Eating my way through Basque country

There’s something feral and sensual about the Basque Country. A region carved between mountains and surf, proud and defiant, where people speak in a language older than anyone can remember and drink like they have something to forget. I came here to eat. Everything else was just scenery.

Situated in the north of Spain in the Bay of Biscay, San Sebastian is probably the best known of the Belle Époque resorts along the coast. Geographically it reminds me of Rio de Janeiro, with curved beaches intertwined between tall hills. One of the hills even has a statue of Jesus, to further add to the similarity.

Let the Txakoli flow at Borda Berri.

San Sebastian is an assault on the senses. The seaside glam, the Belle Époque nostalgia, the salty Atlantic air that whispers through the alleys of the old town. It all sets the stage, but the real action is to be found on the bar counters.

Many claim that the best food in Spain can be found in San Sebastian. It is supposedly inspired by the French, but still Spanish at heart with the inclusion of excellent seafood.

The famous Makobe burger at A Fuego Negro was tiny but delicious.

The Basque tradition is to do a pintxo crawl, that is having one or two pintxos before moving on to the next tiny place. Pintxos are similar to tapas, but this isn’t the average ham-on-bread fare. These are edible sculptures, sometimes skewered with toothpicks like culinary voodoo dolls. I dig in with my hands, with my eyes, with a low growl of pleasure between sips of Txakoli, the young local white poured from a ridiculous height just because they can.

Some of the places are really tiny. One of the smallest I visited was La Cuchara de San Telmo up on a corner of Santa Korda Kalea. The place was featured in the TV series version of A Cook’s Tour from 2002, where Anthony Bourdain had a carrilera de ternera al vino tinto. I manage to grab the table where Bourdain had his meal and ordered the same.

The alleys of Parte Vieja are crammed in the evening.

The pintxos are delicious, regardless of where I go. I came hungry. I left ruined, in the best way possible.