At a recent conference, I met a student, Ane Lasa, from the Basque Country, who mentioned she had taken her Finnish colleagues on a pintxos tour through Donosti. The tour consisted of the best pintxos at the best bars, as determined by Ane’s ama. Ane graciously shared the list with me, and I’m sharing it with everyone else.

• Zabaleta taberna (Gros): Chipirón a la plancha (grilled squid)
• Vergara taberna (Gros): Txopito (squid)
• Cuchara de San Telmo (Parte Vieja): carrilleras, solomillo, bacalao, rissotto (carrilleras=the good meat; solomillo=an even better meat; bacalao=cod)
• Gandarias (Parte Vieja): perretxikok, onttok (mushrooms)
• Txepeleta (Parte Vieja) : antxoak (anchovy)
• Hika-Mika (City Center): morros, carrilleras, bacalao, pastel de pescado (morros=meat, pastel de pescado=fish cake)
• Martinez (Parte Vieja): Gambas a la gabardina (scampi, shrimp)
• La Cepa (Parte Vieja): bocadillo jamón serrano (sandwich of ham)
• La Cueva: champis a la plancha (grilled mushrooms)
• Munto: plato de diferentes hongos-setas (mixture of mushrooms) (this is Ane’s favorite)

Ane adds: But over any list, walk around, check where most of the local people is (the ones speaking that unintelligible language), be open to what each of the (listed) bars suggest and enjoy it!

If you’ve spent a night sampling the wonderful delights of the Parte Vieja, what other pintxos would you add? And what pintxos/bars would you recommend in other Basque towns?

The photos were found on the web, often from the website of that particular tavern.