Ask a Basque where to eat the best steak and the best grilled fish of their life, and two places come up again and again: Casa Julián in Tolosa for the txuleta, and Elkano in Getaria for the turbot. Both are about fire, a single great ingredient and nothing else on the plate. These are our picks, and the places the Basque food world itself points to.
What txuleta is
Txuleta (chuletón in Spanish) is a thick bone-in rib steak from older cattle, often six or seven years old, hung for weeks, salted with coarse salt and cooked over embers: charred outside, red and warm inside. It is meant to be shared, sliced at the table, with a green pepper salad and a bottle of red.
Casa Julián, Tolosa
Tolosa, a market town in Gipuzkoa about 25 minutes from Donostia, calls itself the home of the txuleta, and Casa Julián is its temple. The family-run grill has served it since the 1950s, and its menu is famously short: the steak, a few starters, a salad. Ask how they cook it and they will tell you the secret is the fire and the patience, not a recipe (Guía Repsol).
- What to order: the txuleta for two, the pimientos, and whatever starter they suggest.
- Go on a Saturday morning first: Tolosa's market fills the town, then lunch.
- Book ahead, especially at weekends.
Elkano, Getaria
Getaria is a fishing village on the coast between Zarautz and Zumaia, and Elkano, opened in 1964 by Pedro Arregi and run today by his son Aitor, made its whole grilled turbot famous far beyond Spain. The fish is cooked whole over charcoal on the grills by the harbour and served on the bone; the staff then show you every part of it, cheeks and gelatinous fins included. It holds a Michelin star (Michelin Guide).
- What to order: the turbot (rodaballo) for two; in season, ask for the sea bream (besugo), grilled with a garlic and chilli refrito.
- Make a day of it: walk the coastal path from Zarautz to Getaria (about an hour), have a txakoli in the village, eat, then continue to Zumaia and its cliffs.
- Book well ahead.
Getting there
- Tolosa: trains from Donostia (Renfe Cercanías) and buses from Donostia and Bilbao; by car, the N-1/A-1 between Donostia and Vitoria.
- Getaria: Lurraldebus buses along the coast from Donostia and Zarautz; by car, the coast road from Zarautz.
- From Bilbao, both are about an hour by car.
Staying connected
Bookings, bus timetables and the coastal path all live on your phone, and coverage between villages can be patchy. A data eSIM for Spain gives you local data from the moment you land, without removing your own SIM.