Bar Bergara
Foie Gras Torchon with Marmalade and Balsamic
Baccala with crispy Onions and Peppers
Queso, Iberico, Foie, Marmalade
Torta
Chicken Croquetta
Coffee Flan, Vanilla Ice Cream
Separating two Michelin 3* meals by nearly six hours with exploration of San Sebastian limited by falling rain and whipping wind that continued as it had throughout the week in Northeast Spain it was part hunger, part interest, and part seeking shelter that led me to Bar Bergara just after 18h00, and with several upscale Pintxo’s offered in a space both large and modern the dining experience proved to be a mixed one, service almost “French” in its disinterest with cost-to-quality ratios skewed too far leftward.
No doubt more ‘upscale’ than Gatz or El Globo in Bilbao, the lighting alone an improvement as visitors are treated to large tables and polished surfaces with concrete floors and ceilings spanning high, the process at Bar Bergara is nonetheless similar to that of other like-places and grabbing a plate with eyes on diversity as opposed to ‘filling up’ a five Pintxo sampling was selected along with a kitchen plated dessert.
Benefited by an early arrival, everything I tasted from the bar still warm except for the creamy liver that one would not expect to be anyhow, it was with bites of salt cod on toasted bread beneath chopped peppers and onions that the meal commenced, an “all my favorite things” follow-up of pork, cheese, and foie gras as decadent as it sounds though lent nice balance by bright citrus marmalade.
Turning to tradition for plate two, the €2.50 croquetta not only expensive but a bit oily despite being “fresh,” a better series of bites was located in the springy Spanish Torta with finely diced potatoes accented in Paprika while the simultaneously delivered flan was rich in espresso notes alongside half-melted ice cream that was unfortunately quite bland.
http://www.pinchosbergara.es/