Hot, caramel, salt, milk, jerez = heaven

There are several things that instantly win me over when it comes to dessert .... Warm custards, hot puddings, caramel, milk ice-cream, anything with a lick of salt that borders on the savory line of sweet ... When all of these aspects come together in the one dessert - I'm in heaven! We found a fine example of this at Atari in San Sebastian. Warm brioche with caramel apples & a salted milk ice-cream. There was a sprig of thyme resting on the ice-cream, which perfumed each mouthful with a earthy & herbaceous aroma and the reduction of jerez elevating the sweet & sticky characters of our glass of PX.



We did stop by on several other occasions for some pintxos & bar snacks, but kept gravitating back towards this delightful dessert with a glass of PX to finish the evening, sometimes mixing it up with a Blue de Basque that came with a quince paste & vanilla puree.



Lucky we were staying close by ....

Atari
Calle Mayor 18
Donostia, San Sebastián,
Spain, 20001

Izapi Taberna, San Sebastian

Izapi taberna was conveniently on the walk between A Fuego Negro & La Cuchara de San Telmo. It had caught our eye early on our travels, but tonight it was pumping ... the crowd spilling well out onto the street.



We slide on in, happy to just be able to make it to the counter and order a drink and would have been happy to join the hordes of people drinking and mingling out on the street .... But just as we order a space at the counter clears - score! We order some foie to go with our txakoli. The slab of foie is seared with a delightful crust, but the inside oh-so-soft & tender. There's a little bit of mango puree which has a nice tartness to it, and a very interesting savory granola crumb, with pistacho's, pine nuts & raisins.



Our last pintxos before moving on for the evening was a solomillio, or sirloin steak, with wild mushrooms & a garlic puree. It was hard to share, I would have had no problems eating a full meal size of this plate ....



A great little find, we'll see you again next time!

Sunshine & Ice-Cream in San Sebastian

We were very lucky with the weather on our trip to San Sebastian in Spring ... there was a few afternoons where it sprinkled rain, which actually helped to cool it down a little to a very moderate temperature. After 5 solid months of Hokkaido winter & 15m of powder snow, the sunshine and warmth was much needed .... Our afternoons generally involved a stroll along the beach and an ice-cream. This paticular sun filled day I chose the dulce de leche and Kim the ceral milk ice-cream.



Both were delicious, the cereal milk like a bowl of corn flakes & full cream milk in an ice cream and the dulce de leche, need I say more - Spanish caramelised sweet milk, yum yum !!

bidebide and Brunch Tapa's

We were up early one morning ... we would have been happy with a coffee & a pastry, but stumble across bidebide. It's bustling inside, the crowd enjoying everything from coffee to cava and everything in between.



2 x coffee & 2 x orange juice are ordered as we settle in at the bar. It's then we notice with amazement that the counter is lined with an array of different tapas. All themed around the morning brunch, most of them including eggs in some form. A potato tortilla sandwich between a crunchy little bread roll certainly whets the appetite.



A thinner omelet is next, two slices are sandwiching roasted peppers and crispy bacon and is sitting upon a grilled slice of bread.



The last breakfast tapas we enjoy is a very creative tomato-on-toast idea. Slices of ripe tomato, goats cheese, toasted walnuts and a drizzle of thick sherry vinegar sit on toasted white bread.



We enjoyed brunch so much that we do return later in the week for a quick lunch .... also very good, our lunch included a tapa of champignon mushrooms & foie



and grilled beef with roast peppers and potatoes.



Kim then chooses a boccadillo with Lomo, bacon, cheese, tomato, lettuce & aioli. 2 pork on 1 sandwich is already so much win !! The aioli packs a garlic punch and has specks of fresh herbs that lightens it up.



I can't resist another meat double-up, beef sirloin & crispy bacon with roasted peppers.



Open daily from 8am-1:30am, bidebide is perfect anytime of day whether for a coffee & breakfast tapas, a hearty lunch or a late night tipple ....

bidebide
Usabal Auzoa, 25 - 20400 Tolosa
Guipúzcoa, San Sebastian, Spain
T: 943577573

Bar Zeruko, San Sebastian

Bar Zeruko is a semi traditional pintxos bar, there are a of snacks on the bar top from standard to modern, but this place also has quite a side line of minatura cocina .. the highlight of for us was the smoked salt cod with textures of ceasar salad.

A small terracotta plate with a mesh top contains a smoldering piece of chacoal wafting its smoke over a thin slice of salt cod, on either side the textures of salad range from a liquid filled test tube to spherical salad cavair and an emlusified salad cream.



It's tasty and fun, order more than one as you won't want to share.

Bar Zeruko
Calle Pescaderia 10,
San Sebastian - Donostia, Spain
Tel:943423451

The black fire

A fuego negro, sleek and streamlined, all decked out in black and red and decidedly modern. A much newer player on the San Sebastian pintxos scene, the chefs at a fuego negro have taken the decades of pintxo tradition and fused it with modern Spanish gastronomy and a great sense of humor to create a bar where food, music , and graffiti, are inseparable. You can take a seat before 8pm and enjoy a great selection of more traditional pintxos, but it's after that time that the magic really kicks in.



Elegant gildas.


Our first flirt with the fun ahead were martini olives. Green olives stuffed with a dry vermouth jelly and shavings of lemon peel balanced over an icy shot of vodka.



The Mckobe; a mini burger of medium rare seared Kobe beef served in a tomato sauce bun with banana chips was the second mcburger we had seen in Spain and again put shame to anything on the original Mcmenu, and in its little takeaway box it's as cute as a button.



Coffee and cookies. This little espresso cup with its frothy filling and crispy cookies is not an end of meal finisher as might be expected from first glance. The foamy coffee is infused with jamon and the cookies are made from veal sweetbreads. It's incredibly rich and the two cookies and espresso are just the right size.



A smoked duck and blood plum salad arrives in a clear plastic ball with the instructions to give it a little shake before serving. Now is not the time to be a cheffy type and not shake so hard as to not damage the leaves. As you shake a candy ball filled with blood plum dressing shatters resulting in a sudden dramatic dressing of the salad. If you go with the gentle shake you may wonder what all the fuss is over this plain salad and then you might wonder what this red paint ball like thing is in the salad and then it may explode in your hand as your looking at it spraying you and the floor and your lovely new Armani jeans in blood plum and then you'll have to order another one just to do it right..........just saying.



Pork with vanilla and lemon results in a fat wedge of grilled pork loin atop lemon scented crushed potato and a veil of vanilla foam.



Wild chicken came as slices of delicately poached chicken with red shiso and corn pudding and a few wisps of peppery nigella sprouts.



Dove, Shot, Pum! was one of my favorites .. maybe for the humorous graphic reality of it.
A single breast of perfectly cooked wild dove sitting on a quenelle of lemon infused potato puree, blood plum sprayed across the plate emanating from a single silver pellet gently embedded in the breast while a licorice rice paper puff of smoke denotes impact with a resounding PUM!! And it tastes good too.



An egg with jamon and wild mushrooms. The egg is a puffed foamy version of its former self complete with a soft boiled foamy yolk interior. With its companions of sauteed jamon cubes and mushrooms and the crunch of a few bread crumbs it's a classic taste.



Roast beef. Tiny cubes of sous vide beef so gently cooked as to not look cooked at all with a few dabs of seeded mustard sitting on a paprika wafer.



The salmorejo cherry on crumbs comes as a single cherry tomato red candy shell filled with the rich tomato soup that is salmorejo. You can crack it open and mix it with the herby toasted breadcrumbs or just pop it whole into your mouth and suddenly flood your taste buds as it shatters.



One of the last things we tried was just a plate of cherry tomato, garlic and anchovy. The tomato's were bursting ripe the garlic was raw but mellow, marinated in olive oil and the anchovies were of the usual Spanish brilliance. It was appreciation of beautiful produce.



Regalize it!! There's a picture of a marijuana leaf next to the title of this sweet. The little pot comes out and there's another leaf on the top of the glass. The glass is layered with a chocolate pudding an a chocolate soil as well as so thin fibrous strands of a plant. Of course the leaf on the top of the glass is made from candy and the thin plant strands are licorice root. Regaliz being Spanish for licorice it's a nice play on words and looks and it still tastes great.



Not only can you feed your belly but you can get yourself some ear, eye and mind candy with the book and CD combinations also for sale. Containing recipes, cartoons and music matched to the pintxos they're pretty awesome.

a feugo negro is the kinda place I wish we had just around the corner at home, it's just one more reason San Sebastian is standing on the top of the culinary world and one more reason I didn't want to leave.



a feugo negro
C/ 31 De Agosto / Abuztuaren 31-KO Kalea, 31
20003 Donostia-San Sebastian, España
650 135 373

Le Mejillonera, San Sebastian

We were staying in the Gothic area of San Sebastian, and headed out on our first afternoon in order to pin point a few places we had on our must-eat list. Le Mejillonera was one of them, and was said to be only minutes away from our hotel ... We wandered around the streets and couldn't find it.

The next night we walked past a place that was packed, spilling out onto the street, and looked up to see the sign bright and illuminated. I guess it's not that easy to spot during the day when it's not open.



We head on in, it's hard to find a place to stand it's that full ... The fare here is mussels, mussels and mussels. They do beer of course, as well as patatas bravas and bread to mop up all of the sauce with the mussels. We get some mussels in a spicy tomato sauce, some ice cold beer and patatas bravas.



It's all good! The mussels have a fresh taste of the sea, the spicy sauce giving the mussels a deep complex flavor. The patatas bravas are crisp, hand-cut chunks of potato with a generous helping of garlic aioli & spicy tomato sauce.

A fine example of simplicity, and confidence in their ability to make something so simple outstanding.

Le Mejillonera
Calle del Puerto 15
Donostia, PV
Spain
T: 943 42 84 65

Hidalgo 56, San Sebastian

We stumbled across this picture of blood sausage volcano from Kathryn Yu's flickr photo-stream when doing some research on pintxos bars in San Sebastian.

The thought of blood sausage crumbs with egg & apple sauce indeed made the idea of a walk over to the other side of San Sebastian at sun down well worth it ... We set out with our map and headed for the Gros area.

We spot the yellow awning, the place is packed! We manage to slide up to the end of the counter and find a miniscule place for us both to perch.



Blood sausage volcano is ordered along with our 2 glasses of txakoli. The blood sausage volcano is a mound of fried blood sausage mince, with loads of black pepper and other spices giving it a nice kick. There is a raw egg yolk nestled in the top, it's sprinkled with Spanish flake salt and has a little sweet & tart apple puree on the side.



We also order a plate of beef carpaccio. The beef slices are thin & delicate, topped with shaved parmesan, baby capers, rocket flake salt, cracked pepper & virgin olive oil.



A perfect way to kick the evening off, now onto the next pintxos bar ....

Hidalgo 56
Paseo colón 15
Gros, San Sebastian
T: 943279654

This is it.

There was just so much deliciousness in San Sebastian every night we were finding new and exciting places to eat. But there was one bar that we found time and stomach space to return to every night. La Cuchara de San Telmo is a hard to find hole-in-the-wall, packed from the minute it opens till they push the crowd out the door.



Two chefs Alex Montiel and Iñaki Gulin are rock stars pumping out imaginative nueva cocina vasca (new basque cuisine) from a tiny open kitchen in the thick of all the action.

the chefs preferred these guys to be the rock stars for photos


The menu is a short, updated daily, with a dozen dishes all cooked to order rather than pre plated and stacked across the bar traditional style. Over the course of our San Sebastian stay we ate our way through the menu several times, just to certain it was as amazing as our taste buds were telling us. The first night we left telling them we'd see them tomorrow only to return a few hours later when we ran into the owners of Australia on a plate and had to show them this hidden gem.

These are the dishes we ate in no particular order;

Slab o goats cheese grilled with basil and quince.



Canniloni filled with intense mushroom.



Creamy cheesy orzo risotto.



Foie with apple puree. This was incredible, the unctuous foie, sweet sour apple and crunchy salt topping. I lost count of how many of these we ate. Peta's gonna hate us.



Crispy little croquette of jamon. The topping reminded me of a yum cha pork pie.



Totally awesome roast suckling pork ribs. The flesh was just fall apart while the skin was deliciously crunchy crackling sitting in a little more of the sweet sour apple puree.



The braised beef cheek was falll apart tender and on the three nights we had this it came with a different accompinament.

1)With a creamy potato puree and a splash of jus.



2)On a rich roast tomato sauce

3) With meaty braised green lentils



Bacon wrapped scallops with cauliflower is a classic combination.



Tempura de bacalao, chunks of salt cod fried in a super crispy batter. Even Kat who's not a big fan of cooked fish enjoyed this.



Fat slices of grilled octopus tender as could be.



Braised pork with a rich molassasy and sesame glaze was amazing.



Braised pigs ear, so good the fatty meat melting off the crunchy gristle all covered with a thin layer of crispy skin. All about textures.



A love for all things piggy is just one of the reasons we love La Cuchara, we love the orders being shouted to the kitchen who just shout back and yet somehow keep track of all of it through the blaring music and boisterous crowd. We love the generous drinks and no nonsense staff who like people who love to eat. This place is my favourite restaurant in the world right now.



La Cuchara de San Telmo
Calle de 31 de Agosto, Parte Vieja

San Sebastian, Spain