- genderfluid and beautiful
- Feb 1, 2005
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If I was going to be in San Sebastien for a few days, and my intent was to eat as much as possible (and perhaps sightsee a very tiny bit), would anyone here have any recommendations? I know the general answer is "TAPAS. WINE. REPEAT", which is on the agenda, but looking for something a bit more specific if anyone has experience. Thanks!
genderfluid and beautiful fucked around with this message at 19:30 on Aug 27, 2015
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Aug 27, 2015 19:28
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May 4, 2024 10:35
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- genderfluid and beautiful
- Feb 1, 2005
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That's Basque country, isn't it?
That is my understanding.
...squash?
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Aug 27, 2015 21:08
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- genderfluid and beautiful
- Feb 1, 2005
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I made a big list of San Sebastian stuff for when we went, we didn't get to all of these so not all are personal recommendations. Something to keep in mind is that a lot of the pintxos (what they call tapas in the north) places are extremely crowded at peak hours. Pretty much every place we went to that was super crowded ended up being not that great an experience even if the food was good because we felt we were continually fighting for a place to stand and had minimal space to set down any plates. Not sure how much Spanish you know but if you don't speak Spanish well it's even more difficult because that makes it harder to get the attention of a server and to order. Most places have ready made pintxos that sit out on the bar that are ready to eat or just need to be briefly heated so you can just point to those but in general the made to order stuff is better. Some places have an English menu, some don't. If your Spanish is subpar, I found it made things a lot easier if I kept a list of recommended dishes at each place so I already knew what to order when I got there.
If you are fine with more of a bar experience and hanging out and ordering dishes at a slower pace it may not be too bad but if you want to try a lot of different dishes and your focus is on eating, try to go as soon as places open (either for lunch or when they reopen for dinner) before it gets too crowded. If a place is open all day without closing during siesta, go during that time in between lunch and dinner and it will be much less crowded.
Here are sit-down places I was thinking of, we didn't end up having time for a sit down meal though:
La Muralla: good value, 3 course prix fixe for 25 €
Calle Embeltrán, 3. 20003 San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa
Sa/Mo: 1:00 – 3:30 pm. 8:00 – 11:00 pm. Su: 1:00 – 3:30 pm
La Fábrica: sister restaurant to above
Calle del Puerto, 17. 20003 Donostia. Gipuzkoa
Sa-Su. 1:00 – 4:00 pm, 8:00 – 11:00 pm. M 12:30 – 4:00 pm7:30 – 11:30 pm
Bodegón Alejandro: part of Mugaritz family of restaurants. prix fixe lunch for 23 €
Calle de Fermín Calbetón, 4, 20003 Donostia-San Sebastián, Guipúzcoa
Sa 1:00 – 3:30 pm, 8:30 – 10:30 pm. Su 1:00 – 3:30 pm
Restaurante Ni Neu
De Zurriola Hiribidea, 1. 20002 Donostia
+34 943 00 31 62. Thu-Sa 10a-11p, Su, Tu-W 10a - 8p
Restaurante Narru: http://www.narru.es/
Zubieta Kalea, 56
+34 943 42 33 49. 1:30p - 3:30p, 8:30 - 11p
Kokotxa: 1 michelin star. prix fixe lunch options but maybe not on Saturday
Calle del Campanario, 11, 20003 Donostia-San Sebastián, Guipúzcoa
+ 34 943 42 1904. Sa: 1:30-3:30p, 8:45-11aa
Pintxos, I'll * the ones we actually went to:
Bar Haizea - Aldamar Kalea 8 : classic pintxos
Phone:+34 943 42 57 10. M-Sa. 6:30a (?) - 11p. Su 10a - 3:30p
Txakoli: light sparkling wine, peppers pickled with anchovies, crispy pastries with stuffings, e.g. codfish, foie gras, langoustine
Ganbara - Calle de San Jerónimo, 21. Known for its mushrooms. (closed Su afternoon + M)
Bar Goiz Argi - Calle Fermin Calbeton, 4: brocheta de gambas - prawn bruschetta. Txangurro para calendar - cream of crab (W-M 9:30a-3:30p, W-Su 6:30p-11:30p)
Borda Berri - Calle de Fermin Calbeton, 12. Carrillera de ternera al vino tinto - beef cheek (1-4p, 8:30-10:30p, closed Sunday)
*Enjoyed this place, got the following dishes
-Carrillera de ternera al vino tinto - Beef cheeks in red wine sauce. very tender braised beef cheeks
-rosotto de idiazabal and de hongos - risotto with mushrooms and a type of northern cheese, good though made with orzo not rice
-ravioli de txangurro - crab ravioli. pretty good
-callos de bacalao (cod tripe) - this was a recommended dish but the texture isn't for everyone (soft and creamy) and it was really rich, it's not something I wanted more than a couple bites of
Munto - Calle de Fermin Calbeton, 17 (closed Monday)
*We liked it here, I think this was one place we went to in the in between lunch and dinner time
-We loved both the croquettes we tried: Seafood croquette with squid ink, mushroom croquette
-rosotto de idiazabal - another version of that risotto
-young eels on toast - it was okay, we wanted to try the young eels somewhere but only saw them on pre-prepared pintxos and the bread was soft as it was probably sitting there for a bit
-mushroom and cheese on toast - however, this was a pre-prepared pintxos that we tried very soon after they brought out the tray and it was really good. I think we ordered a couple more things when we saw them coming out fresh and they were pretty good then
Tamboril - Calle Pescaderia 2
Txepetxa - Calle Pescaderia, 5. Known for its big fat antxoas (anchovies) (W-Sa 12-3p, 7-11p. Sun lunch only, Tu dinner only, Monday closed)
Bar Zeruko - Calle Pescaderia, 10 (Tu-Sa 12-4p, 7p-12a. Sunday lunch only)
*The food here was really good and they have more modern pintxos (I saw a copy of Modernist Cuisine at Home sitting near the cash register). However it was unpleasantly crowded and difficult to get served, we were here during prime time though. Maybe it'd be better if you went during less crowded hours
-bacalao served over hot coal - super tasty
-langoustine tempura - also good
-foie gras - decent but I thought it had too much going on with a too sweet sauce
-squid burger on puffed squid ink bun - was ok
-Rosa de bogavante - lobster served over a rose water perfume, tasty and impressive looking
La Cepa - Calle 31 de Agosto, 7. Known for its jamon. (We-Mo 11a-12a)
*Known for its jamon. This place was fine but not that interesting to me and not a lot of pintxos options that were not ready on the bar stuff.
-we had a plate of iberico that was really good but certainly you could get a better deal on iberico at a ham shop
-beef skewers - don't remember much about it
-peppers - a lot of pintxos places have peppers that they grill and toss with just a bit of oil and salt, they are really tasty, we got them at several places so definitely get them at some point. it was expensive here.
Casa Gandarias - Calle 31 de Agosto, 23. 11a - 12a)
*Loved this place, went in the in between lunch and dinner time and everything we had was good.
-Sirloin with potatoes and peppers
-grilled scallops
-croquettes
-grilled peppers
(pretty sure we ate more here too but can't remember what exactly, I think we had some of the pre-prepared pintxos when we saw them coming from the kitchen fresh)
A Fuego Negro - Calle 31 de Agosto, 31 (Tu-Su 10a-12a) - This place is more of a wine bar, the menu looked good but the kitchen doesn't open until dinner so we didn't get a chance to eat here
La Cuchara de San Telmo - Trasera, 28 (off Calle de Agosto, on a small dead-end street that is perpendicular to Agosto, near Bar Martinez). W-Su 12:30p-5:30p, 7:30p-11:30p. Tu dinner only, Monday closed)
*This place is one of the more recommended places but it was so incredibly crowded and it took forever for us to get the servers' attention to order and the food aside from one foie gras dish wasn't that good. Certainly not worth the wait. If you come across it at a less busy time maybe more worth trying.
Hidalgo 56 - Paseo colón 15, Gros (W-Mo 10a-12a)
Bar Nestor: steak and tomatoes
Pescaderia 11, San Sebastian - Donostia, Spain
+34 943 42 48 73. Tu-Su 12:30 - 4p. 7p-12a
We tried to go here for the steak and tomatoes which looked super good but they were sold out
Here are some other recommendations that our host sent us, didn't get a chance to do any of these:
I love you.
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Aug 28, 2015 18:10
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- genderfluid and beautiful
- Feb 1, 2005
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I went to san sebastian in I think 2010 with some friends into spending tons of money on food. we had a reservation at arzak. were blown away there
we got really loving drunk that night and after our expensive rear end satisfying meal, on a group dare called akalarre at like 11:30pm and asked if they had any tables the next day. they said yes, we confirmed. probably spent 1200 euros per person for both of those meals.
akalarre was hands down the most ridiculously stupid, shittily executed meal I've ever had in my life. the service was downright rude, we were maybe 26 or 27 at the time, the waiters repeatedly asked us if we'd be able to afford the bill, or if we were "in the industry" (I mean, I have been, but wasn't at that point - but in any case how is that even relevant and wtf???????) - the food and pairings made no sense whatsoever, we didn't get silverware even before our first silverware-needing course was dropped, we had a dish that literally tasted like a girl had thrown up in my mouth, I personally had a dish with hair in it that I sent back - and was sent back to me - same dish - with just the hairs removed
the head chef went around to literally every other table in the restaurant but didn't stop by ours (despite my burning desire to ask him so many questions about our poo poo meal) - near the end of the meal the somm asked us how everything had been, I indicated in the most subtle industry-friendly way that things had not gone as we'd expected, and there was 0 effort to acknowledge that anything had been amiss. I even asked about the chef's decisions about pairing, and the dish that had tasted like vomit - assuming maybe I was missing some local rendition of a classic regional dish I had never had before - and absolutely nothing. bill? 550 EUR p/p + tip.
gently caress AKALARRE.
Forgot to thank you as well! This is helpful as we now know what NOT to do. We've changed our trip a bit at the last minute, so we'll have two days in Madrid and two days in San Sebastian, but we'll make sure to bicycle by Akalarre and scream at them for you (or toss a bag of hair on their doorstep).
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Sep 10, 2015 21:07
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Aug 27, 2015 19:28
