The Basque language is rather unique, with Euskera believed to be the oldest living language in Europe. Written it, certainly to my untutored and very unlinguistic brain, looks very different yet oddly familiar to Spanish  It makes much more use of the end bits of the alphabet than most other languages (that use the Latin alphabet), with lots of t’s, x’s and z’s. Zazpi, for instance, is seven in Basque, as opposed to siete in Spanish.

This brings me to the culinary capital of Pais Vasco/the Basque Country in the form of Donostia-San Sebastian, a place I have visited many times but not for a fair few years. It seems to have, in the intervening period, been hit hard by various crises (not least the Covid pandemic) and some of the bars I use to love (including La Cucheria de San Telmo, A Fuego Negra and Bar Zeruko seem to have gone). The old town seems less vibrant (and more touristy) than I remember, with the introduction of queue systems at certain bars rather than the elbows out, free for all, I was use to (I hate queuing for food and drink) from previous visits.

One of my favourites (outside of the often frenetic old town) was Zazpi in Centro and whilst they are no longer at their old Centro locale they have (rather gratifyingly) move to an Old Town location (away from the main drags).

Pintxo crawls in Donostia-San Sebastian are great, but during our trips there we like to have at least one full-blown, relatively fancy, sit-down meal.

As I simply cannot justify dropping potentially €1,000 plus per head for lunch at one of the 3 star Michelin temples (the taster menu at Martín Berasategui is €395 with pairing wine flights starting at €210 and going up to €680), we tend to drop down the food chain a bit. As such, for said meal the place of choice for this trip was Zazpi.

Great looking menu,

at a much less heart stopping price of €85, with a good (quality and price) wine list (very important to me) and a very pleasant dining space.

First up was, the now standard extra, amuse bouche

in the form of an ethereally light spider crab mousse, with textural contrast provided by crab infused breadcrumbs. Very pleasant, with a lovely lightness of touch both in texture and flavour.

Bread followed (regularly replenished if you wished),

with the fairly standard bread coming with a very interesting butter infused with coffee. Enjoyed this, with the fruity, nuttiness of coffee really coming through (could be the next marmite butter this) yet it thankfully lacking any bitter notes. I do, however, bemoan the lack of salt in butter in a lot of Southern European countries.

The next course was one of my favourites of the whole meal

with presentation at a level a lot better than some stuff I saw at the Guggenheim in Bilbao (modern art is wasted, it seems, on a pleb like me) and some lovely flavours.

A carbinero emulsion added rich and intense umami flavours, with the lightly pickled veg needed to tone down that richness. Trout roe (much less briney than most) added a nice textural contrast, lightly popping a subtle grassiness on the tongue. I thought the salad leaves an unnecessary addition, though.

Next up was a dish that we all found a bit of a challenge to eat (some more than others – Dante’s 7th/zazpi-th ring of hell for two of our party) .

On paper, it sounded delightful with oyster, lemon and cauliflower

in practice the dish was completely dominated by what I can only describe as a “tarmacking” of squid ink over the oyster. So first to the good bits, the lemon foam worked well with the nutty richness of the cauliflower puree and the pepperiness of the nasturtium leaf.

Now to the bit we all struggled with in the form of the squid ink,

which based on its copious application must have come from a kraken.

I don’t mind squid ink, but to me it is definitely a “less is more” ingredient with a little going a long way. In moderation, you get essence of the sea with a briney fishiness and a bit of umami.  Here the sheer quantity of it (not helped by its thick consistency) totally obliterated the other elements, with eating it basically feeling like you were being waterboarded with seawater and then dosed up with enough iodine to ensure you would be just fine and dandy sitting inside reactor 4 at Chernobyl.

Texturally and visually it was also a challenge, with the oyster coated in stuff that had the consistency and clingiest of bitumen. To be honest, it could have been Shergar or even Lord Lucan under there and I am not sure I would have twigged

Two of our party simply couldn’t stomach it, but insisted I eat mine and theirs. I (as a true culinary league warrior) managed to dispatch the second, but even the third was beyond my acquaman abilities and felt akin to a Squid Game task (which very nearly came back to haunt me, if you get my drift).

A potentially nice idea ruined by an inexplicably excessive use of one ingredient. A few dabs of it would have made, I think, for a fine dish with the other ingredients.  In the form we got it, however, it simply does not work!!

The result of the chef having Lovecraftian nightmares of Cthulhu?

The kitchen was back on form with a delightful pasta dish

replete with that stable of Basque cooking, txanguarra (spider crab – why we don’t eat more of this stuff in the UK, with us having an abundance of it which we sell almost all to the Spanish and the French, remains a mystery to me).

Silky pasta enveloped a rich and heady mix of said spider crab in a punchy sauce, which has a saline nuttiness to it.

A whopper of a prawn on top sat in the sweet spot between rubberiness (under) and cotton wool (over), with a nice sweetness to it. Leek provided an alium hit of acidity and basil a touch of metallic freshness. Very nice, almost comforting, dish this that expunged the excess of the previous kraken inspired dish and had me yearning for a larger portion.

The kraken was back in the building for the next course, with a whole squid, lightly grilled, sitting on a mound of slow cooked stewed squid (with more ink), and again split the table.

The whole squid was nicely cooked (for me at least – Mrs. SF felt hers was a touch rubbery), with just that little bit of chew and some delicious crispy tenticules that had a taste reminiscent of pork crackling.

The stewed squid, cooked slow to a pleasing tenderness, had a distinctly meaty quality to it which invoked bacon (both in taste and texture) to my unrefined palate. The squid ink here, in the form of a delicate tuille that topped the dish and in the underneath stew, was much more restrained in nature and added a pleasant saline and umami hit to the proceedings (that amped up the baconesque feel to the stew). Onions, lightly pickled halves and in a puree, bought sweet and sour to the party.

Two of us (me included) enjoyed this dish, the others baulked at what they thought was a return to the ordeal of the earlier Squid Game.

Mains allowed a choice, with that being (notionally) either beef or squab (the latter basically fledgling pigeons of only about 20 days age)  One of our party doesn’t really eat red meat and they were very accommodating in slotting in another main course for her.

Having already eaten a lot of beef in Donostia-San Sebastian at this point (with much more on the agenda at the next stop , Bilbao) I decided on the squab.

Nice looking, minimalist,  plate this

Cooked on point the breast meat was blushing pink , with a mild gameiness.

Ideally I would have liked the skin crisped up a bit more, but with such a small bird (baby pidgeon) I can see how tricky that could be without the risk of overcooking it (blow torch maybe).

The leg and wing were a bit scrawny, but again it is part of the deal with such a small bird, with a richer gaminess to them than the breast. They sat in a rather fine, offal rich, jus.

The star of the show for me was a pâté made from the bird’s liver, heart and other probably unmentionable bits that usually get binned. Really gamey, with a goldilocks (not too smooth or course) texture.

With all the rich gaminess, the tomato and apple “chutney” (not really what I would call a chutney,  more a concassé to me) provided a need refreshing and slightly sour counterpoint.

I didn’t try the beef as it was scoffed before I got the chance of any theft attempt (likely extreme violence would have been deployed, in any event, to thwart any such attempted heist on my part).

Fine looking bit of sirloin this, with a nice char to the exterior and a ruby red interior submitting in a meat jus.

I was told the mushroom and potato terrine was very nice, but it did seem a bit dinky in stature, even as part of a tasting menu.

The substitute meat course was a rather fine couple of pieces of confit and roasted suckling pig (milk feed pig of around one month of age)

Lovely bit of pork this, with crisp, gossimer thin, crackling atop a generous seam of rendered down fat (we all know where there is fat there is flavour) and buttery,  spoon tender, meat. Pure piggy pleasure.

It sat on a potato puree, which had a lovely silky texture (generously seasoned, with unseasoned mash a heinous culinary crime in my book), and a rich pork stock jus. A simple, but very effective dish.

With the savoury stuff done, we moved on to the sweet elements of the menu.

The advertised creamy flan, with cheese, apple and intxaursalsa (a traditional Basque dessert which translates to “nut sauce“) was not what I expected but nice nonetheless.

The flan was akin to a set custard (putting one of our party off, weirdo has an aversion to any food that wobbles 🤷)/creme caramel (without the caramel). Nice level of acidity from the grapefruit pieces and a citrus dominated gel, but I didn’t really get any of the nut, cheese or apple elements. It did operate as an effective palate cleanser.

Reminded me of the dessert I had as part of the Gorse set lunch menu.

The second dessert was a real Bobby Dazzler,

with a stark whiteness to it with just a touch of contrasting brown. It was called chocolate moon and it did have a rather lunar feel to it.

The sphere encased slightly (thankfully not overly) sweet white chocolate mousse and a rich chocolate sauce.

Seemed almost a shame to crack it open, but it contents were a delight.

A lovely milk ice-cream, with a distinct and welcome lactic tang, sat on a mound of slightly bitter chocolate soil. The white powder stuff was lemon flavoured and helped to counteract the chocolatety sweetness. This was one of the best desserts I have had in a long time.

Food wise, proceeding were brought to a close by a couple of petite fours

Decent madelines and cubes of ganache, but I always think it odd (with a tasting menu) that coffee isn’t thrown in as part of the deal. We did have coffees and they were as cheap as chips (€1.60 for a huge cafe solo and the same for the cortados), which made it all the odder here.

Price wise, at €85 (so about £72) it is a bit cheaper (I would say) than a comparable meal in the UK, but not massively so.

This brings me to the wine.

The list here is a very nice mix of mainly Spanish wines, which I will use to have a moan about UK restaurant wine prices in a mo, but first to what we drunk with our food.

I spied a perennial favourite of mine on the list in the form of the white rioja from Finca Allende (here a 2019 and €39/£33 on the list, which you can get at the Wine Society in the UK for £24/€28) and it was a no brainer to order it.

A fairly full bodied white, with just hints of oak and vanilla. Nice citrus (grapefruit) and stone (peach) fruits, as well as a touch of nuttiness. Lovely with the seafood elements of the meal, but with enough weight to cope with the meaty stuff too.

On the reds I don’t think I have ever had a bad wine from Telmo Rodriguez and this wine from his Lanzaga estate in Rioja was no exception.

Lots going on here, with herbal notes  on the nose as well as red and black cherries and vanilla.  This was followed by black plums, sweet red berries, a distinct touch of citrus zest and then minerality on the palate. Whilst still a bit of a baby, with tannins (but well intergrated) in the mix, it was drinking well already. I do think it will improve over the next 5 years and some.  Very good value at the list price of €42/£35.50, when it retails (in the UK) at around the £30 mark.

With the desserts, it would have been rude not to partake in a selection of sweet wines and three glasses of three different wines (one actually a sweet cider) were duly ordered.

I had the Astrobiza vendimia tardia, a late harvest gros manseng from the Basque Country.  Sweet and creamy, yet with plenty of acidity and freshness in the mouth, it gave off aromas of sweet baked pear and apple. Acidity came in the form of citrus fruit and stone fruit (peach). Very fairly priced at €5 a glass, when it retails at £24.99 for a 37.5ml bottle and I would like to try this with blue cheese (cabrales maybe).

A PX (from El Maestro Sierra- a bargain at €4 a glass when it retails in UK at £30 + a bottle) was typically sticky with fig, raisin and a touch of chocolate.

The final “wine“(not actually a wine) was the pick of a high-class field. An ice cider/sidra de hielo, this Zapiain Bizo – Goxo (€6 a glass, again decent value when a 50cl  bottle in Spain is €24) was all toffee apple, baked apple with cinnimon and candied fruits, with refreshing lemony acidity keeping the sweetness in check. Just lovely from the taste I had and I need to buy some of this stuff for the cellar.

The verdict

Donostia – San Sebastian is (to most people’s mind) all about the pinxtos and Michelin starred temples of molecular gastronomy, but there are a number of  quality restaurants that sit below those palaces of the palate that offer really good food at fair prices and wine at very fair prices.

The squid ink overload/Cthulhu nightmare  aside, the food at Zazpi is very good (and the wine list an absolute bargain by UK restaurant standards) and I would add it to the likes of Bodegon Alejandro, Rekondo and Casa Urula as good places to eat a full sit down meal (with excellent wine) without breaking the bank in Donostia-San Sebastian

Our bill was €445 (san a well deserved tip, service was charming, which we gave)

was to my mind very good value (at £94 a head) based on 4 of us eating very well and drinking a fair bit of high quality booze.

On the value point, I am now going to have a bit of a moan about UK wine prices in restaurants.

Below is an extract of wines from this place’s list.

So let’s have a look at these prices compared to the UK. The latest vintage of AS Sorte (a truly lovely godello wine from the D.O. Valdeorras in Galcia) is £61/€72 at Berry Brothers in the UK (in Spain it is about €55 retail) and in Sabor (a London restaurant) it is £150/€177 as against €85/£72 on the list here.

The Remelluri Blanco (absolutely fabulous Telmo Rodriguez white rioja, like no other, wine) is also on the list here for €85/£72 and retails in the UK at £79.90/€94.50 (goes for €60 + retail in Spain), so it is cheaper in this restaurant than it is to buy in the UK retail. Apply UK restaurant mark up and at the Witchery (in Edinburgh) this wine is on their list for  £175/€207 (so well over a €100 more than at Zazpi)!!!

The disparity in prices charged as against the UK is stark.

Now I know wine is a big element of how restaurants turn a profit and I certainly don’t begrudge them the ability to do so, but if Spanish restaurants can turn a profit on the above sort of mark ups on wine how is it only possible for UK restaurants to make a reasonable return based on much, much higher mark ups?

There was a recent interesting article by Jamie Goode on corkage etiquette to which my response was “In Spain corkage is pretty much an irrelevance due to the low mark ups the restaurants tend to apply“.

There seems to me to be a real risk of restaurants in the UK pricing punters out of buying wine and the return on a no sale is zero regardless of the margin you may  (notionally) apply. In Spain, I tend to move up the quality scale as prices are reasonable. Don’t tend to do that in UK, with prices (for even pretty indifferent “house” wines) starting at £30 + in a lot of place and paying corkage and bringing my own wine is becoming an increasingly attractive option to me.

Perhaps I am missing something, but in Spain at the higher end of wines (I included the comparisons I used above to that end, with comparison more difficult at the lower end due to the bigger impact at the lower price points of the differing duty regimes) retail prices are not wildly different from those in the UK. So why are mark ups so markedly lower in most Spanish restaurants as against those in the UK?

Details

Address: Plaza Zuloaga 1, Donostia – San Sebastian, Gipuzkoa.

Website: https://www.zazpistm.com/