San Sebastián Restaurants

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We got there early so we parked down the hill a couple blocks at the local pool/soccer feild and walked up. The place is modern and very bright. We had the Lunch tasting menu. It was very good and I would go back in a flash.

Favorite Dish: One of the 2 dishes that have stuck with me was an appitizer of a sardine folded over on top of a strawberry. I thought to myself "this is going to be horrible" before I put it in my mouth, it was so good that almost a year later as I write this I can still remember the taste.

The other dish was a puffed up thin hollow ball(the size of a baseball but longer) made out of a thing dough, you then filled it with a truffle foie gras mixure and ate it....wow was that good.

The desserts were all great (so many of them) along with the service. A must do if you can afford the bill.

In the basque area I have found just tapas restaurant. I mean very small portion (which may cost from 2 euros each) of meat, fish, vegetables in a very easy way to eat with fingers. It's a sort of finger food but generally quite sophisticated. Even when seated, you can choise menu with many pinchos.

I was in Donastia for a short break with my mother and aunts and one of their daughters.
We happened upon Izkina on our first night and were very happily surprised that we did. The food was amazing, great selection and great value set meal choice. The staff were very friendly, despite only one of them having English ( we are Irish) and I having only pigeon Spanish if even that and no Euskadi at all. They were very patient with us and helpful as we muddled through the excellent menu to select our choices. We were never rushed even at closing time. The place was extremely clean and everything well presented. It also seemed to be a very popular local place, it was full on the Friday we ate in another place, not the same at all. We resevered a place for Sunday wanting to taste the cuisine once more. It was my gran aunts 80th birthaday and the staff came out with a little cake for her. We were so grateful and it made our stay very special. Well worth a visit if you like good food and people.

Favorite Dish: Sopa Pescado - a starter but a meal in its self, didn't realise had to tell staff when to stop pouring so I had an enormous bowl of soup yum! I love fish so the Pescados y mariscos, merluza or hak in cheese sauce is soooo nice. The veal is good too. Portions are so good you won't be hungry. Food is never over salty ( it was in a lot of other places we tried when we couldnt get a table at Izkina)
You will be happily stuffed on the set menu which includes wine. Or you could simply order a main meal which really would be adequate we just like our food and grew up with the old adage of waste not want not and enjoyed every single morsel that was put in front of us. Now comes diet time! :-)
Eskerrik asko guys!

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The Txikiteo is typical for the Basque area, and especially for Donostia.
What is it?
In fact it's a kind of tapas stroll during which you eat Pinxtos, the Basque version of Spanish tapas, and drink Txakolí. The bars in the pubs are filled up with plates with small servings of any food you can think of. The drink that goes best with it is Txakolí, a slightly sparkling dry white wine (see other tip).
How does it work?
You enter the bar, ask for a plate, pick out what you want to eat (or ask the bartender if it's something that has to be cooked), order a drink, go to the cashier, show your plate and pay. Many pinxtos bars have only a few seatings, so it's perfectly normal to eat your food standing at the bar. After you have finished you walk away, to the next bar where the procedure is to be repeated. And so on until your stomach is fully satisfied.
Where can I find those pinxtos bars?
All over Donostia, but especially concentrated in the Fermin Kalbeton Kalea and surrounding streets.

Favorite Dish: Difficult to tell but I'll give a selection of what we've seen:
-slices of Jamón Iberico
-Manchego cheese
-small stuffed sandwiches
-grilled shrimps in garlic butter
-quail eggs sunny-side-up
-Pata Negra
-anchovies with spider crab
-toast with foie gras or smoked salmon
-stuffed red peppers / mushrooms / artichokes
-cod fillet
-txipiroiak (small squids in black ink sauce)
etc. etc.

Txakolí is a slightly sparkling dry white wine that is often served with pinxtos (see other tip). The traditional way of serving this wine is by pouring it with the arm upwards into the glass. They use wide lemonade-style glasses for txakolí.

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The Basque area surrounding San Sebastian is getting well known for it's cutting edge cuisine. We dined in the surrounding foothills on the patio at Zuberoa. From the starter of cream infused with truffle, through the various courses of squid soup, hake, suckling pig, lobster salad combined with a wonderful Ochoa 99 Cabernet, it was a wonderful evening. The restuarant specializes in serving lamb and you can share a 1/4 lamb amoung friends. It is very expensive, about $100 per person. The service was excellent and the owner/chef greeted us as we left.

The food in San Sebastian is top notch! Every bar tries to outperform the next, and the results are happy customers. As you have read by now, drift from bar to bar and have a few pinxtos and a few beer or wines and then wander to the next.

Large portions, good prices, fun name and plastic picks that look like swords (great to have play fights with).

Not the most traditional basque food but it was good all the same. It is not really a restaurant as such but a place to get a sandwich or such like.

Favorite Dish: Big french bread sandwiches