DRIVING rain, whipping winds and an unseasonally wicked chill didn't deter JetMoney from continuing its tour de force of great food in the Old Town of Donostia (Basque for San Sebastian) on Saturday.
This time, the target was terrific tapas bars, a tough assignment given that there are more than 30 such joints in the old town alone. But it's also where the best of the bunch are. The trick is finding them.
Thankfully we had insiders' tips, again from the tireless team from Mugaritz.
Mugaritz maitre d' Joserra Calvo and one of the restaurant's creative team, Javier Vergara, guided us through the mass of teaming bars we otherwise would have wandered through in an unknowing haze.
It's standard behaviour in Spain to bar hop among tapas bars: a plate of mushrooms here, jambon there, chillies and olives at another place, always washed down with a glass of the local plonk or beer.
That's basically what we did, but at three of the best, according to the locals. It used to be that just one really good tapas joint existed in San Sebastian. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view) the breakdown of the marriage between the two owners saw them go their separate ways. They each opened their own bars, resulting in two truly excellent places for the town. We went to both of them.
The first, Bar Beti-Jai, specialised in fish. But it presented us with our first taste of delectable aged Iberico ham, as usual coupled with crusty bread. The smell of the meat is the test, we were told. That's the true indicator of really great ham. What you're looking for is yeasty, blue-cheese characteristics, all of which were achieved here.
Next came delectably fresh anchovies, a fish which is becoming rarer than ever. Its season lasts just a few short months, and this plate of the marinated variety was the first of it. The fresh, smooth flavour made restraint difficult. Before leaving, we downed a traditional San Sebastian favourite of green chillies wrapped in salted anchovies and speared with a green olive-topped pick.
Next stop was a mushroom specialist in Bar Asador. That's all we ate here, steaming plates of eight flavourful fungi varieties with varying characteristics of taste and texture, all of them more-ish. It was difficult to stop going back for more, but knowing we had a gastronomic challenge ahead of us that night helped - but only just.
Last stop was Bar Bernardo Etxea, (run by the former husband of the marital breakdown). This place specialises in crustaceans and has tanks full of spiny lobster, crayfish and crabs. Although ham and meats are also favoured here (the Iberico ham sausage was wonderful), the crustaceans are the real reason for going there. We particularly enjoyed a San Sebastian recipe: crab meat mixed with onion and tomato, placed back in the crab shell and topped with bread crumbs before being grilled. Also good was Hake cheek flash fried in an egg batter. The lemon pieces, we were told, are for use only when the fish is not particularly fresh and was needed to mask the fishy smell. It was clearly an unnecessary additive here.
Before retiring for a siesta, Mugaritz's Joserra Calvo steered us towards a place he deemed among the best cafes in town for a fortifying coffee. The macchiatos at the recently renovated Cafeteria Avenida XXI, situated on the main shopping drag Avenue de la Libertao, were both hot and strong, providing us with what we hoped would be a much-needed digestive aid before the big event planned for that night - dinner at Mugaritz.
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