Eating all the pintxos

Part 2 of the trip San Sebastián 2019. Go to part 1 or part 3.

What do people do when they visit San Sebastián? They eat.

We were no exception.

With thanks to Chris’s foursquare list and our AirBnB host’s home-made pintxo map, we visited more than 20 pintxos bars over 4 says. Lots of great micro-dishes.

I listened to a podcast last year that talked about how people only really remember the first bite of a dish. So you might go for an truly amazing meal - but if you only have one dish you’ll only really remember that first bite. One memory. But if you try several dishes, you’ll have a much richer memory. It ended by recommended sharing more dishes and getting starters over mains - you’ll try more and have more memories of the occasion. Eating pintxos is exactly like this - in an evening you’re having 10-20 different bites. So many more memories.

I don’t have any photos of them, but the potato tortillas everywhere were great. I’m on the hunt now for similar ones in London.

Looking directly down the Urumea river to the next bridge. There’s lots of green trees on each side of the bank, and the water is calm.
View down the river Urumea.
Looking up at an ornate bandstand roof. The bandstand is oval in shape and the upper walls have stained glass.

Our pintxo stand-outs in order:

If I had to pick one to recommend it would be Casa Urola in a heartbeat - everything we tried was fantastic and interesting. The beef at Gandaria was tastiest single thing I had, but the other dishes were so so.

A plate of pintxos on a wooden bench next to a basket of bread, a glass of beer, and a glass of white wine. One pinxto is a slice of baguette with ham. The other is half of a sea urchin.
Sea urchin pinxo - one of Gandarias’ specialties.
A plate of fried mushrooms with an unbroken egg yoke in the centre.
Hongos at Ganbara.
Looking down on a plate of food. There’s two fried pieces of cod’s chek, with a sprig of seaweed and green dressing drizzled about.
Cod’s cheek at La Cuchara de San Telmo
A close up of a bowl of food. The bowl contains a single scallop in a white cream sauce. There’s scattered fried seaweed on top.
Scallops at Casa Urola
A close up of a small bowl of food with a spoon in the side. The bowl contains two chunks of octopus in a white creamy sauce.
Octopus at Casa Urola
A plate of food just before it gets eaten. A knife and fork are poised to cut in to the plate. The plate contains a single large piece of meat with crispy skin.
Pork at La Cuchara de San Telmo
A small piece of beef sits on a plate green vinaigrette and a glass of beer in the background.
Beef cheeks at La Cuchara de San Telmo
A sunset over the bay in San Sebastián. There’s trees and signs in the foreground causing many silhouettes to break the sunset.
Just after sunset looking over the bay in San Sebastián.
At night time, looking down the beach promenade to the city. There’s a mix of yellow sodium lamps with more modern white leds.

Part 2 of the trip San Sebastián 2019. Go to part 1 or part 3. Shot in San Sebastián.