A Day of Indulgence in San Sebastian

So we made our annual pilgrimage to the old quarter of San Sebastian for some pinxtos and wine. We've been there several times over the past few years and on each visit seem to discover yet another gastronomic delight. This visit didn't disappoint. We decided to head straight for La Cuchara de San Telmo for the first set of pinxtos. I've read about La Cuchara before and every review has been fantastic. They were right! We started with a couple of beers and order Foie Salteado and a Risotto of goats cheese and mchrooms. The foie was sublime -- just the perfect amount of caramelisation on the outside followed by a rich creamy texture inside. The sauce had a perfect balance of sharpness and sweetness to match the foie. The next set was all pork. Kelsie ordered Costillas de cerdo and I ordered Pork belly. It was called something else in Basque and to be honest I had no idea what i was going to be getting. Both were extremely tender and well flavoured, and I imagine they had been cooking slowly for hours. The pork belly had a lovely crispy skin. In the space of about 30 minutes the bar filled and emptied and filled again, which is when we decided to head to our next destination. Our second stop was at Bar Gandarias. We had been there last year and liked what we had so decided to try it again. This time I had a deep fried piquillo pepper stuffed with cod and Kelsie had a brocheta of lamb. The lamb was a lovely pink inside and had a nice tender texture. At our third stop we had a brocheta of shark and shrimp as well as gratineed scallops. By this time most of the bars had cleared out and we were starting to lose our steam. We finished with strong coffees and Basque cake to give us energy to get back to the train and home. We heart San Sebastian!