San Sebastián: A taste of foodie paradise

In the north of Spain, close to the border of France, lies a sprawling city surrounded by crystal blue waters. Expansive shorelines of picture-perfect white sand stretch as far as the eye can see, stopping only for the majestic Urgull and Igeldo hills to rise on either side. Sultry beach-goers flock to the shore to swim, surf and lay out in the sun. Tourists, movie stars and the European jet set come to enjoy one of Spain’s most fashionable resort towns. Yet here, beaches are not all that stretches out: the city is lined with quaint cobblestone streets to the east in lively Parte Vieja or old town district. In stark contrast, the millionaire’s belt — a string of lavish holiday homes — sits in Playa de Ondaretta at the city’s western end. Welcome to San Sebastián, where life is good and food is even better.

Right at the heart of the city is crescent-shaped La Concha bay, the most popular and most visited sight in all of San Sebastián. The accompanying stretch of powder-white sand on its shoreline is touted as one of the best in all of Europe. The elegant promenade is dotted with distinct artistic elements in the form of Concha railing, lampposts and los relojes or clocks marking the main access to the beach, along with a variety of spas, cafés, bars and restaurants.

The bay also has a unique feature — Isla Santa Clara, a tiny island in the middle of the bay so close to shore that you can swim to it all year round. The 30-meter island has a small beach, a quirky lighthouse and a charming path with picnic tables and a bar on the seaside terrace.

Connected to La Concha beach is Ondaretta, the same stretch of shoreline separated only by rocks and accessible by a small strip of sand during low tide. It is here that some of Europe’s elite come out to play during the summer months with the high-end district dominated by lavish vacation houses.

If you continue your walk around the bay taking Paseo Nuevo promenade, around the bottom of Mount Urgull, you will reach Zurriola Beach, the liveliest of San Sebastian’s three beaches. Zurriola is the hub of all beach activities with surf championships, daily surf classes, volleyball, football and beach tennis, breathing life and energy into the 800-meter stretch of sand.

San Sebastián is in the heart of the Basque country, which in case you haven’t heard, isn’t like the rest of Spain. It is made up of four provinces in Spain and three in France united by their culture as well as a common tongue — Euskera — characterized by plenty of k’s and tx’s. The Basque people take their food seriously. More than anything else, they are completely fixated on gastronomy and good food is central to their way of life. They even have private culinary societies called txokos where men meet to cook, eat and drink.

As if the breathtaking scenery, centuries-old culture and laid-back beach lifestyle were not enough to make us fall in love with San Sebastián, we sampled the food and never wanted to leave. People say San Sebastian is the best place to eat in Spain. I dare say, it’s the best city to eat in all of Europe — maybe even in the entire world.

Michelin-star restaurants are plentiful in this seaside city but even ordinary everyday food for the locals is a brilliant culinary experience. You are unlikely to be served anything that is less than delicious, be it from a three-star Michelin or a local bar.

The region is best known for pintxos — bite-size appetizers similar to Spanish tapas. We did as the locals do and hopped from one restaurant or pintxos bar to another, sampling a few concoctions and sipping a little wine from each establishment.

Our gastronomic adventure started with a sit-down lunch where we enjoyed traditional Basque cuisine. The Basque cook their food simply but excellently, making use of the freshest, highest quality ingredients available to them — and they have the best, coming from a region with fertile land for grains, vineyards and livestock breeding. You won’t find any overly complex dishes, as the chefs believe in allowing the ingredients’ individual flavors to shine. Instead, you will experience food like you never have before — appreciating the symphony of tastes and textures prepared by the greatest foodies in the whole world.

We devoured a generous helping of pulpo, a dish with only four ingredients: octopus, olive oil, paprika and salt. With so few ingredients, the secret to this dish is the preparation. The octopus is boiled for around 20 minutes until it reaches perfect tenderness. There are only a few minutes between the octopus being sufficiently cooked and becoming rubbery. Judging this to perfection is a skill that the cooks of the Basque region have mastered as it is the principal requirement for preparing amazing pulpo.

For the less adventurous eater, we enjoyed a dish of calamares fritos, deep-fried breaded squid and merluza a la plancha, grilled hake fish, which is similar to cod but lighter and more delicate in texture and slightly sweeter to the taste. The dishes we were served were made from the freshest seafood I have ever sunk my teeth into. Surely, they were freshly caught that very morning — as hake doesn’t stay in prime condition for long.

The star attraction was the famed Chuletón de Buey, a massive chunk of rib-eye steak on the bone expertly grilled on the coals until it is so tender and succulent that it melts in your mouth. It is served with a generous dash of sea salt and a siding of Basque steak fries. Absolutely delicious.

On a normal day, we would have been satisfied but our initial taste of San Sebastián only served to whet our appetite even more. We set out to hit a few pintxos bars to sample some more Basque fare.

It was very easy to find mouthwatering pintxos. They were everywhere to be found. The best place to try some of them is Parte Vieja, famed for having the highest concentration of bars in the world. Don’t miss Calle 31 de Agosto, one of the most famous streets in the area, which has many great bars.

The art of eating pintxos has been around for a long time and can be a bit confusing for those stepping into a pintxos bar for the first time. The servings are small, composed of bites not meant to be shared.

An assortment of pintxos is usually displayed on the bar. You ask the barkeep for a plate and help yourself to whatever you like — and keep track of how much you have eaten. When you have finished, you tell the barman how much you ordered, pay, and throw your napkin on the floor. Apparently, it’s easier to clean that way and it also serves as an indication of how good the bar is. The more napkins there are on the floor, the better.

We walked into the first bar that we saw and helped ourselves to queso de cabra con jamon, fresh goat cheese with ham and revuelto de txangurro con gamba, which is an interesting concoction made up of crab, egg and shrimp mixture served on a piece of toasted bread; we downed it with Spanish red wine.

Within minutes, we found ourselves at another pintxos bar where we had chistorra, traditional artisan-made Basque cured sausage and verduras con anchoas, vegetables cooked with spicy peppers topped with anchovy, which, like everything else in San Sebastian, tasted very fresh. Finally, we had foie gras, which the bar was famous for. Rich and savory with a silky texture and an almost buttery taste, it was truly delectable. We paired our pintxos with txakoli, a slightly sparkling, very dry white wine that is traditional in this area.

A trip to San Sebastián is an incredible experience for all your senses — but perhaps most of all for your taste buds. This is food town, with more chefs, cooks and food-obsessed people than anywhere else in Spain. I invite you to come to San Sebastian, bask in the sun and stroll the cobblestone streets in search of delectable eats.

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Cathay Pacific flies to Madrid via Hong Kong every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.