San Sebastián is one of the world's food capitals. Here cooking is a collective passion stretching from neighbourhood bars to the planet's most celebrated restaurants. For Basque cooking in general see the Basque Country and Spanish cuisine.
Pintxos
Pintxos (pinchos in Castilian) are small portions of food, often on a slice of bread and speared with a cocktail stick, displayed on bar counters. Today they fall into two families: cold ones, ready on the counter, and hot ones, made to order and listed on a blackboard. The first historic pintxo is the gilda, a skewer of olive, anchovy and pickled chilli, said to have been born in the 1940s at Casa Vallés and named after Rita Hayworth's character, "green, salty and a little spicy".
How a pintxo crawl works
You go in a group from bar to bar (txikiteo or poteo), have one or two pintxos and a glass, a zurito (small beer) or txakoli, the sparkling Basque white poured from a height, and move on. In crowded bars you squeeze to the counter and order from the barman; you pay at the end, saying what you had. Every bar has its speciality.
Where to go
- The Parte Vieja: calle 31 de Agosto, Fermín Calbetón, calle del Puerto and calle Mayor, with dozens of historic and innovative bars such as La Cuchara de San Telmo, Gandarias, Borda Berri, La Viña, famous for its cheesecake, Txepetxa for anchovies and Ganbara for mushrooms.
- Gros, across the river, more local and popular with young people, with bars such as Bergara and Bodega Donostiarra.
- Centro and Egia, for less touristy alternatives.
Dishes to try
Txuleta, the big grilled beef steak; bacalao al pil-pil and a la vizcaína; kokotxas, hake cheeks; txangurro, baked spider crab; angulas and anchovies; Gernika peppers; and in winter cider in the sagardotegis, the cider houses around Astigarraga, with the traditional menu of salt-cod omelette and txuleta.
Stars and gastronomic societies
San Sebastián and its surroundings have more three-star Michelin restaurants than any comparable area: Arzak, founded in 1897 and now led by Elena Arzak, Pedro Subijana's Akelarre, Martín Berasategui in Lasarte, plus Andoni Luis Aduriz's Mugaritz and many other starred restaurants. The city is also home to the Basque Culinary Center, a gastronomy university. Finally, the sociedades gastronómicas, private clubs where members cook and eat together, are the secret heart of Basque food culture: you need a member's invitation to get in.