Official website of Donostia San Sebastián Turismoa

Gastronomic Experience

Basque and San Sebastian cuisine

Basque cuisine, and particularly the good eating for which San Sebastián is so well known, is internationally recognised thanks to the chefs who have earned it fame the world over.

The 18 Michelin stars held by restaurants in the city vouch for the excellent everyday work of the local culinary artists who, with their feet well anchored to traditional Basque cuisine, have innovated until taking up their place in the vanguard of world gastronomy.
Seasonal and high-quality products

Basque cuisine

Basque cuisine is extensive and varied, using diverse ingredients from both the Cantabrian Sea (fish and seafood) and inland gardens and pastures (vegetables, cereals, meat, etc.). But if there is one thing that characterises our cuisine, it is the use of high-quality, seasonal products.

Local products

Quality local products in San Sebastián: flavours with Eusko Label and Designation of Origin.

Quality produce is something the locals of San Sebastián expect (and get). Quality foodstuffs are to be found not only in the traditional markets and fairs, but also in specialised food shops and even in the big supermarkets.
The quality of food has progressed from being a subjective concept to earn appreciation and certificates rated according to market quality yardsticks. The Eusko Label certificate, recognisable for its K de Kalitatea (K for Kwality) identifies and distinguishes articles produced, transformed and/or manufactured in the Basque Autonomous Community, the quality, specificity and singularity of which are well above the general average. The certificate can be found on products as widely ranging as beef, free range chicken, ewe’s milk, white tuna, local tomatoes and lettuce, honey, extra virgin olive oil, peppers from Gernika and guindilla peppers from Ibarra. It also applies to Denomination of Origin produce like Txakolí wine from Getaria and Idiazabal cheese.

Seasonal gastronomy

Throughout the year, seasonal products are distributed to create an exquisite gastronomic calendar that guides the kitchens of both our homes and our restaurants.

Spring

Spring is the time for anchovies and mackerel, suckling lamb, Idiazabal cheese and petits pois (also known as green caviar), not to mention tender baby broad beans, artichokes, asparagus and Swiss chard.

Summer

In summer you start to see white tuna, sardines, guindilla peppers from Ibarra, peppers, tomatoes and green beans.

Autumm

And in autumn we are invaded by the aroma of cold-cuts and sausages, boletus, ziza and perretxiko mushrooms, black pudding (from Lazkao, Zaldibia, Amezketa and Beasain), and of course, game.

Winter

And finally comes the heartiest winter food in the black beans from Tolosa (with their sacraments: cabbage, black pudding and guindilla peppers), spider crab and elvers, downed with cider and Txakolí wine, and desserts like ewe’s sheep curds or mamia, apples (baked or stewed), walnuts (with cheese or in a sauce) and chestnuts.
Pintxos in San Sebastián: the finest Basque tradition in miniature.
San Sebastian pintxos
One of the foodie treasures of the gastronomy in San Sebastián is its famous pintxos; culinary bites ranging from the original slice of bread piled with food, to tiny miniature haute cuisine creations.

A cuisine that comes from the sea

San Sebastian specialities

This seasonal, high-quality raw material allows for exquisite combinations, some of which even take their name from our city.

Top quality seasonal products are the perfect allies for creating exquisite combinations, some of which even take their name from our city. The local specialities found today in restaurants dedicated to traditional fare take their origins from the household recipes that eventually became major features in gastronomic societies and restaurants. They were later reduced to a minimum in the myriad pintxos enticingly packed onto the bar tops.
San Sebastián’s most typical dishes are made with produce of the sea: baked spider crab, hake cheeks in green sauce, hake koxkera or donostiarra style, clams marinière, baby squid in their ink and baked sea bream. Other dishes feature Aguinaga elvers (the baby eels today replaced by surimi substitutes due to the extortionate price of the authentic product), star dish of the classic meal eaten on the evening before the patron saint’s day festivities on San Sebastian Day, when drums sound out in every corner of our city.
Restaurants

Traditional restaurants in San Sebastián

San Sebastián Turismo
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