San Sebastian Food: Sharing culinary discoveries

How many of us, as keen travellers, have arrived in a place hoping to really scratch beneath the surface only to end up sliding around on a surface of predictable bars and over-priced restaurants?

Wind up in the old part of San Sebastian, with its sheer number of bars, not to mention the variety of bar snacks - the ''pintxos'' for which the city is famed - and the crowds of tourists, and you''ll be forgiven for settling for a caña in a mediocre pub which at least affords you a seat: The typical ''tourist trap''.

Cue San Sebastian Food, born out of one man''s desire to share his "3-year gastronomic adventure" with those only here to spend a few days: "It took me six months to find out which bars to go to so how does a tourist coming for a weekend stand a chance?" says Jon Warren, founder of San Sebastian Food.

Beginnings

"I was working at (hotel) Villa Soro... the guests tended to come up to me to find out about the best pintxo bars, so before long I was writing lots of notes... that''s where the idea for San Sebastian Food came from," explains Jon.

More than simply being a shortcut to the best bars and tastiest pintxos, Jon''s San Sebastian Food tours aim to offer something more, giving guests a look right inside the kitchen of some of the city''s top-quality restaurants, as well as cookery lessons with top-class chefs and tours around local cheese farms.

For Jon "atmosphere is absolutely without question the most important thing when you''re eating". Despite being a confessed food-lover, it is the shared experience of eating, the "food and social dynamic" that most interests him and which he aims to inject into his tour products:

"I took a group of Americans to the Casco Viejo (the old part of San Sebastian) one Sunday lunchtime when it was really going off; I was squeezing them into bars like Goiz Argi and they were like ''wow!''

"They had spent the last three days eating in Michelin-star restaurants (Arzak, Berasategui, Akelarre); of course, the chefs in the kitchens (of the bars) are often Michelin-star quality anyway... so I like to think I gave (the Americans) a different experience... one they wouldn''t have had otherwise."

Keeping it real

San Sebastian Food is possibly a well-timed reaction to a growing trend among people seeking, not just the best, but the most real experience they can find; what Jon calls "that extra experience": "not just ''ooh we''ve eaten at Arzak'', but ''I was talking to Juan Mari about puddings''..."

There are eight tours in total if one counts the new Discover the Basque Country tour ( with its first dates scheduled for July).

One tour that quite literally takes its guests into the underbelly of a gastronomic business is the recently launched Rekonko Wine Tasting tour which takes you into the Rekondo restaurant''s bodega "one of the most amazing wine cellars in the world," according to Jon, and one he stumbled upon by chance:

"San Sebastian is quite a modest city and they don''t splash things about, particularly (restaurant owners) Edurne and her father, they''re the epitome of modesty.

"We went for dinner and asked to have a look... I said ''I''d love to show people this...'' So now, as well as go for dinner you can see the cellar as well..."

As well as a tour and an explanation of the collection - some 100,000 bottles dating back to 1895 - there''s a wine tasting with pintxos. Something that would never have come to fruition if it weren''t for Jon''s open nature and enthusiasm for sharing.

Jon is clear about his ambitions for San Sebastian Foods: "I''m not trying to create some kind of monster (with) thousands of people coming in, waving flags and ruining things... I found this place, I love it and I don''t want it to change.

"What I most enjoy? Seeing people enjoy what I''ve enjoyed."