At this point of the trip, we had finally reached the main highlight: San Sebastian! I’ve been hearing about San Sebastian every chance I get to meet with Ryan and Gillian. Brian had probably heard more since they have been friends since college. It’s where Ryan and Gillian had their prenup shoot and where they initially wanted to wed. There was something about San Sebastian that kept them going back for more. What is with this place?
It wasn’t until a whole day spent (NOTE: one day, not even two or three) in San Sebastian when I realized for myself what they had been talking about. It IS where all the out-of-this-world good food are!
1 Asador Portuetxe
On our first night, Ryan took us all out for dinner and treated us at Asador Portuetxe. He knows every good restaurants and pinxto bars in San Sebastian, he may as well be a local already! It was a very good start to our San Sebastian visit.
White asparagus, with a dollop of aioli and bell peppers with onions in olive oil.
Scrambled egg with mushrooms — these people take the simplest ingredients into unforgettable dishes!
Turning into a common seafood theme for our trip since Amsterdam, the Red Sea Bream, drizzled with the typical Basque pil pil sauce: Spanish extra olive oil, lots of garlic, dried hot pepper and white wine. We also ordered Turbot, which was just as good, if not better. 
And of course, Txuleta — Basque steak! This was my first ever try to a Txuleta and I thought it couldn’t get better than this one until we got to try every possible Txuleta we could in San Sebastian.
2 Txalupa Gastroleku
I never subscribed to the saying “There’s always room for dessert” until this trip. I was surprised when I discovered that after so much gobbling of so many dishes, there indeed was always room for the sweet things. And so after Asador Portuetxe, we made our way to Txalupa Gastroleku for a typical Basque dessert of Torrija.
Torrjia is a Spanish style french toast, soaked in milk. Crusty on the outside with caramelized sugar, oozing out milk when sliced into with a spoon. Served with ice cream, making it all the more decadent.
3 Bar Zabaleta
Breakfast in Manila for Brian and I meant cereals, or just coffee if we didn’t have time. However, breakfast for Ryan in San Sebastian meant walking to three or more Pinxto bars and eating at least 3 pinxtos at each bar! Ha ha! So our first stop for our first full day in town was Bar Zabaleta for coffee and Tortillas.
The bar was packed–always a good sign–and we managed to get a table outside.
The tortilla we had in Bilbao [READ: Two Days in Bilbao] cannot compare to this Tortilla. While the surface of the tortilla was crisp, the egg inside was runny against the potatoes. I would always say this about meat cooked to perfection, but this Tortilla melted in my mouth!
4 Bergara Bar
A few blocks away from Bar Zabaleta was the Bergara Bar, which was a complete different experience in itself with its pinxto specialties.
This shrimp cocktail dunked in crab fat and meat was pure delight in a small cup — allergies aside.
Brian’s heaven on a pan: anchovies, tuna flakes, chili, chopped onions and basil, drizzled with olive oil!
5 Bar Borda Berri
Bar Borda Berri was definitely a crowd favorite — so much so that we probably visited this bar three times in our six-day stay in the town. For very good reasons, too!
Very tender veal cheek in some sort of light gravy and olive oil. 
Crispy pork ears, with topped with minced bell pepper and chives in olive oil!
Risotto con Idiazabal — BEST risotto ever. This dish is what kept us coming back to this bar for the duration of our trip!
6 Monte Urgull
After all that food, we decided to climb Monte Urgull. One of the reasons being we had to walk off all the food we ate that morning, and the second reason being we were told that it was an easy hike. Well, it definitely wasn’t easy at all, Brian and I being the most unfit people we know. But as we reached the top, it was all worth it because the view was breath taking.
7 Aratz Erretegia
On our second night, Ryan and Gillian introduced us to their once tour guide and now great friend, Eskie of Discover San Sebastian. She’s a good natured woman with lots of stories and jokes to tell, that it was so easy to be comfortable around her. I do believe people like her nowadays is a rarity, and I am so glad Ryan and Gillian introduced us to her.
Eskie, with her husband Pepe, brought us to a restaurant owned by Chefs whom she grew up with: Aratz Erretegia–a traditional Basque restaurant. She treated us dinner which was very kind of her, and this dinner was really something to remember because the menu was especially made particularly for our visit.
Bacalao pinxto–most of the ingredients were unknown to me except for the baby peas. But I remember it was done to perfection with all the exceptional flavors and textures in one stone cup. 
Again, the perfect example of how the Basque can turn typical ingredients into beautiful dishes. Mushrooms, olive oil, parsley (?), with a sweet savoury sauce. This was a personal favorite of mine!
Bacalao in three ways. 
But of course, what is a Basque dinner without Txuleta!
Cooked the way we like it!
For dessert, we were served molten chocolate cake on a bed of sweetened milk with yogurt ice cream on the side.
8 Miryam
With thoughts of home looming in, Ryan took us to visit another acquaintance, Miryam (who is also a very good friend of Eskie). Miryam is a store owner that sells all kinds of fresh meat, canned delights, cheese, etc.
We visited her twice and we were able to get a new haul on Spanish food: Jamon, more cheese, more Txistora, and anchovies for Ryan. Every time we visited, Miryam made us taste whatever product we wanted to try and made sure we each got a piece.
Say for example these anchovies in vinegar. Which was very good!
9 Bar Sport
On our second full day, we started off with more pinxto bars. We visited Bar Sport and we got to try their specalties.
Bar Sport’s sea urchin was the creamiest I’ve ever tried. It was a taste of heaven in a sea urchin’s shell!
Brian, again with his anchovies and chili, as we later learned called Gilda (pronounced as Hilda).
10 Bar Restaurante Txuleta
Now Bar Txuleta is a personal favorite of mine. To the point that I somewhat engineered a second visit to it. As I am not an animal rights activist–somewhat partially ashamed of this–I specifically loved Bar Txuleta’s Foie ala Plancha — all three orders of them at different times!
I also enjoyed these squid ink croquetas which were perfectly shaped–I wonder how they did that.
11 Sidras Bereziartua Sagardoak
TXOTX!! Eskie took us to a Cider House for our third dinner in town. It was an amazing experience of more good food, taking cider straight from the big wooden barrels using our plastic cups, and touring areas where the ciders were being made.
Who in his right mind would ever get tired of Txistoras??
Who in his right mind would ever get tired of Txuletas??
It was our most drunken night yet. They didn’t serve out plates because the pan were the plates. I was sober when Eskie said that. After a couple of more txotxing, I was red from forehead to neck and felt like falling off the bench where we sat for dinner!
The happy crowd of six. Txotx!
12 San Juan de Gaztelugatxe
Being fans of Game of Thrones, we did not fail to visit San Juan de Gaztelugatxe, where they shot all the scenes at Dragonstone. It was a 40-minute pleasant drive from the town proper, but we did not expect what a hike down and back up it would be! Obviously, Brian and I did not make it all the way down–unfit as we are–but our friends were able to and here is a photo from Ryan:
Dracarys! Rar!
13 Asador Etxebarri
The culmination of all our memorable experiences during this trip: Asador Etxebarri, hailed as No. 3 in the 2019 list of the World’s 50 Best restaurants! 
The restaurant was very homey and the attendants were very accommodating. The service was fast enough and every course was so well prepared, not one course let us down!
Salted anchovy on toast. I cannot say this enough: Basque seafood is very good!
Buffalo fresh cheese with a dash of balsamic
Prawns of Palamos–until now, Brian and I are in disbelief of how good these prawns were. They were sweet and tender, and perfectly cooked the Asador way. I wish I could go back for more of these.
Sea urchin and spider crab, cardoon.
Egg yolk, and black truffle.
Green peas and its juice.
Red Sea Bream with pil pil sauce.
Txuleta bigger than Brian’s head!
This was really good Txuleta — the melt in your mouth kind!
Reduced milk ice cream with beetroot juice.
Chocolate souffle.
The outdoor patio of Asador Etxebarri made for a very quaint place to stay at while waiting for one’s reservation.
The happy campers at Asador Etxebarri!
14 Briarritz, France
Since we had a car for two days, we decided to 1) go through the border and visit Briarritz, France, and 2) go on a food tour with Eskie in Hondarribia, the border town of the Basque Country. It was a windy sunny visit to Briarritz, where we had our breakfast and where we were able to take a lovely walk along its coast line.
15 Restaurante Alameda
After Briarritz, we drove back into Spain and met with Eskie at Restaurante Alameda in Hondarribia to start our food tour. We were, as she called us, our guinea pigs, since we were the first ones to go on this tour with her. I would say it was a well researched tour because everything she had us try was nothing short of spectacular. 
To start the food tour was “Tigres”, mussels in spicy tomato sauce, and a taco of white fish (I’m sorry I forgot which), guac, greeens, and onions.
16 Antxina Jatetxea
A short walk from Restaurante Alameda was Antxina Jatetxea where we had Brian’s favorite Gilda, paired with Ryan’s favorite Cider (commonly called Sidra).
Txotx!
17 Edaritegia Rafael
Not too far off was Edaritegia Rafael, were we had these yummy pinxto sized txuletas, with a siding of roasted pepper.
I appreciated this pulpo pinxto very much, too! Marinated with olive oil, topped with rocket sprigs.
Of course, when Eskie mentioned they had sisig, we just had to try it!
18 Gran Sol
Our second to the last stop was Gran Sol. I had never seen so many Pinxto contest awards hung up the walls of a pinxto bar as Gran Sol’s. They were very good at what they do!
Foie, always! Pan fried foie gras with pineapple juice and grated pumpkin.
19 Arraunlari Jatetxea
Our last stop was for Basque cheesecake at Arraunlari Jatetxea. It was a perfect end to the food tour, facing the river that separated the Basque Country from France. Not to mention that we ate really yummy Basque cheesecake paired with coffee under the sunny coast and against the cold wind.
Me to Brian: You don’t want anymore? Give it to me! Ha ha!
20 Ending the Trip
It was quite a bitter end to the trip. One, how could anyone end such a food heaven of a visit to San Sebastian? And two, COVID-19 had pissed literally everywhere (Mom, sorry for the term), including the end of our trip and had us scrambling over options for going home as Manila at that time had released an order for the lockdown we are now experiencing.
Ryan and Gillian had to book flights home earlier than they would have liked and Ina left for her scheduled trip to Austria. Brian and I were left in the apartment we all shared, and as we took one last evening walk around town, the town was more quiet with a couple of pinxto bars closed and less people on the streets.
So, we made the most of it by eating the Basque cheesecake Ina had accidentally left behind. The one from La Vina, which was a gift from Eskie, was pretty outstanding.
…and we ate the strawberries Gillian had also left. We opened up one of the Jamon packs Brian bought from Miryam, and drank a glass of wine from Ryan’s left over Txakoli. Not long did we find ourselves waiting for our bus to Bilbao, flying from Bilbao to Amsterdam, and from Amsterdam, back to the already closed Manila in our face masks.
Until now, we find ourselves lucky for scheduling this trip just in time before the world literally closed its doors to everyone. We were also lucky that we all got back to Manila safe, and while Brian and I had a little scare and had ourselves tested, we remain unscathed.
Writing all these reminds me of the world that was. And how I wish we can all go regain a new sense of normalcy, because I am sure the old normal will never come back to life.
As the Basque people would say, Eskerrik asko! for reading this with me.
Much love,
Chasing Fran 