San Sebastián pintxos: how to order, pay and drink txakoli

A pintxo is a small bite, usually built on a slice of bread and often held together with a toothpick, the spike or “pintxo” that gave it the name. In San Sebastián pintxos are not a meal you sit down to but a way of moving through the evening: a bite and a drink in one bar, then on to the next. Locals call it txikiteo, after the txikito, the small glass of wine that goes with each stop. It looks chaotic the first time. It is not, once you know how the room works.

How a pintxos bar works

Most of the old bars are in the Parte Vieja, the old town packed between the port, the river and Mount Urgull, and the busiest streets are Calle 31 de Agosto, Fermín Calbetón and Calle Mayor. The bars are narrow, with a long counter, a few stools if you are lucky and a crowd standing two deep. Nobody will seat you or bring a menu. Work your way to the counter, catch the bartender’s eye, order your drink first and then your food.

Once you have both, step back. The counter is for ordering, not for camping, and people will be glad to see you make room. Eat standing, hold your glass, and when you are done, move on. One or two pintxos and one drink per bar is the rhythm; four or five bars make an evening.

Cold on the counter, hot from the kitchen

The plates you see on the bar are the cold pintxos, made that morning or that afternoon. In a few bars you take a small plate and help yourself; in most you point and the bartender serves you. If you are unsure, ask and you will be told. The classic cold pintxo is the gilda: an anchovy, a green olive and a pickled guindilla pepper on a stick, first put together in San Sebastián in the 1940s and named after Rita Hayworth’s film. It is salty, sour and a little hot, and it is the right start to any evening.

The best food is usually not on the counter at all. Most good bars have a board of hot pintxos cooked to order, and these are what regulars come for. Order them from the bartender, they arrive a few minutes later, and they are worth the wait.

• Txipirones en su tinta: baby squid in their own black ink.
• Carrillera: beef cheek braised in red wine until it falls apart.
• Kokotxas: hake throats in a green sauce of parsley, garlic and olive oil.
• Txangurro: spider crab baked with tomato, onion and a splash of brandy.
• Tortilla de patatas: the potato omelet, ideally runny in the middle, served as a wedge.
• Idiazabal: the smoked sheep’s milk cheese of the Basque hills, with quince paste.

What to drink: txakoli, zurito and cider

Txakoli is the local white wine, made mostly from the Hondarrabi Zuri grape on the hills above Getaria and Zarautz. It is light, low in alcohol, slightly spritzy and quite tart, and the bartender pours it from a height into a wide, flat tumbler to wake up the bubbles. Watch the pour; it is part of the show. Order “un txakoli” and expect a small glass, which is the point.

If you prefer beer, ask for a zurito, a short glass of draft beer that lets you keep going for five bars. Red wine drinkers order “un crianza”, usually a Rioja, and the Rioja Alavesa is in fact part of the Basque Country. Natural cider, sagardoa, is poured in some bars, though it is best at the cider houses of Astigarraga from January to April. Drinks are poured for guests 18 and over; mosto (fresh grape juice), sparkling water or a soft drink are always there, and nobody blinks.

Paying the bill

San Sebastián still works largely on trust. In the traditional bars you eat and drink and pay at the end, telling the bartender what you had. They remember more than you think. Newer and busier places increasingly ask you to pay as you order, especially for hot pintxos, and almost all of them take cards now. Keep a mental tally, and if you are a group, let one person pay for each round and settle up later.

Tipping is not expected. Leaving the coins from your change is a polite gesture, not an obligation. You may have read that you should throw your napkin on the floor; that custom is fading, and most bars would now rather you did not.

When to go, and how many bars

Basque hours are Spanish hours. The lunchtime round runs from about 12:30 to 3:30 pm and the evening round from about 7:30 to 10:30 pm, busiest around 9. Hot pintxos are freshest at the start of each service. Sunday midday is the most local scene of the week, while many bars close one day a week, often Monday or Tuesday, so check before you set your heart on one.

On our San Sebastián Pintxos Walk I take groups of up to twelve through the old town’s bars, with La Bretxa market and the Plaza de la Constitución in between, and I order the hot pintxos so you can watch first and try it yourself at the next bar. On the six-day Basque Country Food Tour we add the cider houses of Astigarraga, the grills and txakoli of Getaria and the bars of Bilbao’s Casco Viejo, which have their own, slightly calmer way of doing things.

Questions about pintxos in San Sebastián

Do you pay for pintxos as you go or at the end?

In traditional bars you pay at the end and tell the bartender what you had. Busier places often ask you to pay when you order.

What time do people eat pintxos in San Sebastián?

From about 12:30 to 3:30 pm at lunch and 7:30 to 10:30 pm in the evening, busiest around 9 pm.