Pintxos, San Sebastian

Casa Bartolo

July has been a bit overwhelming - turning the wrong side of 25, getting a new job (finally writing about food!) and spending a week's holiday in the Basque Country - inevitably something had to give and that was my blogging efforts.. but I'm back on the case this month.

Generally speaking, my holidays/trips away revolve around food (when I chose my placement year in France I went to Lyon for 'la gastronomie', lived above a boulangerie and..gained a stone), so for my summer holiday this year I was desperate to visit San Sebastian- apparently the place has more Michelin stars than any other city.

Mediocre bar, uninspiring tapas

Unfortunately me and my buddy Nicki didn't get to those starry establishments but certainly got the pintxos grazing/bar hopping down to a tee by the end of the week - not that either have ever really been a problem for me!

There's plenty on offer in the old town without breaking the bank. I have to say, we picked badly on occasions and ate and boozed at some pretty mediocre bars during the holiday but there were some gems along the way. For something cheap and cheerful Casa Bartolo is a good bet- there was always a good atmosphere in there, the discarded tissues that line the floor are a testament to that, the pintxos didn't centre solely around bread as others did and they serve up a mean sangria.

It's a blur - but Bar Zeruko?- wherever it was, it was on the other end of the spectrum (Calle Pescaderia- just down from bar Txepetxa which the guidebooks raved on about but was pretty uninspiring and the barman a little complacent). Its pintxos were more contemporary, original and the clientele older, with plumper wallets and waistlines - it was a classy place but price-wise wasn't markedly different to Bartolo's so is well worth a visit.

This was one of my pintxos highlights there- so simple- griddled, caramelised banana, jabugo ham and fig speared with a few leaves. Much of the rest of what we ate was unidentifiable but all beautifully constructed both aesthetically and more importantly in the taste department. I'll definitely be returning- either with someone who can speak more Spanish than I can- Hadders?!- or once I've brushed up on vocab as though half the fun of the trip was eating pintxos blindly, I'm sure there was a lot more on the menu here and at the other bars that we would have liked to have tucked into.

Leek cones

This, I think, was a quails egg on black pudding and a splash of Tabasco.

We left San Sebastian a little burnt, a lot more tired and heavier and somewhat blue to be returning to Bilbao for our flight home but stumbled across a lovely food festival/competition along the riverside which perked us right up. The locals above were rustling up stacks of my favourite padron peppers which filled the air with a lovely smoky smell and people were milling between the stalls, dipping in and out to check out the different pintxos on offer- it seemed to be a bit of a free-for-all - why don't they do more of this in England?!

I couldn't resist snapping the couple below in their turquoise boiler suits washing down squid under the fountain - I think they look like Wonka's little Oompa Loompas!

"Oompa Loompa doom-pa-dee-da, if you're not greedy you will go far.." - pffff?!

Vinoteca, 7 St. John's St, EC1

Vinoteca - 'best wine bar in London'- boasts its website. Not far off. My friend Helen raves about this place in Farringdon so I was eager to try it out for dinner with Robert, Leah and her boyfriend Guy on Saturday. On a weekday in London one is always in a rush- rushing to catch the tube, rushing to meet deadlines or rushing to escape the gym- so waiting for a table to free up isn't viable. But at the weekend there's no such urgency and so it was sadly liberating to rock up to Vintoeca without a booking (they don't take them) and wait for a table while dipping into a pot of olives and a really smooth glass of Malbec.

As it happens, we were seated very quickly, despite talk of an hour and a half wait from the bespectacled barman who greeted us. I say greeted, he had a fairly nonchalant attitude actually but he was harmless enough and anyhow I was more bothered by the menu.

There were several dishes that caught my eye which is always a good sign and we all shared so there was no serious food envy to sour the experience! I started with burrata, grilled aubergine and preserved lemon. Burrata is made from mozzarella and cream and this was rich and buttery as its name suggests. It married well with the charred aubergine which was not at all greasy as it tends to be when I griddle it despite being sparing with the oil.

Robert and Leah had old spot pork belly which was given an Asian kick with chilli, ginger and coriander and melted in the mouth. I didn't try Guy's butterbean and chorizo soup but it quickly dispelled the hunger brought on by his marathon training. Next was juicy lamb rump, stewed pepperonata, nutty ratte potatoes and a generous helping of Sicilian olives- they tasted just like the big green Puglian ones at Borough - my favourites.

Leah had sauteed squid (minus the red mullet as they were out) with fregola sarda. I've seen this described as 'giant' or 'Israeli' couscous but it's actually a Sardinian pasta. I have a slightly unhealthy obsession with it at the moment as it has a really satisfying bite but haven't managed to find it in the usual places. I had rice-shaped Orzo pasta for dinner this evening which was almost as good but not quite so I'm going to raid the Italian delis and upload a recipe on here within the next month!

Guy wasn't drinking as he was designated driver so it was left to Robert, Leah and me to see away the second bottle of red. My attempt was feeble so I couldn't really justify a pudding and picked at Rob's champagne rhubarb and hazelnut crumble instead. The fruit was stewed to perfection and not eye-wincingly tart as it can be. They were out of custard but ice-cream would have been my preference anyway so it went down a little too easily, unfortunately for R! As expected the sweet wine list was also fairly exhaustive but again I was all boozed out so I'll have to test this out on my next visit.

The dishes were fresh, colourful and exciting, the atmosphere buzzing. Our waitress was very attentive and though it wasn't service with a smile throughout the establishment, Vinoteca's no nonsense approach to food and its seemingly endless choice of high quality wines are well worth the wait.