Because we’ve been lucky to have dined for business/pleasure at the Michelin-starred San Sebastián area temples (except for Amelia, moving in March to the Hotel María Cristina), while attending the Tamborrada festival in January, we chose to dine instead at those restaurants sporting Repsol suns, Michelin recommendations and a brand new spot for its Tamborrada Eve special menu.
These “not the usual suspects”:
Artean Barra Abierta, also discovered here by Ziggy and 787sea, is a comfy, 12-seat gastronomic counter eatery in the Gros neighborhood, housed in a sleek former cocktail bar with background jazz on the stereo, run by a delightful Peruvian couple, Germán Berrocal and Anali Paytan. Germán, the chef, trained at El Celler de Can Roca, and his hostess wife trained at Bailara, and who puts the masterful finishing touches in front of the diners for his creative dishes prepared in a diminutive kitchen. “Artean” in Basque means “between”, a nod to the connection between the kitchen and the small barra and to its Peruvian-Basque origins.
Here we enjoyed a double Cantabrian anchovy with smoked butter atop a grilled brioche, a smoked sirloin tartar decorated with buttons of low temperature egg yolk accompanied by pan de cristal, grilled octopus (pulpo a la brasa), rice with a Martiko duck magret (a splendid dish!), and for dessert, a chocolate ganache served in a white shell, topped with a hazelnut ice cream quenelle, hazelnuts and drops of olive oil. We shared a bottle of Gaba do Xil godello by Telmo Rodríguez from the Valdeorras D.O.
We plan to return soon to sample the dishes for which we didn’t have room: the grilled carabinero (scarlet prawn), the Peruvian causa and the txuletón of Almadraba caught blue fin tuna (ventresca). But the menu changes often so you may not find one of these dishes available.
A Michelin, Macarfi and Repsol recommendation. Closed Sunday/Monday.
Astelena, by chef Ander González, whose EITB cooking show, “A Bocados”, we enjoy. (Ander is no longer the supervising chef at the Hotel Lasala Plaza).
We chose Astelena for our Jan. 20 San Sebastián Day dinner, tucked away in a less touristed street of the Old Quarter. We loved our dishes here, the warm welcome, well-spaced tablecloth-decked tables and the charming female wait staff service.
Here the menu is very traditionally Basque: creamy Iberian ham croquettes, fish soup, hake in green sauce with clams, monkfish and turbot for two, leg of baby lamb, filet of venison, grilled foie atop an apple purée, etc. And desserts include warm apple tart and molten chocolate cake with passion fruit sorbet.
We washed down our excellent traditional meal with a Navarran Viña Zorzal chardonnay and a Navarran patxaran digestif.
We shall make Astelena a regular part of our Old Quarter dining rotation.
One Repsol sun and a Macarfi guide recommendation (don’t know why it’s been neglected by Michelin!). Closed Sunday/Monday.
Villano Bistró is the new kid in town, housed in the former space of Casa 887 (moving to the Villa Favorita) in the Hotel Intur Villa Katalina. We chose it because of 1. its well priced €90 Tamborrada Eve set menu, 2. its proximity to our Hotel Arbaso in the center, in case of a downpour (which did come but later subsided) and 3. because the chef hailed from Sébastian Gravé’s La Table in Baiona, Pays Basque, which is a personal favorite.
After an aperitivo of txistorra at the Narru Bar inside our hotel, we headed down 2 blocks for our Víspera de Tamborrada dinner.
The menu: an aperitivo of rich fish broth and an Idiazábal cookie, marinated salmon tartar with citron ice-cream and praliné of sesame/alga nori, truffled mushroom ravioli with Iraty cheese sauce, cod and spider crab in a fresh fennel velouté, braised veal cheeks in a Pays Basque foie gras cream and potato purée. For dessert, a torrija (pain perdu), ice cream and peach confiture.
Include in the feast: bottles of Basque red and white wine, a glass of cava to toast at midnight and our drum kit to drum the night away and a chef’s toque blanche.
On Mondays through Fridays Villano offers a bargain priced lunch Ondarreta menu for €27 and a chef’s Zurriola menu for €57. One to keep in mind in this pricey dining city.
Recommended by Tapas Magazine. Open daily.
We were introduced by our friend Gabriella of Tenedor Tours to Bells Bar in the Old Quarter, housed in a former mattress shop with a somewhat British pub feel, owned by Englishman Lancelot Bell Crafer and lovely Colombian partner Sara Quinchia. Here we had a pintxo of seasonal artichokes and an unusual small bucket of “KFC” fried frog’s legs. While the latter wasn’t a great hit (and we weren’t charged), the artichokes were one of the best renditions we sampled, along with Urola’s.
We did return to our “usual” Old Quarter suspects: the unmissable Casa Urola for 2 special pintxos: a squab breast with duxelles and straw potatoes and a pintxo of artichokes & chard in a pumpkin cream and an almond praliné. Both outstanding creations by Pablo Loureiro, who mans the downstairs kitchen while his team of young chefs staff the upstairs dining room kitchen and his wife, Begoña Arenas, serves as the dining room hostess.
Plus Borda Berri for its Idiazábal risotto, the bar at Ibai for battered artichokes topped with gossamer slices of Iberian ham, Tambo for its veal stuffed red pepper and SSua Arde (formerly A Fuego Negro) for its oxtail lasagne.
In Gros we headed to Bar Desy for their acclaimed txuleta burger on a brioche bun and layered with cream cheese. Utterly delicious and inimitable. And our usual stop at Bodega Donostiarra for their special and messy “Completo”.
Photos to follow.
