The restaurant next door June 21, 2007
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Miscellany , trackbackDom’s friend recommends the Aldonando, and I’ve tried for two nights now, but suspect it must be closed for holidays. Either that or it opens very late and as I came by at 11pm tonight, it must be outside even the normal extraordinarily late Spanish dinner times. Fortunately, the Astelena, over the road proves to be very good.
I’m starting to think that Astelena is Basque for ‘try this place, it’s very good’ as the Bar Astelena in Plaza Constitucion is also excellent, and recommended by one of my Spanish tutors, Laura, with friendly staff who tolerate my linguistic fumblings and don’t laugh too much, and very good Pintxos. When I sort out the camera, I’ll put a picture of the little squids on a skewer here.
However, tonight was the Restaurante Astelena, and started with a fish soup. I’m not normally a great one for fishy things, but in this part of the world its essential. This was rich and tasty and included half a dozen shellfish (definitely something I avoid unless I can see the sea), and a meal in itself. Unusually for Spain, they have a good winelist of half-bottles, so I had a Marques de Riscal Reserva Rioja, which worked well with the strong fish soup, and with the cod steak which was my main. This whole business of whites with fish only goes so far and a strong flavoursome fish doesn’t get overwhelmed by a smooth red.
Although San Sabastian is a gourmet paradise, it can be a bit variable. I’ve not had bad food, but sometimes the service leaves a lot to be desired. La Fabrica in the old town doesn’t take people on their own, so I won’t be trying that one, and the place I did end up in last night ignored me so long, I ended up shouting across the room for the bill at the waitress who seemed to think her fingernails were more interesting than her customers.
But the Astelena and the Aita Mari (blogged a couple of days ago) are both well worth it, and make up for the indifferent places in between. They’re not cheap though - 50 euros this evening, and about 40 at the Aita Mari make them comparable with London prices. Lunch today was only 9euros for a menu del dia at the Bar Amazonas in Plaza Bilbao, which was a mixed salad and then an Oxtail stew, plus half a bottle of drinkable plonk, which should have been shared with my fellow student Shona, but she wasn’t drinking. Oh dear, how sad.
Technorati Tags: San Sabastian, astelena, aldanando, bar amazonas
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