Santa María

Espectacular la tapa de foie a la plancha con manzana caramelizada y sal gorda por encima, mmm me hubiera comido cuatro más jeje. La barra estaba completa de tapas y cual mejor. Las camareras han sido majas y nos explicaban de que eran las tapas. Muy recomendable.

I loved our nightly pintxos benders; we had the ability to go to countless bars, drinking and eating our evenings away. These bar crawls were the true test of my drinking stamina (not very good) and my budget (Bilbao is cheaper than Madrid, but WAY more expensive than anywhere in Galicia). The major disadvantage was going to a lot of not-​so-​great places before finding a bar I really liked. And so Bar Santa Maria, named after the street that it inhabits with bars neatly lined up one after the other, falls into the «mediocre at best» category.
We were initially drawn to Bar Santa Maria because this was THE spot for the evening — the bar itself was packed to the gills and the street was overflowing with attractive young people drinking glasses of txakoli and cañas. It took a few minutes until we were finally able to push our way up to the bar to place an order for a drink and due to the din, our bartender had a difficult time hearing us. But it was fine: I ordered my tinto de verano with La Casera (seltzer; you can also get tinto de verano with lemon soda) and a slice of tortilla.
We found a space to eat and drink outside; I was ready as ever to have a refreshing drink after elbowing my way to the bar. Yes, I understand that tinto de verano is going to be «watered down», but this drink had a touch more La Casera than necessary. It was served in a larger glass than some of the bars along this same street serve their drinks (and less expensive), so I couldn’t really complain. The tortilla, however, had the taste and consistency of mashed potato. I had no idea where the egg went and was even more clueless of what happened to the potatoes to get them in such a sorry state (my friend joked around that they were left over from making the croquettes).
This night was no different than the others: We left Bar Santa Maria and headed down the street to Bar Gatz for Michelin-​rated pintxos, successfully sabotaging my San Sebastian diet by eating and drinking too much.