10 great Basque Country restaurants (outside San Sebastian)

Hi there gang, and welcome to another monthly bonus edition of The Food + Travel Edit. This is another one for paying subscribers only, a huge thank you to those who have been able to financially support this project. Today I’m looking at one of my passions, food in the Basque Country of northern Spain, though this time it’s food well outside the usual spots. I hope you enjoy it, and thanks again for your support.

There’s far more to the Basque Country than San Sebastian. Though, you wouldn’t know it from looking at your social media feed, which no doubt is filled with reels about the region’s most famous city, its ground zero for good food.

It feels like you can’t escape San Sebastian. Even the lists that do include famous restaurants from outside the city – the likes of Casa Julian in Tolosa and Elkano in Getaria – still insist that these are “the best places to eat in San Sebastian”.

But they’re not in San Sebastian. And there are so many great places to dine that are not in that coastal city.

So here’s my list. If you want to get away from all the tourists, if you want to dine in restaurants that would be world famous if they happened to be a bit closer to a certain Old Town, with food that’s just as good if not better, then these are the spots.

Bedua, Zumaia
Here’s a style of restaurant in the Basque Country that I love: the unassuming countryside asador, or grill house, which serves classic dishes usually in old stone farmhouses or other historic buildings. Bedua is a classic of the genre, a restaurant on the banks of the Urola river, run by fourth-generation owners who are dedicated to serving the best produce of the region in classic style. Settle into the cosy dining room in the old stone house here and enjoy “chipirones a lo Pelayo” – baby squid with slow-cooked onions – grilled white clams, grilled sea bream or monkfish, and of course the classic “txuleta”, or rib-eye steak. This is everything you want in a Basque restaurant.

Asador Nicolas, Tolosa
There are two truly great, historic steak restaurants in Tolosa, right across the river from each other, and chances are you only know about one of them. Casa Julian is the darling of social media, the place that’s suddenly on everyone’s bucket list. My advice though is to skip that tourist favourite and instead head to Asador Nicolas, which has been around just as long, and is still owned and run by the same family – the steak is also incredibly good. Have a chat to Xabi as he works the parrilla, or wood-fired grill, drink some nice Rioja and enjoy some of the region’s best beef with a laidback, local crowd.