It has been a good few weeks since we went to the awesome San Sebastian (or Sanse for short) in Northern Spain in the Basque county. Geographically I was told that it rains very often (more often than London in fact) but the food there is to-die-for. One of the foodie treasures of Sanse is the miniature pintxos ("pin-chos") which is a slice of baguette piled high with meat of any kind, held in place by a what we call a satay stick, but the Spanish call it a pintxo. For me, a peppers lover, I was in peppers heaven. I especially loved their deep fried peppers, oohlala!
We didn't even have to experience any of the Michelin star restaurants even though Sanse boasts of the highest concentration of michelin starred restaurants per one square mile. Every night we moved from one tapas bar to another, choosing the pintxos we wanted to eat, along with either a glass of wine or a glass of beer. It is common to stand around, chat, eat and drink. The atmosphere was lively and we loved it so much.
 |
First night at our 3rd bar
|
I love having colleagues from all over the world because I could email them (Alvaro in this case) for tips and bless him - he came back with a proper one pager email full of tips. Where to go, what to eat. Seriously! And I haven't even met him in person before. What a kind soul.
 |
K insisted on having his chicken wings, a rare find actually.
|
 |
| At our second bar |
I have never eaten that many seafood in a span of 4 days, especially octopus and squids. In fact, I ate till I had an allergic reaction! But soon I realise people
only eat seafood in this place cos I couldn't really find chicken or pork in the tapas bars.
 |
| Doesn't look very appetising but these peppers were so yummy I could eat another plate of it. |
 |
| Squids and more squids to come. In garlic oil. Thumbs up! |
 |
| Another plate of baby squids with caramelised onions |
Besides the food we saw on the counters, most bars had made to order pintxos too. Our secret? So our B&B kindly provided us a list of recommended bars with recommended food at each place. Naturally all the food names were in Spanish. We three rocked up to each bar and passed them this list and out came a whole lot of deliciousness, like in Bar Zeruko which won 6 thumbs up from us. This is a modern fusion pintxos bar that looked and tasted amazing. For one there was dry ice with some rose scented thing coming out. And another smoked cod had an accompanying green vegetable juice in a test tube. And for dessert we had this yolk like looking thing which was concentrated peach juice in a membrane sort of thing so that when you bite into it, it bursts into your mouth. Other diners were looking at us and asking what do we call it so they can order it. We showed them the list and they were well impressed.
 |
| We say "Must go!!" |
Another speciality of the Basque county are Cider Houses. Petritegi was on Alvaro's list and he even warned us not to go to any advertised "cider houses" in the city centre because they are not real. The real ones are outside Sanse which we need a cab to get to, but all worth the experience. We decided to try it on our second night there. We told the B&B owner to book us a cab and from there it was pure trust because the driver didn't speak any English and soon he drove to the outskirts and dropped us at the cider house. It was rather secluded and we walked around the place. They manufacture their own apple cider, under the Petritegi brand.
 |
| Trying to act haha |
We were in for a surprise when we went in. They told us to take our glass and follow one of the guys. In we went and saw barrels and barrels of cider. We were like "wow!" and before we knew it, the guy in his limited English asked K to lower his glass. We had no idea why he said that cos there was a tap to each barrel and surely, we should put the glass just below the tap? K even thought he meant to put it on the floor! See when he turned on the tap, a steady sprout of cider soon came rushing out and you need to "catch" it into your glass. So cool and fun!
 |
| Which barrel to drink from? |
 |
| Catch your own cider! |
For starters at this cider house, we had cod omelette, followed by a huge piece of beef steak which was really good. And free flow of apple cider. What an interesting dinner experience!
 |
| Last tapas meal before going to the airport |
We took so many photos and marvelled at this beautiful town with the sun, sea, sand and food.
 |
| Did I mention about the beach yet? |
Stay tuned for a guest post!
Comments