Rekondo not only served luscious food but also had wonderful service and views. Bodegon Alejandro was another and perhaps my favorite of the Michelin-recommended restaurants we enjoyed. Casa Urola was the third. All of them were excellent and each offered very interesting and delicious dishes. Restaurant Gandarias was yet another fabulous restaurant. (Yes, the food in Donostia/San Sebastian is amazing!)
On our most recent trip we dined at Akelaré, a three-star Michelin restaurant that had impeccable food, service, and views of the setting sun. We were treated like royalty—even getting to meet the chef and visit the test kitchen. It was a wonderful experience.
We also took part in a cooking class offered by Chef Carlos with Kookin Donosti which we booked through Viator. The class was amazing! I generally steer away from market visits because we’ve done many, but Chef Carlos taught us so much, especially about buying fish and Basque culture. He and his crew provided a great cooking experience in a beautiful professional kitchen. Chef Carlos was wonderful to fix some of our errors without ever making anyone feel uncomfortable.
The menu was typical of meals offered at cider houses: Cod Omelet, Hake, Rib Steak with Piquillo Peppers, and Basque Cheesecake. Excellent!
Another treat during our second stay was a tour to the Lizeaga Sacardotecia (Cider House) in Astigarraga, just a short distance outside San Sebastian. Our guide, Telmo, was Basque which made the tour even more meaningful. We learned how to fill our cider glasses from the barrel (txotx—pronounced choch), drank cider and dined on a traditional cider house meal. (See our cooking class menu above!) Visitors can also go on their own without a tour, especially during cider season, which would be a lot of fun!
We always feel that our trips to Donostia/San Sebastian are too short. So many wonderful places to eat and so little time. We will return! Hasta luego, San Sebastian and all your luscious foods!
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