Ok, here we go. Just came back from the 10 day trip and either broke the scale or the battery is dead, not sure. But we ate a lot of good stuff. This was our itinerary…
Bidart, France 3
San Sebastian 3
Rioja 1
Bilbao 2
We flew to SS via Madrid, rented a car there, and returned in Bilbao and flew from there. SS airport is actually in Hondarribia, minutes away from the French border.
The first two legs were a whole lot better than the rest, but all in all, probably the best food trip I’ve ever done. The variety and creativity is just through the roof. Highly recommend adding French Basque to the plan. Special thank to @Maribel and the rest of the contributors here… Basque Country 2025 - #124 by Maribel
I’ll add them as I get a chance, as work and life, and eating salads and couscous for the rest of the month may interfere. I’ll also report about the towns.
Couldn’t have hoped for a better start. Tucked away from tourist central, on a quiet street. Happy, funny owner handled the entire packed room with ease. Seems popular with locals. One memorable review was a complaint that the owner wasn’t funny. That just shows how much of a character he is.
Shrimp in garlic, messy, tough to peel, nice flavor if not a little mushy. Subtle garlic notes. The only dish I wouldn’t order again but good enough. Mushroom omelette, wow, a lesson in super fluffy, buttery omelette. I wasnt expecting so many omeletts here on menus, and I made the mistake of ordering the same dish elsewhere. Not nearly as good.
Squid with parsley should be renamed, squid with garlic. Simply grilled, tender, intense lasting flavors. Comes with delicious fried polenta cakes. Hake with green sauce, another big winner. The traditional preparation with mussels, egg, potatoes and more. One of our favorite dishes of the trip. I even considering coming back on another night but it was closed.
I have really fond eating memories of our visit to St Jean de Luz. This was our first night meal and it was delicious. Chowhound helped me considerably!
So I just checked my instagram from May 2018 and it’s from Pilpil Enea! Great minds think alike.
We had a couple great meals in St Jean and then went down to Getaria (been to St Sebastián 3 or 4 times and wanted to go somewhere new) and had some more great meals. Loved the grilled turbot.
Another fantastic meal. Young crew of 3. A little serious, somewhat reserved. Small and intimate space so ressies def needed. Killer, silky smooth duck foie gras from Landes, a highly regarded area for foie gras. Delicate white tuna in a tomatoee salsa, delicious but salsa can overwhelm depending on how you eat it.
Superb duck tho should have taken their recco for rare instead of med-rare in this case. Still exceptional. Monkfish with a rich seafood bisque, firm and flavor packed. Mrs Z decided after Paris she’s not a fan of Monkfish, but that’s fixed now. Brioche dessert was a triumph but very rich. We also ordered a cheese plate but too stuffed to enjoy it. Maybe it’s just me but I don’t get people who order cheese for dessert. It rarely works for us.
Great experience at Ibarboure brothers, one Michelin and their hotel where we based in Pays Basque. Peaceful, in a middle of a forest but great, central location to explore the area by car. Amazing value at around 250 a night. The price kept dropping and Booking kept adjusting during the last month. Didn’t take advantage of breakfast. Technically in Bidart but closer to Guéthary or Getaria in Basque. Not to confuse with Spain’s Getaria, the home of the Turbot @Annegrace posted above.
Much of the menu features veggies and herbs from their garden. All sorts of textures and surprises. Zucchini flowers filled with langoustine custard was one of the highlights. Other than the tempura’d langoustine lollipops on the side which was a bit uneven with the salt. It’s a 41 y/o classic dating from the brother’s dad.
The desserts were possibly the best part of the meal. One of the brothers, the pastry master, cooked at Daniel in NYC. Mrs Z proclaimed the chocolate dessert, “best chocolate thingy I ever had”. We usually share but she got all weird in this case. But I was extremely happy with my fig creation. Not much of an atmosphere as in many hotel restaurants but the service was great. Waitress was fun and laughed at all my bad dad jokes.
4.5/5 Z’s (But a solid 5 stars for the entire stay)
Beautiful photos, Ziggy! So glad you enjoyed the brothers´ beautiul hotel / restaurant.
For anyone following along, the "Ibarboure brothers"of Freres Ibarboure have a “cousin” in Guétary (not Getaria, Gipuzkoa) run by Martin and David Ibarboure, whose restaurant and bistro we’ve found delightful. It´s Briketenia, which also has rooms. Also one Michelin star.
What a treat this was. A flawless meal at this one Michelin. Located in one of the most picturesque villages in Pays Basque known for its peppers. A converted private home with a back side of the house entirely open overlooking the garden. Great value for Michelin.
Onion tart of pretty much just braised onions topped with caramelized jus. One-note but an addictive one. Then the most beautiful delicate.. Jewfish! Not an autocorrect. They call it Maigre here but unless google lied to me, Jewfish or Croaker are other names. Might be an outdated name everywhere but Australia and a few other places.
Kintoa pork, cook it here as they recommend, med-rare. Superb flavors, served with a beautiful leek topped with some sort of pesto, saffron pilaf rice and more delicious Jus. Kintoa is a local breed. Back in the day local farmers had to pay the king a fifth (Kintoa) of their pigs as tax. Hazelnut dessert was sublime. Freebies throughout the meal were great as well. Worth coming to Espelette just to eat here.
Impromptu visit for a light meal after a big lunch. At least that was the plan. Eyes are much bigger than the stomach in Basque Country. Another mushroom omelette - my weakness in France. Good but not quite the finesse of Pil Pil Enea nearby. Fish soup was ok. Peppers stuffed with cod and potatoes gave her a ratatouille moment, reminding her of a similar dish her mom used to make. Which means it had no, what do you call it, flavor. Duck confit and desserts saved the day for me. Satisfied, especially since she was. Happy wife, happy Ziggy.
Perfect. Too perfect. I didnt bring any summer stuff which I could have used on a number of days. 60’s and then 70’s by the time we got to Bilbao. No rain at all. The only minor thing was on the drive to Rioja, nothing but fog. But that cleared quickly. We got really lucky
On our first full day we explored Biarritz and Bayonne. Much preferred Bayonne tho I recommend to see both. Bayonne has a striking old town, while Biarritz is too ritzy for our taste, but beautiful coastline. Did some food shopping in Bayonne. The most surprising purchase, Ketchup. Basque Ketchup.
Saint Jean de Luz was another stunner. We went there twice.
We had a great day inland visiting various villages… Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, pepper village Espellete and Edmond Rostand’s house - Villa Arnaga. After seeing all of that, Ainhoa was pretty but a waste of time. I’m guessing Sare might be as well?
