Gilda
€2,20Olive, guindilla pepper and anchovy on a stick. The first pintxo ever made, and still the first of the night.
Old town · Donostia-San Sebastián
Eleven metres of counter.
On Fermin Kalbeton since 1989: gildas at midday, spider crab at night and txakoli poured from height. Four tables at the back, for whoever needs them.
Since 1989
A bar, not a restaurant.
Haizea opened in 1989 in what used to be a fishmonger’s. The marble counter is still the same one, and the pintxos still appear on it at eleven in the morning.
There is no tasting menu and no dinner sitting. Here you stand, you eat with your hands, you order another txakoli and you move on to the next bar. That is how this street has worked for forty years.
- 1989
- We opened in an old fishmonger’s
- 11 m
- Of counter, and four tables
- 11 am
- The first pintxos go out
How it works
Nobody is going to bring you a menu.
If this is your first pintxos bar, here is everything you need to know. There is no trick and no correct order: the counter has run on trust for decades.
Cold ones you take
Pick up a plate and help yourself from the counter. No need to ask permission or wait for anyone.
Hot ones you order
The ones from the kitchen are ordered at the bar and arrive in five minutes. They are on the blackboard and in this menu.
You pay at the end
On the way out, say what you had. It is counted by sticks and by memory, and nobody writes it down — it has always been that way.
The counter
What is on the marble today.
The cold ones are laid out twice a day. The hot ones come out of the kitchen when you ask.
Txangurro gratinado
€4,50Picked spider crab in its own shell, browned to order.
Bacalao al pil pil
€4,20Oil, garlic and the cod’s own gelatine. No cream — the sauce is bound by swirling the pan.
Kokotxas a la plancha
€5,50The kokotxa is the hake’s throat. An odd texture the first time, and ordered every time after.
Tarta de queso
€5,50Burnt outside, almost liquid inside. The recipe that came out of this city.
Finding us
On Fermin Kalbeton, halfway down.
Fermin Kalbeton 1420003 Donostia-San Sebastián (SS)
+34 943 00 00 00Get directions
Opening hours
- Tuesday – Sunday
- Midday 12:00 – 15:30
- Tuesday – Saturday
- Evening 19:00 – 23:30
- Monday
- Closed
- On foot
- Five minutes from the Bretxa market, in along Calle Mayor. There is no parking in the old town.
- The hours
- Between 1 and 2.30 pm and 8 and 10 pm the counter is packed. Earlier or later the food is the same and the room is better.
- The place
- 11 metres of counter, four tables at the back, step-free.
Before you come
What we are asked most.
Do I need to book?
Not for the counter — you turn up and order. The four tables at the back can be booked, and that is what the request form on this site is for.
Can we sit down for dinner?
At the four tables, yes, and there you order sharing plates rather than pintxos. A half plate is genuinely half, not a small plate at the same price.
Are there gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan options?
Yes, and the menu can be filtered. The Gernika peppers and the tomato are vegan; several hot pintxos are served without bread. Allergens are written out in full under every item.
Do you take cards?
Yes, even for a two-euro small beer.
Can we come with children?
At midday, yes — there is tortilla and there are croquetas, which usually work. In the evening the counter fills up and it is no place for a pushchair.