Bar Nestor, San Sebastian, Spain

Will I ever eat steak again? This was the question I asked myself after eating here on our first night in San Sebastian. Seems a crazy thing to say, right?

Now being the inaugural post of The FatSteak Club, it's only appropriate it's about steak. A very fat steak.

Well, the Basque city of Donostia as it's known locally, delivered big time.

I have to confess that whilst I knew San Sebastian was known for its food, it was one of those holidays that was booked by my wife and I didn't really think about it until we were ready to leave. I just knew that I was going to eat, and eat well. It was a rare weekend without the children after all. A friend of a friend had recently returned from a trip here and I'd been forwarded a load of recommendations, one of which was Bar Nestor. Other than the obvious fact that it looked an amazing steak, it tied into a film I had watched a while back, Steak Revolution. A MUST for all meat lovers.

So this is a short tale of how I popped my Txuleton cherry, a type of steak special to the Basque region which breaks with traditional cattle rearing for a good steak. I don't have loads of photo's but it was the final inspiration to get my act together and start The FatSteak Club and a worthy post to kick off our blog.

Back to Bar Nestor, I'd been warned that it is very popular and should be prepared to miss out or wait a long time as it gets very busy.

Having arrived at lunchtime and done some exploring, we decided to have dinner at  Zeruko. There we were, it was 6.30, the shutters were down and a queue was starting to form. Parched and stood on the street, it just so happened that right opposite was Bar Nestor.

Looking across the street with the eyes on the prize, there were only a couple of people outside as the shutters opened. No food was being served yet but a refreshing beer and a place at the bar was on offer.
Calling veto on Zeruko, we changed our destination. We were now stood at the bar with a cool beer and the excitement took hold. There was a mix of locals just popping in for a drink and also other keen steak enthusiasts now waiting, all of us with a large grin on our faces. 

A quick note on Zeruko. We ate there for lunch the next day. It was excellent so I would recommend there too. Excellent Pintxos.

Come 7pm and having moved onto an excellent local bottle of red, it was show time.
We were presented with a plate containing two very large marbled steaks and given a choice.
Obviously pointing to the biggest one, it was swiftly labelled and added to the other massive steaks waiting to be cooked.

Whilst waiting for the main event,  fried Padron peppers covered in flaked sea salt were served alongside a plate of large chunked tomatoes, covered in olive oil and salt and all served with some Spanish bread to mop up all the delicious juices.

Forgetting about the steak for a second, I'm pretty sure that this was the best plate of tommies I've ever had, and I've eaten a lot of bread, toms and oil. So resisting the urge to vanquish the entire plate before the main event was hard but I dug deep. Very deep. 

With the smell of steak on the grill filling the bar, I'm not sure my appetite has ever been so excited.

Then it came. 

Now I'll admit, from the picture it looks pretty gnarly, I had thought the same thing when seeing other people’s picture beforehand but in the flesh, it was a very special moment. 

Many superlatives have been written about the steaks at Bar Nestor, I find it hard describe the steak without it sounding extremely cliched so I will keep it concise.

Cooked perfectly and packed with flavour, it was very special. Very special indeed. Texture wise it still had a little resistance which I like but soon relented and melted away with little effort delivering a flavour hard to describe. 
Set off like everything else in Bar Nestor with lashings of flaked salt.

You don't get a choice of how it's cooked but you can see it's on the rarer side but the plate is hot so you can put an extra little bit of colour on each mouthful it if you like.

The fat, whilst I did try some is too much. I don't usually shy away from nailing the fat on any steak but this required some major chewing and there is a lot of it. 

So, up to that point in my life, it was the best steak experience I have had. It's a big claim but I stand by it.

It's not just the steak that is special, the place adds to the whole experience. It's a perfect example of doing one thing and doing it very well. Less is definitely more. You eat standing up at the bar adding. It's simple and effective.

Now to address my controversial question of would I ever eat steak again. Well, the answer is yes. 
I ate at Bar Nestor again on our final night in San Sebastian two days later.