Saturday 14 September 2024
We
had a walking tour with San Sebastian Greeters booked for 10.0 am and noted
that a café, well recommended by Alyssa and Jen – Simona Specialty Coffee Club,
was open for breakfast. Their specialty is 65-degree, slow cooked eggs. This
means nice runny yolks, but sloppy undercooked whites. Flashy’s Turkish eggs –
poached in yoghurt and garlic oil with sourdough toast were, apart from not hot
enough, pretty good. Lady P’s Bennies were average. Good coffee though.
Our
greeter was a 75 year old woman who has walked the long (800k+) Camino twice.
So, she was a sprightly old chook who took us through her neighbourhood, which
was not the tourist strip. After two and a bit hours, we had walked enough and
retired to the same pintxos bar as last night for more sustenance. We’ve just
about had all their menu by now. Back at
our BnB room, Lady P’s having a siesta and Flashy has finally found a sherry
(manzinalla) in the Abba Hotel next door.
Dinner
was booked for 8pm. Early for Spain but the only available spot at Bodegon
Alejandro, a Michelin listed restaurant in the old town. It was an excellent
meal, worthy of a star or even two. We opted for the degustation. Flashy took
the matching wines and Lady P did her usual of ordering a couple of glasses,
then sampled Flashy’s as well. This was not a particular problem here as the
Spanish don’t actually measure their serves and they are quite generous. As is the case in good starred restaurants,
the presentation is as much theatre as the actual food. The service was
excellent, with the lovely young girls keen to practice their English. All
female floor crew and very professional.
Our
menu started with leek custard on the bottom of a ramekin and a clear but tasty
ham broth on top; a marinated anchovy fillet with red pepper slices and a spider crab stuffed red pepper
with pil pil sauce (sort of like a bisque)
Next was a slow cooked egg with Emmental consume. Then a beautifully cooked tune fillet, caramelised spring onions and confit piquillo peppers. This was followed by Acorn fed Iberian pork loin with mashed potatoes. The dessert was torched fig with mascarpone and finally, a bruleed French toast and vanilla ice cream. Petit fours came in a box made from a log.
The wines were all local (see photos) and were excellent, if not known to us. A Txakoli Hiruzta Getariako Txakolina (see what I mean about those t’s, x’s and z’s? ) Then a Ilun D.O. Bizkaiko Txkolina Ysios Collection privada, then a D.O.C. Rioja and finally a homemade, sweet orange wine. All this for €62pp.
slow cooked egg
More food photos please....the Major
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