As readers of last week’s post (oddly mostly read in the 🇺🇸 🤷) will know I have been on holiday (when I am rightly crowned Supreme Leader of the Universe, use of the word “Holibobs” will be punishable by 30 years + hard labour in methane mines I shall set up on Saturn’s moon of Enceladus) in Donostia-San Sebastian (“DSS“) and Bilbao for a week of excess (ate and drunk far too much, if truth be told). I was going to call this post “A tale of two cities” covering Bilbao as well as DSS, but it got so long (even for me), that I had to ditch the Bilbao bit. I may or may not (depending on whether I can be arsed to be honest) do a standalone Bilbao post in the coming weeks.

When I first started to go to DSS (13 plus years ago, a true wonder back then) transport options in terms of getting there, were limited. The ferry (nice, but pricey) to Santander and then drive across from Cantabria or a flight from Stanstead (utter ballache to get to from Cardiff) to Biarritz (actually closer to DSS than Bilbao) and the bus across the border.

Things are a bit easier now, with regular flights from Bristol (Tuesday, Thursdays and Sundays, I think) to Bilbao and a once a hour bus from the airport to DSS (can easily buy tickets, about a tenner each, from a machine on the main concourse  close to the Arrivals exit with the bus stop just outside).

The start to day one at Bristol airport was rather eventful, with me thinking I had left my wallet in one of those security grey bin things (I hadn’t) and rushing off to check, leaving my carry on bag in duty free which was then taken away by security (as the rest of my party had buggered off into departures).  After profuse apologies to a stern (but ultimately quite nice) security lady,  I got it back all to the seeming hilarity of the 3 in departures. I was just happy to have both my wallet and bag and took the, well deserved, ribbing with good cheer!

Flight and bus journey out the way (all went smoothly), we had a little time to kill before we could get into our apartment and thought having lunch in the interim a good plan (we had been cautious timing wise, not knowing what bus we would be able to get from the airport, so actually had more time to kill than we anticipated).

Weather in DSS can be rather unpredictable (is a bit like here), with good days

and bad days

and oft 4 seasons in one day.

All makes packing a bit of a mare, with my advice being bring a light raincoat regardless of the weather forecast (if it is anything like here, a case of the “Mercury is going to hit 70f/21c, so put on the factor 50000 and hide in the fridge until the crisis abates and the weather returns to a damp, “still scorchio”, 54f/12c – be careful out there people“).

Day 1

Our first stop of the trip,  before lunch, was at Bar Sport in the Old Town.

which serves good pintxos and nicely priced glasses of decent wine, txakoli (very dry white from the Pais Vasco region for me) and rioja (for 2) and a zurito (small, 150ml, beer for Mrs.SF)

The pinxtos that allegedly started it all off in Donostia-San Sebastian was the Gilda (named in homage to film with Rita Hayworth as lead and  pronounced hilda, with a hard guttural H) and with two DSS newbies with us this was our first order (think they were like a quid)

An enduring classic for a reason, with the combination of peppery heat, sour and briney, saltiness.

Lunch was at Pollitena, a short hop across the old town from Bar Sport

for a very good value set menu.

If you are looking for something that is fancy pants this isn’t for you, as this place is just good honest “no fills” cooking

You could do a lot of worse that this place, after an early morning flight like ours and then bus journey, to reinvigorate.

The set menu meal comes with the house red wine (a limited,but drinkable, Yecla wine – half bottle each).

We added a Beronia Crianza for a mere €15.60/£12.30.

Evening wise, we kept it fairly low key, in the Old Town, starting a Bar Paco Bueno,

with crispy prawns in batter (cheaps as chips – can’t remember exactly how much   but around €2.50/£2.10 tops for 2 prawns).

and pintxos de txulta (€3.90/£3.30)

at Txvleta, with cheaps as chips wine (just over €2.00 for 125 ml glass for the likes of Ramon Bilbao Crianza).

Simple, but very satisfying pintxos these.

Day 2

Our rather plush apartment was in Centro close to both the old town and La Concha beach

and handily located just a couple of streets from an old favourite of mine and Mrs. SF in the form of Bar Antonio (in Centro)

We had rather mixed weather during our week (perils of Northern Spain), but the sun was out on Day 2 and we sat outside.

Lovely bar this, with a great menu of both pintxos and larger racione dishes.

All good, including jamon and chips, deep fried prawns and exemplary croquetas.

The pick of the bunch was a tomato salad with ventresca (tuna belly) and sweet Spanish onions. The toms were bursting with flavour (why do toms in the UK taste of sweet FA as against ones here) and the tuna top notch Great bar this, with really friendly and helpful staff.

All of the above with 8 + glasses of wine and water came to around €50/£42.

We then wandered across the river to Gros (with the weather taking a turn for the worse), people tend to focus on the Old Town but Gros has some great bars, and another favourite in the form of Bergera Bar.

Really interesting selection of hot and cold pintxos, with us indulging in the hot

Always quality at this place,

with the stand outs a really good anchovy tortilla (think €4/£3.40) and a fideua (top right – €5.50/£4.60). The former was really elevated to the next level flavour wise by the addition of anchovy, with a big umami hit. Definitely a dish greater than the sum of its parts. As always, cheap rioja and txakoli were had (€3 for a glass of Biagorri that is £15 + retail a bottle in the UK).

Great bar, but I do think you pay a little extra (worth it though) as a result of the Michelin plaque outside.

Another old favourite, in Gros, was next on the list in the form of Bodegas Donostiarra.

Nice terrace here and they do a good value plato del dia.

We settled on Indurians (€3.50/£3 – a variation on the classic gilda) and a punchy roquefort tortilla (€5.45/£4.60)

and, of course, plenty of wine. Good spot for people watching this, especially on the terrace if the weather is fine, but it is always heaving (you can book).

After a brief sojourn back at the apartment,  we ventured forth again keeping it local with Bar Iturrioz (in Centro),

Good selection of pintxos and raciones, with nicely priced wines by the glass

Stars of the pintxos show

were a lovely bit of beef cheek in a red wine sauce (€5/£4.20) and magret of duck (cooked rare – €4.50/£3.80).

Nice bar this, and not too busy (if you want a break from the hustle and bustle of the Old Town this is a good spot).

Day 3

Miserable start to the day, with it absolutely pouring down and my dodgy knee playing up. Getting zero sympathy from the other 3, we went to the maritime museum and aquarium.

Good way to spend a few hours (non food or drink related this) with the museum really informative and with lots of interesting and big fish in the aquarium bit (admission was not to pricey at €14/£12.85 a head).

With the rain abating, we had a quick stop in the rather fine Plaza de La Constitucion in the Old Town (bars here can be a bit touristy, but it is a nice spot if the sun is out for people watching),

which brought croquetas (cheese)

and fried guindilla peppers (prefer them to padrons to be honest). A manzanilla and then a tinto de verano doing the business refreshment wise for the purpose of easing me back into the saddle.

We then sojourned (well 2 of us did, the other 2 did some shopping before joining us) to an old favourite Bar Martinez.

Their signature pintxos dish (top left below – very good) is a red pepper stuff with white tuna in a tartare sauce and sherry vinegrette (couple of €s I think),

but a simple but oh so effective garlic (masses of it) mushroom dish (Championies Martinez – €2.50/£2.10) stole the show. Tortilla, pinchos morunos (€5.5/£4.65 and a brocheta de gambas (€3.8/£3.20) were also excellent, all washed down with  good wine.

Nice bar this,with good food and wine,

although not as cheap as some.

In the evening we popped over to Gros (with the rain having returned) to a new bar for me in the form of Gure Txoko Taberna.

We went a bit nuts here and ordered a bevy of raciones (to share) and pintxos

Excellent lamb chops (pintxos- €4.90/£4.15 for 2 with potatoes, and €18.50/£15.60 for a racione), a  confit cod with an aioli grazing (€6.90/£5.85) and patatas bravas (€6.90 for a racione portion).

The stars of the show were the oddly translated “Iberico lizard” in boletus and sweet potato sauce (€16.90/£14.30 for a racione portion).

Cooked on point, this was a rare treat (excuse the pun). Wish we had more cooked rare iberico pork in UK, but no doubt the heath & safety stormtroopers here would nuke from orbit any establishment that tried!!

Buzzy place this with good food and decent (cheap) wine.

Really nice people too.

Well worth the short hop across the river to Gros.

Day 4

We went our separate way for lunch, with Mrs SF and I was keen to try Geralds Bar in Gros.

Nice looking set lunch menu

which was fair value at €24/£20 for three course.

We really should eat more rabbit, very sustainable and has an excellent flavour.

Decent wine list,

with stuff by the 50cl carafe (ideal for lunch). We went for a carafe of the Panduro monastrell (decent value at €25/£21, when it retails at £20 + a bottle in the UK)

In the evening, we started off in Centro and worked our way down to the Old Town on a rather lovely night.

First stop was Bar La Espaga, a quite old school Centro bar,

The veal brain and snout in sauce were vetoed by Mrs. SF, so we defaulted to the tuna vieja de thon (€3/£2.5), boulette de viande (meatball – €2 40/£2) and croustille de crevette rose (crispy batter prawns – €3/£2.50)

The tuna was definitely the star of the three, with good quality tuna in a ratatouille topped with a prawn and chilli thread in a pastry case.

Just across the road is The New Sansse (would suggest a bit of an English play on words),

a buzzy modern bar with an interesting menu.

Dishes ordered

included a lovely bit of wobbly hot foie with an apple compote (€5.95/£5), plancha grilled mushroom with an iberico ham crumb and a crispy filo pastry encasing a runny egg yolk and bacon (€2.75/£2.3). All good quality, washed down with (cheap) glasses of quality rioja

Next up was the very old school bar, in the form of Bar Ciaboga.

Whilst they do other stuff (not much), their signature patatas al ajillo (€3.70/£2.90) is a simple pleasure.

Just new potatoes, copious amounts of garlic and a paprika based seasoning 

Still in Centro, we moved on to a hotel bar at Sukaldean Aitor Santamaria. Pintxos were OK (small, we were warned, but not expensive).

What it is, is a really nice spot (just up from the promenade above La Concha beach) for a drink (with wine prices the same as in the bars – think here a perfectly acceptable rioja was €2.50).

We them moved down into the Old Town to finish off the night.

First up was a place, Restaurante SSua Arde Donostia, that has taken the lot where my beloved (but closed) A Fuego Negra used to be.

Menu looked good, with us going for the txerritalo (pork cheek taco – €5 50/£4.65), bonito (€6.00/£5) and the soft shell crab (€7.50/£6.35).

The pork cheek and tuna were nice, but the soft shell crab was not. Perhaps we chose badly, but my impression was it was not a patch on the old A Fuego Negra. Decent wine selection, with me having a pleasant glass of  godello for (I think) €3/£2.50.

Next up on the same street was Casa Gandarias

By this time, I think it is fair to say we were slightly worse for wear but we remorsely ploughed on with more rioja and a change back to meat

Think what I had was a duck brocheta (€6.80/€5.75). Other dishes were a lamb brocheta (I think – €4.80/£4 5 ) and a nicely rare t bone mini burger (€3.95/£3.34). Good selection of wines here, with riojas stating in the low €2s for  a glass of something perfectly drinkable.

We closed off the night, rather merry, at Bar La Vina

for Basque cheesecake and pedro ximenez (no idea as to prices – it was a long day).

Day 5

Despite the previous day’s excesses, we were all surprisingly chipper in the morning and decided to climb Mount Urgill

No mean feat, with my dodgy knee at the time.

We had lunch reservations at Zazpi (see last week’s post), but had a few pre lunch wines and oysters on the terrace at Kata 4 (Centro) kicked started the day.

Good spot this for a chilled out drink, with excellent oysters (other food looked good too).

In the evening we kept it fairly low key (bus journey next day).

First up was Casa Urula in the Old Town

Great bar this, with some really interesting dishes and good wine

We had a few very classy dishes, with a lovely custardy slab of grilled foie, with white bean in a killer broth (€6.50/£5 50)

and a globe artichokes (cardoon, I think) with jamon and a creamy sauce (€5 50/€4.65). A really good bit of steak with red pepper and potato foam (€5.10/£4.30 – decent portion too) was eaten before a pic was taken

Proceeding were brought to a close for the night at Baluarte. Big place (inside) with a nice terrace (outside), it is a good place to get away from the crowds/win(e)d the night down. Decent wines

pintxos and raciones.

We went for a sharing plate of fried (not deep fried) anchovies

Prices wise, no idea how much they were (not cheap), but very nice.

We called it a night and the next day travelled to Bilbao for a couple of nights stay, but that is another tale (I may or may not tell).

The verdict

Whilst it was more touristy than I remember, we didn’t make it to a couple of favourites (ridiculously busy when we  tried) and a few other favourites have closed, and prices have (inevitably) gone up, for the value and quality of the food and drink and the sheer volume of places to drink and eat DSS still takes some beating.

My advice to first timers is:

Gets this book from Tourist Information office

Go to the most popular bars outside of peak times (they can be manic especially in the Old Town and some seem to set capacity limits post covid).

Don’t linger too long in each bar, with the idea being a drink and pinxtos and then move to the next one (never far), although I often don’t practice what I preach on this front.

Don’t forget areas outside of the Old Town, such as Gros and Centro (some great bars in those areas and they are usually a bit less frenetic).

It is not all about the pintxos, with good restaurants for lunch and dinner abounding (at various price points).

Tag on at least a couple of days stay in Bilbao (it is great too).

Details

We stayed in Arzak in Centro. Great apartment, very well spec’d with a nice outdoor space (if it isn’t raining), in a super location.