Snacker's paradise: Donostia's pintxos are worth a culinary trip

A friend told me that San Sebastián ... Donostia in the local Basque language ... has more bars per square foot than anywhere else in the world. I haven't been able to verify that, but it seems perfectly credible. In many streets in the Old Town bars out-number shops, and while they're not quite so profuse in other districts, you're never far from some convivial R&R.

This is not because Donostia is some boozy capital of the party world, but rather because of the delightful local tradition of pintxos.

These gourmet snacks, available in every bar, make drinking here a voyage of culinary discovery. Whether you partake as a filler to get you through to those famously late Spanish dinners, use them as a buffet lunch or snack the day away, pintxos have become a reason to visit San Sebastián/Donostia in their own right. I've encountered nothing else quite like them in my travels.

Pintxo bars come in a bewildering variety. Many are classic Iberian watering holes: wood panelled, slightly-battered furnishings, hams hanging from the ceiling. Others are pictures of modern design, with sleek glass, marble and artsy lighting. Some have quirky themes. A few have the look of uninspiring fast food restaurants, and some are so bare of décor you feel like they're simply allowing you to queue up in a corner of their industrial kitchen. Get away from the profusion of tourists in the Old Town and you'll start to pick up a feel similar to a good British pub: these are watering holes for locals, far more about conviviality and community than alcohol.

The variety of atmosphere made our wandering more interesting, but had nothing to do with the quality of the food. It's uniformly good. I didn't taste a think I didn't like: although I'm content to let sea urchins lie un-harvested, and I don't see the point of deep frying foie gras. To have a more expert opinion on the food, however, let's here from someone more experienced with the Iberian peninsula.

Hillary Berger, fellow traveller on our Northwestern Girls' Trips for 17 years, spent a year of university in Seville and has been all over Spain and Portugal in the years since for both work and play. Here's her take on our pintxo experience:

Donostia is rightly known for its gastronomy, including one of its local specialties: the "pintxo" (pronounced "peen-cho"). But what exactly does it mean to eat pintxos? I have travelled many times to Spain, and assumed it would be similar to a pub crawl where you order tapas at each place. It turns out in some ways it is, but in many ways it's not.

First, a little history from our tour guide Mikel. A pintxo is a Basque speciality, originating from the area's fishermen. Their work fishing meant they would keep odd hours, and would often find themselves celebrating the end of their working day in the local bar ... at 11am. To ensure they weren't drinking on an empty stomach, these bars started preparing small snacks to accompany their libation of choice. These snacks typically consisted of food cooked in the kitchen and served on a slice of bread, held together with a toothpick. The toothpick "pierced" the food, hence the name "pintxo" which is a take on the Spanish verb pinchar - "to pierce".

In San Sebastián, pintxos appeared to be served everywhere but our tastings were primarily in the Old Town. On walking into our first bar we were in equal parts amazed and confused. Amazed because before us on the bar countertops were plates and plates piled high with delicious-looking pintxos. Confused because how on earth would we choose, and also how do you go about ordering these tasty morsels?

We started off focussing on the pintxos we could see, typically called pintxos frios or cold pintxos. These are piled high with various combinations of local delicacies like shrimp, ham, crab, eggs, peppers, anchovies, tortilla, cheese, sardine, mayonnaise, etc. Some are open-faced sandwiches and others are in a small baguette (the latter are also called bocadillos).

Next step is to work up the courage to approach the bar and order, as very few of these bars have table service. First order a glass of wine or a cerveza, then ask for a plate. (The local wine, traditional with pintxos, is a lightly sparkling white called txakoli.) On receiving the plate, essentially you help yourself! Take as many as you want, the bar staff have some magical power that allows them to track how many you take.

Once you are comfortable with that, the critical next step is to upgrade to pintxos calientes, or hot pintxos. In some establishments they will give you a menu, in others the menu is on the wall in Spanish, in others there is no menu and you point at uncooked food asking them to grill or fry it for you.

If you speak no Spanish, remember only one word: solomillo.

Unanimously our favourite pintxo from Bar Gandarias in the Old Town, solomillo is a succulent
morsel of sirloin, simply cooked, served medium rare, with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt. A bite of heaven.

Other favourites were: the racion of Iberian charcuterie from La Cepa, the brochette of cooked prawns from Goiz Bargi, grilled octopus (aka polpo) from Bardulia, another version of solomillo called solomillo a lo pobre (sirloin topped with a fried egg and served with shoestring fries) from Casa Duran in the Gros district near our hotel, and a mushroom, mayonnaise and ham treat from Bergara (also in Gros).

If you want to settle in to graze in one place, we found the bar-top spreads to be most impressive at Bardulia , Bar Martinez, Atari and Gandarias. (The last also has an excellent restaurant, which Ellen's already written about here. Reservations essential.)

We ate pintxos on each of our five days in Donostia and left still wanting more.