Long train ride to Basque

We spent most of our time today on trains. So, not many“Food” events….  Today, we headed to San Sebastian, a city in the Basque region. The Basque region is located at the northern border of France and Spain (on both sides, but more in Spain). Basque people speak their own language, which is not related to any other European languages. In the past couple  of decades, Basque has become one of the foodiest regions in Europe with many Michelin starred restaurants and gourmet pintxos (tapas in basque).

We took a semi-local train from Lyon to Paris, which took 3 hours (on the map, they look pretty close, though). Once we arrived at the station in Paris, we had to transfer to another station by metro. Then, a long distance train from Paris to Irun, which is right across the border between France and Spain.

I was a bit stunned when I got off the train at Irun station. Very deserted….. I saw less than 20 people getting off at this final station. I was expecting to see a local train platform to transfer to our final destination, San Sebastian. It was getting dark and I saw even fewer people at the station. I was freaking out a bit… I managed to find some staff and found a local train. We arrived at the San Sebastian main station around 9:30pm expecting some places to eat. It’s a very beautiful and clean city but nothing was open…  So, we decided to check in to the hotel first by walking about 30 minutes. We were hungry….. The staff at the front desk said we could find something to eat at the city center, which is a 20 minute walk. 

Still the city looks so quiet. Again, it’s a beautiful city but where are restaurants?? After we skipped several touristy eateries, we found a local restaurant, called Pollitena. Just a sign by stairway. It seems the restaurant is upstairs. It’s prix fixe for 16 Euro. We decided to give it a try.

The inside was very cute with homey decorations. A very friendly woman gave us the choices for the prix fixe. She asked which wine we wanted. She didn’t bring a wine list so we asked for red. We didn’t need a whole bottle but I guess that’s the only choice here.

She brought breads and a complimentary appetizer.

I didn’t really know what it was. Kind of a paste with spinach and mayonnaise? Interesting…

 

The gazpacho was tangy and very refreshing. Nice.

 

This fish soup was very very good. The waitress brought a big silver bowl and poured to my bowl right by the table. When I went to a Basque restaurant in San Francisco, they did the same thing. So, this is a traditional way of serving? Anyway, it was soooooo good!!

 

I requested medium rare for the steak. Again, I should have thought about the difference between Europe and the US. It was a bit too rare for me. It was entrecote - pretty tough with some tendon inside.

 

On the other hand, the chicken was excellent. It was juicy with good flavors.

 

 

The desserts were a slice of cake with chocolate sauce and rice pudding. The chocolate sauce was very rich and bitter. I loved it.

 

 

Then, we asked for the check. It was only 32.00 Euro. Wow!! I guess water and a bottle of wine was included. What a great deal! We were so happy with this restaurant.