Where to eat in San Sebastian

With a sweep of golden-sand bay framed by green hills and a pretty islet complete with cute lighthouse, San Sebastián (or Donostia in the Basque language) is one of the loveliest seaside resorts anywhere. And though beach lovers will be in bliss in the heat of summer, it’s the small town’s outsize reputation for fine food that makes it a place of pilgrimage for food lovers year-round.

The Michelin-star restaurant

San Sebastián is regularly described as ‘the Michelin capital of the world’ with an unfeasible number of starred restaurants (12) for a small town. Three of them have three stars and one of those is Akelarre, high up on a lonely hillside to the west of town (the name translates as ‘goat land’), looking over the Atlantic blueness.

The nine-course (plus six amuse-bouche), €350 lunch will keep you enthralled for a long afternoon and confound your senses. “I never consider what other people are doing,” says fulsomely moustachioed veteran chef Pedro Subijana – “I’m always thinking about how to do it differently.” Whether that’s a barnacle and mussels ‘mosaic’ with pig’s trotters or the celebrated gin and tonic pie, dish after dish surprises and delights in equal measure. It’s ludicrously elaborate cooking – but it retains a sense of fun.

Where to eat the best pintxos

The culinary depth and breadth of San Sebastián is such that, even if you never go near a Michelin-starred restaurant, you can still eat some of Spain’s best food. The town’s pintxos (the Basque version of tapas, sometimes on a small piece of bread and often secured with a cocktail stick) are probably on the waiting list for Unesco World Heritage status and a bar crawl of the Old Town is the classic way to indulge.

Places open and close, ownership changes and it’s difficult for a visitor to know where’s ‘hot’ at the moment. Taking a tour with pintxo obsessive Eskerne Falcón of Discover San Sebastian solves that dilemma. Highlights of our romp included: La Cepa, where chunky wild mushrooms with a runny egg yolk in the middle is top order; Muxumartin (exquisite sesame-topped scallops with green curry; and old-school Martinez, whose red pepper with tuna tartare is so good you won’t want to share it, even with your sweetheart (well, I didn’t).

We finished our tour at La Viña, which breaks the rule that you must never eat anywhere with pictures of the food outside, because the food in question is THAT Basque cheesecake – the one that swept the world and even ended up in M&S. Yes it’s a delightfully light dream of a pud, best enjoyed with a cortado (the Spanish equivalent of a macchiato).

Other perennial tour favourites include: Gandarias amazing prawn skewers; Borda Berri legendary crispy pig’s ears; and Narrika meltingly tender pork belly. Eskerne’s tours cost from €175 per person for three hours with lots of food and drink included, and might just change your life.

Wherever you go a-pintxo-ing, though, make sure at some point you try a gilda (named after the 1946 Hollywood film noir that headlined the town’s film festival). A skewered combo of anchovy, pickled guindilla (a local mild chilli) and green olive, it’s one of the world’s great drinking accompaniments. Try it with a glass of txakoli, the super-dry, naturally carbonated young white wine, or even drier Basque cider, poured theatrically from a great height to aerate it.

The best coffee and ice cream spots

Of course you must have an ice cream at some point – this is a seaside town, after all. Gelatería Boulevard, next to the tourist office, does the creamiest, most intensely sweet-savoury pistachio gelato this side of Sicily.

For a cool beer or a giant goldfish-bowl G&T overlooking the golden sands and ocean with Isla de Santa Clara in the background, Café De La Concha is smack in the middle of the main beach, perfect for watching el mundo go by. Refuel with a coffee on the go at laid-back Old Town Coffee near the cathedral – it’s all about the single-origin beans. Lip-smacking apricot and custard pastries can be found at Galparsoro bakery in the Old Town.

What to do in San Sebastian

In the Old Town, La Bretxa market is the place for suitcase fillers to enjoy back home. Admire the market’s elaborate clock-like dial, with numbers that once lit up during tuna auctions, then queue at popular Charcutería Juan for good-value bellota ham and pick up a bottle of txakoli or cider at Charcutería Yolanda.

Take the funicular up to Monte Igueldo for views across La Concha bay and a vintage amusement park with a vertiginous cliff-edge log flume. On the eastern side of the river mouth is the town’s surf beach – book a wave-riding lesson at the friendly Zurriola surf school. If rain hits, duck into the Aquarium by the harbour, which also has an interesting maritime museum – see how the town grew from a tiny fishing village to an elegant resort.

Where to stay

• Nobu Hotel is the fanciest recent opening, with a terrace overlooking the ocean and a Japanese-influenced menu that’s like nothing else in town. The minimalist rooms with their paint-splash murals are a calming refuge.  Doubles from £338 with breakfast.
• Room Mate Gorka is a boutique option in a great, central location with compact but stylish rooms, some with balconies. Doubles from around £160 room only.

How to get there

Flights from London to Bilbao in June cost from around £150 (skyscanner.net). You then need to take the Avanza bus (about 1 hour 20 minutes, leaving hourly, €17 return) to San Sebastián.

Photographs: iStock/Getty Images

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