Pintxos Perfection - San Sebastian, Spain

For those who haven't been to the beautiful, best in-city beach destination of Europe, you have to go! It's got my two loves side by side.  Golden sand and turquoise water along with an array of yummy food to boot!  San Sebastian is split into the new and old town.   The old town is where you want to be near as this is where you wander around the streets eating pintxos and drinking at all the different pintxos bars.  So the difference between pinxtos and tapas is that pintxos is pierced with a toothpick and the others are tapa.  Tapas from my understanding is a more general term for small plates of various dishes.  Pintxos is more popular in the Basque country.

There are plenty of different pintxos bars to wander into and after 4 days we definitely knew which ones were our faves and went back to for a pintxos or two.  Here is a pictorial list of all good ones we went to.  Some we just ate 1 or 2 pintxos and then left as it didn't have an atmosphere that made you want to stay.  Most of them were the ye oldy ones with not much variety of dishes so they didn't make it to this post.

Ok, so this was the first one we went to as it looked modern and interesting and funnily enough plonked ourselves next to a table of Aussie guys!!!

Beti Tai Berria - Address below

Pintox Variety: 7/10

Vibe: 6/10

Modern

Positives: Had my first Kalimoxo (pronounced kali mutcho)! A recent icon of Basque culture.  Equal parts Coke and red wine.  My fave drink along with another traditionally Basque drink, you'll see later on.

 

Baztan, Calle Puerto 8, Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain. 9/10
Pintxos Variety: 8/10
Vibe: 8/10
Traditional/Modern

Positives: Was the first pintxos bar that sold meat pintxos!  The deep fried pork and chicken wings were delicious!  The staff were the friendliest and we ordered our own bottle of Txkaoli  (cha coli) which is a slightly sparkling, very dry white wine with high acidity and low alcohol content.  Since we got back we have been searching far and wide for this drink, but no one imports this.  There are similar ones but damn just not the same.  We wish we brought some back with us.

 

Bar Zeruko, Calle Pescaderia 10, Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain
Pintxos Variety: 10/10
Vibe: 8/10
Modern

Positives:  It is great to see someone push the boundaries of pintxos.  This was one that I had found online before this trip and had it on my list to visit.  They have won awards for their innovation.  Naturally you order what everyone seems to be ordering.  So I ordered this amazing dish of smoked cod with a biscuit covered with sweet jam and cheese followed by a chaser of cucumber juice!  The smoke filled the bar and as each new group of people came in they asked the very switched on people behind the bar  what that smoky tapa  was and ordered this dish.  That's what I did! 

The guy that served us all night was amazing.  Each time you grabbed some pintxos from the bar you showed him and he would take back any that needed to be heated up and then serve to your table when it was done.  He kept tabs on everything.  Again we had kalimoxto, quite a few and stayed there for quite a few hours, people watching and eating amazing food.

Amazing sea urchin roe was so deliciously salty and creamy.  This was one that was at the bar but had to be heated up.  They disappeared quickly.  Hot tapas of tender beef with roasted capsicum sauce ordered from the menu.  Beautifully tender.

This dessert below was another one of their signature dishes.  It was a flavour bomb, literally!  The yolk like bulb was filled with a strong peachy, orangey liquid that was super intense.  I quickly spooned in the cream to balance it out and then ate the sponge with it.  The two little things on the side were a sticky date thing and the centre of a flower which was super peppery and again strong with a lingering numbing feeling in you mouth, kind of like Chinese Szechuan peppers.  The guy told me to specifically eat it at the end.  I wish I didn't have it as it took all the sweetness away.  But it was certainly a taste sensation.  And glad I tried it.  An American lady walked by and said she was watching my expressions as I ate it as she said she did the same thing and commented on how the flower bud tasted. 

 

This is a must stop by in San Sebastian.

 

Tamboril, Pescadería, 2 - Donostia
Pintxos Variety: 7/10
Vibe: 6/10 more for old local men
Traditional

Positives: Cheap.  This little tapas bar was standing room only and specialised in mushrooms and stuffed peppers. We also found out that the pintxos from the menu were mostly deep fried.  The pintxos on offer ranged from the traditional omelette to a few strange ones like a fish roe one, see below in the middle bottom row.  The veins made it a big gruesome but it actually tasted nice and fresh with finely sliced onion and a kind of vinegary dressing.

 

 

La Cepa, Address below:
Pintxos Variety: 9/10
Vibe: 8/10
Traditional

Positives: Lots of space to stand at bar or sit down.  Restaurant area at the back.  A la carte, and lots of large and small plates made to order.  This is where we tasted different grades of Iberico ham!  OMG, melt in the mouth meat!  I never really felt like dessert but had dessert here and chose the the chocolate mousse.  It was to die for, I can still taste it now as it wasn't super sweet just rich in cocoa flavour and super creamy!

Bartolo, Calle San Bartolome / San Bartolome Kalea, 15
Pintxos Variety: 7/10
Vibe:7/10
Traditional

Positives: Friendly staff who were happy to explain what each pintxos on the bar was.

Negatives:  Filled with young tourists as tourist groups walk by and the guide stops outside this one.  We witnessed and heard the spiel.

 



 

La Mejilonera, Puerto, 15 - Donostia

Pintxos: 9/10 - the quality of mussels were so fresh, plump and juicy.
Vibe:7/10

Traditional: Standing space only

Positives:  Fast and tasty.  They pretty much only serve up mussels and seafood.  You can pick from about 6 types of toppings for the mussels.  I'm trying to remember what they were.  Top one was served cold.  The creamy looking one was warm white sauce with a bit of chilli sauce.  This was my fave.   They also put this sauce on top of patatas bravas. The green sauce, have no idea what the flavour was.  Bottom left, we had a plate of plain ones then the red sauce was tomato and capsicum sauce.  Washed down with another Kalimotxo, it was a perfect pit stop before we arrived at the next bar!

 

 

 

A Fuego Negro, Calle 31 de Agosto

Pintxos: 7/10
Vibe:7/10
Modern
Positives: If you are after more modern Basque pintxos then go here.  It has a more touristy and cool vibe than the others and prices more expensive and small serves.  We only had 3 plates as the kitchen was closing for the afternoon before opening again later at night.  The rabbit was tasty but tiny, liked the playboy bunny touch.

 

 

I took so many food pics that it was very hard to cull and edit this San Sebastian post.  Please feel free to email me if you plan to go and need some more advice on anything food or about planning your itinerary.

 

 

St. Elmo Dining Room and Bar – 22 Fletcher Street, Byron Bay

This post is so overdue, but finally I have the pics so I can show you what we had and tell you about this Byron Bay restaurant.

First of all, I have to say I had my first Espresso Martini here and OMG was it amazing!  Creamy on top and with a big strong hit of sweet caffeine.  I was tired and needed something alcoholic but with a hit and wasn’t red bull and vodka, so this was the beverage of choice.  The drinks menu is impressive so if you have time, stay longer and sample the many cocktails and wines.

This is the Espresso Martini x 2, by the end of the night I think it was x4!  And the Pimms Cup which is Pimms, mint, orange, cucumber topped with lemonade and dry.  Had a sip of this and it was faaresh and zingy!

The menu is tapas style, so we order a heap of dishes, the special of the day was roasted pork belly!!!  They must’ve heard I was coming to town!

First up was the cured meats. 

This is the Morcon Picante - Spanish style salami with guindillas, which are chilli peppers/capsicums.  I loved the big meaty bits and how there wasn't much fat to it.  With some fresh bread, olive oil and a bit of the peppers it was really a great way to ease into the meal. 7/10

Sorry about the blurry pic here, it was on the other end of the table. . .  This is the Jamon Serrano,  Spanish ham with tomato bread.  If I recall correctly this was like a mild proscuitto.  This is why I should write these reviews very soon after it was devoured. Pretty ordinary, 5.5/10.

Impressive photo below of the Ensalada De Lechuga Romana also known as the salad  of baby cos with white anchovies, crisp capers, boiled egg, croutons and guindilla dressing.  I love the fleshiness of the anchovies and the dressing was pretty tasty too.  7/10.

This is another salad we had, and for the life of me I can't remember what it was, and it isn't on the menu anymore.  I think it was goats cheese, beetroot, orange and rocket?  It was an interesting mix for a posh salad. 6/10, I'm not a huge leaf fan.

This was the special of roast pork belly with chickpeas, broccolini and roast potatoes.  We got two of these plates of soft, salty, fall apart pork meat goodness but I still somehow managed to miss out on the crackling to my great disappointment!!!  The servings were rather small despite being full of flavour, so I give this daily special a score of 7.5/10, maybe more or less if I had some of the crackling. . .

 

Below is the Carrillera De Vaca, slow cooked beef cheeks in caramelised red wine with cauliflower puree, fried bread crumbs and thyme.  This cut of meat is starting to make it's way higher and higher on my list of dishes to order when on a menu and getting closer to pork belly.  When cooked correctly with an abundance of flavour and textures it is awesome.  This in particular had so many levels of flavour, the crunchy bits of bread crumbs and thyme were so good in amongst the rich red wine sauce and the shreds of soft beef.  This was the highlight of the night.  8.5/10.

 

Chorizo con judias negras y pimiento de piquillo - which basically is pan fried chorizo with piquillo peppers, black beans, cider and almonds.  The chorizo wasn't very salty which is a good thing, I hate chorizo when it's too salty you can't taste anything else.  The black beans made this a more substantial dish.  The piquillo pepper is from northern Spain and tastes more like capsicum rather than a chilli.  7/10.

 

We had to have a seafood dish so we had this, mussels and clams with some type of aioli on top.   It's the first time I've had mussels with aioli.  Usually it's on the side with my pomme frites.   It was good though, the creaminess of it went well with the seafood creaminess of the plump orange sea morsels.  The clams are harder to get out and not as satisfying as the mussels.  7/10.

 

After a few drinks each and the assortment of Spanish inspired dishes we were too full for dessert.

St. Elmo Dining Room and Bar is a nicely decked out space with the feature bar,  moody lighting and dark wood tones dark enough for romantic dates yet light enough to be able to see what you are eating.  I would recommend this place for a nice evening out in Byron, although I think it's a bit overpriced for what the food was in comparison to Sydney restaurants, but hey we were away for the weekend.