Has San Sebastián lost its PINTXO MOJO? Veggie pintxos save San Sebastian’s foodie scene.

Has San Sebastián lost its PINTXO MOJO? Veggie pintxos save San Sebastian’s foodie scene.

[Music] San Sebastian Spain has long been famous for its culinary Scene It has the highest per capita number of Michelin starred restaurants in the world it’s a mecca for Foodies from fancy restaurants to simple standing room only bars everywhere you go there’s no limit to creativity and you can always count on getting served top quality food no matter where you go or at least you could back in the old days before Mass tourism put a ENT in things K show we recently spent 2 months in San Sebastian and MaDee our way through many many pincho bars more often than not the food was disappointing and the service was grumpy in the end we were able to find our five or six favorite bars and a dozen or so favorite Pinchos but it was a lot of trial and error the good news is there are still some exceptional Pinchos to be found you just need to know where to find them and how to avoid the tourist traps so come along and we’ll show you our top 10 favorite snob prooof Pinchos in San Sebastian [Music] chapeta is a bar in Oldtown that serves pretty much only anchovies they are fresh local and marinated in oil and vinegar here they are you get to choose the toppings or the sauces I chose Olive paste crab sauce and peppers and onions crab sauce offsets the acidity of the an cute little table you have a double decker by the way did you know that the extremely popular peppers and onions topping also resembles the Basque flag red green and white [Music] mhm ganara is easily the most beautiful pincho bar in San Sebastian’s Old Town it has a traditional decor with walls full of artwork a beautiful tile counter adorned with fresh [Music] produce it’s fun to sit at the bar and watch the staff and the other patrons but overall I would say this place is a bit overrated prices are high and we found many of the pinches at gambara to be nothing special however we did find two dishes that are pretty spectacular one of our favorite dishes here where the steamed artichoke serve piping hot with bits of crispy hon absolutely [Music] delectable the other killer pincho from ganbara are the sauteed mushrooms with egg yolk simple ingredients turn into into a symphony of unexpected flavors yegg and the mushroom blend together beautifully for a meaty mouth [Music] feel each chopa was probably our favorite pincho bar overall in our two months in donosa we went back there several times it’s not necessarily the cutest or has the most creative dish but it was the most consistent and with the largest number of absolutely delightful Pinchos even though we’re only including two of their best Pinchos in this list we never ate anything there we didn’t [Music] like the mushroom bread was definitely one of our favorites it’s Unique and very tasty it’s like a fluffy muffin nest made from mushroom flour and filled with a runny egg yolk it’s light and yummy and it’s fun to scoop up the egg yolk with a [Music] bread another one of our favorite dishes at ich roopena is the arch choke salad gently sauteed Arch chokes on a base of ripe Tomatoes topped with bean sprouts a simple but delicious combination [Music] and here are two more honorable mentions from icher Rena the sauteed scallops over green beans and the fried shaved white asparagus served with an egg yolk both really really [Music] tasty at this point you’re probably wondering why is there egg yolk in every dish and what happens to all the egg white those are good questions and we have no idea IDE if you know the answer leave us a comment below we’re curious to know [Music] too we really enjoyed coming here it’s a fun and Casual Ambiance the food is good and the staff is friendly [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Kasa Vergara looks a bit like a tourist trap prime location cute Decor cocktail jugs on the counter trilingual science for the food nonetheless we actually like it here but you do need to be careful what you order the cold Pinchos off the counter have been disappointing with one single exception the duck bio I say avoid the cold Pinchos we’ve had more luck with their hot Pinchos off the menu which they bring to your table after you order at the bar we were particularly fond of their cettas ston dare I say they are among the best in Dona for a truly unique pincho experience head to bar mano a tiny hole-in-the-wall wine bar that has a huge wine list and serves up the most creative and delicious little dishes it’s different in many ways first of all it’s way off the Beaten Track far away from Oldtown only very few tourists find their way here secondly their menu rarely includes any of the B Classics but instead is full of Novel Creations inspired by local traditions and ingredients we were pretty much Blown Away by every dish we sampled [Music] here but our two favorites were the fried green asparagus with egg yolk [Music] sauce and the arch chokes over a p hummus Finger Licking Good only you don’t really eat with your fingers here [Music] by now you might have guessed that we like Ary chokes and indeed we do so we order them whenever they are in season La is not really a pincho bar it’s a sitdown restaurant but you could come here for just an appetizer and pretend you’re having Pinchos it’s located on the roof rooftop of the tabakalera museum the restaurant offers amazing views in addition to creative food and outstanding [Music] service oh wow wow wow wow that’s incredible their fried artichoke appetizer is absolutely incredible and probably the best artichoke dish we had in San Sebastian and you know we’ve tried a lot of artichoke dishes [Music] here Lavinia is an instit tion it’s world famous and almost always overrun with both locals and [Music] tourists their Fame derives from their cheesecake burnt bass cheesecake to be precise it’s a little less sweet and a little less dense than a New York cheesecake for example and it’s smoke here and runnier too and there’s no crust only sweet gooey cheesy goodness in inside Lavinia claims that the bass cheesecake was invented right here in 1990 by their chef Santiago Rivera we don’t know whether this is true or not but we do know that there’s just hands down the best cheesecake in town I love a good cheesecake and I can honestly say I have never had one this good there I’ve said it it’s simply divine so good every bite brings tears to my eyes they sell the mother a slice but you can also buy a whole one and Delight your friends and family with it [Music] [Laughter] that’s it that’s our top 10 you can’t go wrong with these Pinchos and Son satian Dona have you been to S Sebastian recently what was your experience with Pinchos did you have many disappointments too and what were your favorites leave us a comment and let us know bye [Music] adios we’re featuring quite a few vegetable Pinchos in this video so you might get the impression that they’re abundantly available in San Sabastian it’s actually quite the opposite most pincho menus feature primarily Seafood then red meat and vegetables are pretty scarce and strangely expensive oh [Music]

Has San Sebastián Donostia lost its pintxo mojo? San Sebastian, Spain has a famous culinary scene with hundreds of pintxo bars and tons of Michelin starred restaurants. It’s a Mecca for foodies and top of Europe’s hotlist. In this travel vlog we ask, with over tourism, can you still get the best pintxos in San Sebastian? We recently spent 2 months of our retirement slow travel in San Sebastian and ate our way through many many pintxo bars. In this San Sebastian travel guide you’ll see that more often than not, the food was disappointing and the service was grumpy. Good news, there are still some exceptional pintxos to be found. You just need to know where to find them and how to avoid the tourist traps. Come along as we show you the results of our slow travel stay and share with you our top 10 pintxos in San Sebastian — we’ll tell you the secrets of which bars and restaurants are best in San Sebastian. And many of our finds are among the best vegetarian pintxos in San Sebastian.

In this travel vlog we eat at the following bars and restaurants:
Txepetxa
Ganbara
Itxaropena
Casa Vergara
Manojo
LABe
La Viña

We’re Emre and Maia of Happygoluckytravel. Our videos feature local, authentic, and immersive experiences in Europe while we full-time travel. We love to engage with local people and stay longer in our destinations (slow travel), while we spend retirement being curious about everything! We’re passionate about travel and food and have been to 44 countries between us! Longing for simplicity and freedom, we put our remaining possessions in storage, and set out with a suitcase and carry-on each. We love slow travel because its a mindset that works whether you have a few days or a whole year! Most of our vlogs focus on Spain, Italy and France, but you’ll find us in other wonderful places too.

We like to keep it real. We did not receive, nor do we ask for compensation from any of the enterprises mentioned in this video.

The @happygoluckytravel YouTube channel is a production of HAPPY GO LUCKY, LLC, Washington.