Back to the Sidreria

If it’s winter, it’s time for cider in Gipuzkoa. So, off we went with two other couples on a Thursday night at the end of January to enjoy the cider season and the fabulous traditional sidreria meal. A sidreria (cider house) is meant to be enjoyed with friends. Especially because it is truly a communal dining experience – in fact, there generally are no individual plates! This fact shocks us each year. Is it that hard to have small plates so that everyone can avoid reaching over each other? Apparently, that is too much to ask and it simply is not part of the ritual.

This year we tried a different sidreria, a smaller one called Oialume Zar – there are more than 30 in the area, so we’ll be able to avoid repeating for quite some time without even trying. Of course, they all serve the same meal, without a lot of interpretation, so it seems like we’re going to the same place regardless. This was the first time we tried cider from stainless steel tanks as well as from the large, old-style wooden barrels. Overall, we agreed that the cider from the barrels was better. As we’ve mentioned in past posts, the cider here is not sweet. And because you only fill your glass less than halfway each time, we tend not to drink too much of it, other than trying as many different ones as possible. In the end, we are not cider connoisseurs, and the food is the star of the show for us.

After trying our first couple of ciders, we sat down at our table for an appetizer of “chorizo a la sidra,” homemade sausage cooked in cider. Great way to start. In between each course, we tried another cider (or two!). Next came tortilla de bacalao, Spanish omelet with codfish. I am still not used to eating eggs with fish, but it is good, I just wouldn’t make it at home or order it off a normal menu. Next is fried bacalao with peppers and onions. This was served on individual plates – hurray! The two fish preparations are entirely different and thus not repetitive. Of course, there’s bread to share as well. And next is chuleton – a giant steak cooked “al punto,” which is closer to rare than medium rare. We’ve learned to eat our steak this way here and it is fabulous. Sharing a giant steak from one plate between 6 people is fun and a bit of a challenge. You don’t want to bogart all the best pieces, but it’s hard not to do so. We ended up sharing 2 of these steaks among us, and they would have brought one more if we had been able to handle it! Dessert consisted of a small chocolate pastry, plus cheese, walnuts and membrillo (quince paste). Cracking open whole walnuts in a group is always a fun way to end a meal.

Before we knew it, it was after midnight and we had arrived at 8:30 p.m. Time does fly when you’re having a good time and eating well. One of the best parts of visiting a sidreria is that it is incredibly reasonable – all that food plus all the cider you can drink is only about $40 a person!

The moral of the story is come visit during cider season!!

Hasta pronto,

Shana & Jeff