The best restaurants in San Sebastián
The roaring fun of pintxo hopping, dazzling Michelin stars, the aroma of flames and fresh seafood wafting from the grill – San Sebastián is one of the world’s best places to eat. Despite being a speck on the map of Spain, this coastal beauty is a perfect storm of fresh-from-the-ground local produce, top chefs and intense local devotion to good eating.
A well-balanced diet in San Sebastián definitely includes creamy Idiazabal cheese risotto pintxos and charred T-bone steak scattered with a snowfall of flaky salt. But shifting demographics have created a growing coterie of smallish restaurants and bistros opened by ambitious chefs, fresh out of starred kitchens, hungry to make something new and serving up everything from genre-pushing locavore dishes to micro-artisan wines, charcuterie, and cheeses.
From hallowed haunts to the minuscule bar where you’ll find top chefs on their days off, our list of the best restaurants in San Sebastián is a cross-section of the dining scene’s finest.