We spent some time in Donostia San Sebastián in northern Spain, a beautiful city celebrated for its food and often regarded as the culinary capital of the Basque Country, if not all of Spain.
And yet, on our first couple of evenings we ate some puzzlingly poor meals: overcooked pasta, limp pizza and fish dishes that felt thrown together. The food was overpriced for what it offered, and only good wine made those early dinners bearable.
It didn’t take long to realise the problem wasn’t the city, it was our approach. Dining out in San Sebastián is a different affair to eating in Britain, and once we understood the local rhythm we started to enjoy some of the best food of our trip.
The Spanish conundrum
At home we tend to book dinner around 8pm. That habit failed us in San Sebastián, where people typically eat much later — often around 10pm or beyond. Good restaurants stay quiet for much of the evening and then fill up late. Trying to find a quality place that serves at our usual hour pushed us into mediocre tourist-focused options.
The local solution is simple: a light bite to bridge the gap between the afternoon and a late dinner. In San Sebastián that bite is the pintxo (spelt with an “x” in Basque; called pincho in Spanish), the northern Spanish cousin of tapas. Pintxos are gloriously small snacks, often arranged on slices of bread and displayed across every bar in the city. They’re designed to get you through to a proper meal, or to soak up the alcohol — and they’re brilliant.
Pintxos culture makes eating out relaxed and affordable. Many bars compete fiercely to create imaginative pintxos, so you can sample extraordinary cooking at modest prices. Once we embraced this approach we started bar-hopping, ordering several small plates each. At around 1.80 to 3 euros per pintxo, ten to twelve euros per person was easily enough for a satisfying meal. The kids enjoyed it too, and even discovered calamari.
The etiquette of ordering pintxos
Walking into a busy pintxo bar can be overwhelming. People cluster at the counter, legs of jamón may hang nearby, and platters of baguette slices topped with anchovies, chorizo, peppers and other ingredients line the bar. A little Spanish helps, but if you feel shy you can get by with gestures, a smile and some basic words: uno, dos, por favor, gracias.
The most important rule is to indicate you want to eat before taking food. Don’t simply grab the nearest item. The bartender will usually give you a plate or fill it for you; watch what others do and follow their lead. It’s customary to run a tab: the bartender keeps track of drinks and pintxos and you pay when you leave. Spanish bartenders are often remarkably organised even in the busiest places, but sticking with the same server during your visit can make settling the bill feel simpler.
Most pintxos are secured with a small wooden toothpick. Those picks are practical — they keep the snack together — and they serve as a way for staff to count what you’ve eaten. Keep the toothpicks on your plate and you’ll have a rough idea of your tab as the evening progresses.
Beyond the items displayed on the bar, the true highlights are often on a blackboard or a menu behind the counter. Many of the best dishes are cooked to order: hot calamari, croquettes, chorizo, stews and other small hot plates. These can also be ordered as a racione, a larger portion suitable for sharing.
Don’t be afraid to point to the blackboard and ask for advice — a little effort will be rewarded. Sit next to a hungry local and see what they choose, and be adventurous with unfamiliar names. Tiny portions let you sample many different things in one evening, which is a wonderful way to experience the city’s culinary creativity.
Our practical tip for families: feed the children at the apartment first if you need to, then head out to enjoy pintxos. That way everyone can relax and try new flavours without a bedtime mutiny.
Next week: a quick run-down of some of the bars we discovered.