Our journey started with the age-old tradition of a Mcdonalds breakfast. I decided long ago that I would not embark on any road trip without having a Mcdonalds breakfast to mark the occasion - kind of like the line-crossing ceremony that sailors do when they cross the equator. Luckily for me, both Les and Jo were also keen on a junk food-ridden start to the day, and we promptly headed to the dodgy Old Street Mcdonalds to begin our food adventure. In true foodie style, our early morning conversation revolved around the merits of McD's hash browns, and how Les and I do NOT share ours. Jo, was, of course, far more gracious having given hers up when Les' Meal did not come with one.
Les hiding from the Paparazzi...
So having stuffed ourselves with Egg Mcmuffins and Hotcakes, we carried on our journey and started driving to Stansted Airport, where we were due to catch a flight to Bilbao. Les, having only gotten home a few hours before ended up crashing out in the car as soon as we set off. Which left me with the perfect opportunity to snap this shot (see below)! Heh! Jo tried to sternly tell me not to take the photo, but alas, I could not resist....
Why waking up a couple of hours after a 6am night out is never a good idea...
Our plane journey was pretty uneventful and we landed in Bilbao without any drama. It was a good thing that Jo was with us, because I would have taken a bus into Central Bilbao in order to change to another bus for San Sebastian. Luckily, she insisted on flashing a charming smile and asked one of the locals about a direct bus instead. And lo and behold, there was, in fact, a much easier direct bus that brought us straight to San Sebastian from the airport. At this juncture, I was probably the redundant one out of the trio, with Jo flashing her smile and her charm to get travel information; and Les bankrolling the both of us (Jo and I did not have any Euro cash on us, you see). So it was really a team effort, except, ummm...I really was not contributing much at this point.
The bus journey was a pleasant one - passing through valleys with hills and mountains on either side. The 70 minute journey passed pretty quickly with the conversation ranging from the Smurfit Kappa factory to the Smurfs (no surprises there), to the job scene in Singapore, to the Cordon Bleu Culinary School. We soon arrived in San Sebastian, and we promptly made our way to our hotel, where we were greeted by our host Leire and her mum, Carmen. We were meeting Kai at the hotel, who had arrived a few hours earlier from his travels around Spain. We were happy to see him, of course, having not caught up with him for a number of weeks.
It was very easy to see why our hotel (the Pension Belles Artes) was ranked #1 on Tripadvisor for San Sebastian, ahead of newer and larger hotels. Leire and Carmen took great pains to tell us all about the many famous Pintxos Bars around the city, bringing out numerous maps complete with details of what each Bar was famous for - from beef cheeks, to fish necks, to jamon, to anchovies. They really spared no expense at making sure that we had all the information we needed. I reckon we could have carried on talking to them about more food joints, had we not made polite excuses about the time and vacated to our rooms.
Our first stop on our gastronomic tour that evening was La Cuchara de San Telmo, which some friends and colleagues had insisted that we try. It certainly did not disappoint. It was a hole in the wall joint that certainly did not look like it was anything to write home about. In fact, if you did not know that it was there, one would almost certainly just walk past it. And that would have been a big mistake. The people were not glamorous, and there was no seating room even if someone wanted it. The crowd looked decidedly working class and were obviously there because they knew that the place served some of the best food in the city.
Completely Unassuming from the outside...
But looks can be deceiving - the beef cheeks were absolutely sublime...
The specialty of the house were the beef cheeks, which we went back for seconds for. You order off a handwritten menu on a blackboard behind the bar, which is updated daily. The bartender then shouts the orders to a small kitchen that is hidden away to the side. Wine is then served, and minutes later, plates of steaming, hearty fare is served in bite sized portions on a plate. It really was pure heaven. All of us didnt talk for a good 10 minutes as we tucked into the beef cheeks that melted in our mouths upon entry. It didn't matter at that point that we were standing. We could have been doing convoluted Yoga poses and the food would still have been incredible.
3 Happy Campers after Beef Cheeks...
Our next stop was a more conventional Pintxos joint called Bar La Cepa, where we had Jamon Sandwiches, Croquettes, and other fried goodies, washed down with Sangria. It was really good by any standard, but not really anything that blew me away to be frank. Our next stop was far more appealing, which was a place called Bar Zeruko that Kai insisted we try. And I was very glad that we did indeed. It was not as simple and as hearty as La Cuchara was, but the food was great and certainly more pretty to look at. Everything seemed pretty unique and VERY VERY colourful.
We ended up chatting to a couple who were based in the UK and had been travelling around Spain for the past couple of weeks. They seemed quite intrigued by one of our cod dishes, which arrived very prettily on a charcoal smoker - we had to smoke the piece of cod for 1 minute on each side, before placing it on some garnishing and eating it. This was followed by downing a cucumber / vegetable concentrate from a test tube. Pretty damn cool if you asked me.
4 very happy people at Bar Zeruko...
By the end of the session, we were pretty stuffed and decided to take a walk. Alas, we didnt have time to hit another Pintxos Bar because food stops being served at about 11pm. We took a stroll around the Old City, where Jo decided to play football with a coke can, to the chagrin of one of the locals. Heh! We ended up stopping off at a coffee shop by the beach, where we decided to give our livers a break and have some coffee instead. We soon discovered that even the coffee we ordered came with either Baileys or Whisky infused in them. Aiyoh. We eventually moved on and popped into another bar on the way home, where the locals were friendly and very curious about the 4 "Japanese" tourists who walked in. Some Tequila shots (what faster way to get a quick nightcap, eh Les?) and some wine later, we decided to call it a night and promptly headed back to the hotel.
The highlight of the next day was Martin Berasategui's 3 Michelin Starred Restaurant. After all, what is the point of going to a city packed full of them without trying one right? And the place certainly didnt disappoint. We had to take a taxi to the restaurant which was situated just outside the city itself. But the Tasting Menu was to die for. Even the bread was amazing - they had this Jamon Brioche which reminded me of Bak Kwa bread that you might possibly find at BreadTalk in Singapore. But that wasn't the highlight la. In fact, I cant really think of what the highlight might have been, since all the courses were just really impressive.
Poached Egg...
Pigeon with Foie Gras...
Chocolate, Coconut and Coffee...
Why eat 1 thing at a time when you can eat 2?!
Completely stuffed and happy!
After our 4 hour lunch (yes, 4!!), we went back to the City and took a stroll around the harbour. It wouldn't have been right to do a trip without any sightseeing at all, so we decided to climb Monte Urgull which was once an island before the land around it was reclaimed. On the top of the hill was the Castillo de la Mota, which houses a 40ft high statue of Christ. But the views of the bay from the top of the hill really were something else.
Smiling at the bottom of the hill...
And still smiling halfway up...
View from the top...
And on the way down...
A rainbow arrived to delight us...
And we managed to get a shot off as the sun was setting...
The evening was a rather more sedate affair and we all ended up taking an afternoon snooze before heading out again. We ended up going to only 2...yes just 2...pintxos bars for dinner. Everything was still great, but the excitement from all the food had worn off slightly. Perhaps it really is possible to have too much of a good thing. It seems like no one goes out on Sunday nights because all the bars that were packed the night before were either closed or very empty. We managed to get a table at our second joint where we had a slow leisurely dinner, making it back to the hotel before the very civilised time of midnight.
The next day really was a treat. We decided to take a train out to Getaria, which is a small fishing village just outside San Sebastian. The seminal restaurant at Getaria is one called Elkano, which is frequented by the Real Madrid football team whenever they play in the region. However, we had had our fill of fancy restaurants by that time and we just wanted something simple. So simple was what we had. We went to Astillero, which was this unassuming restaurant by the port - it was incidentally a favourite of Leire's as well. All it was was a bunch of tables in a rectangular room on the second floor of a building facing the fishing port. But boy, was it good!
The owners were kind enough to call us into the kitchen to take a look at the day's catch. And did it look amazing or what?!
Simple fresh fish barbequed on a charcoal gril...
Fish neck meat fried in egg, prawns and mussels...
Very contented after yummy fish soup...
Our resident Japanese tourists doing their thing...
And for the coup de grace, Les about to swallow a gooey fish eye, a la fear factor...
It had turned out to be a stunning day, so we decided to take a stroll along the coast to the neighbouring town to catch our train back to San Sebastian. It really was the perfect way to round out the trip, with full tummies, great company and fantastic scenery.
By the time we got back to the City, we had to (literally) run to the hotel to grab our bags, and catch the bus to Bilbao Airport. By this time, we were completely knackered and were pretty sedate getting onto the plane.
But all in all, the trip was absolutely fantastic. Perhaps it was slightly one-dimensional that we went the whole weekend doing nothing but eating and drinking. But bah! Who cares! We had a great time. It's weekends like these that you realise it is the simple things in life that really matter - such as good food and even better friends. My personal favourite meal of the trip was actually the unornamented seafood that we had at Getaria. Nothing fancy, just honest cooking in its simplest form.
And with all that said, can we go back again soon? Maybe for a surfing trip in the summer?
