Seven years after a one-night stopover here, Jon couldn’t get San Sebastián out of his head. Five years in London working in finance left him daydreaming about the beautifultown on the Bay of Biscay, and one day he bought a one-way ticket and moved to the city with nothing more than a bike bag and a suitcase.

Jon quickly got involved in the authentic food scene in San Sebastián, cutting jamón by hand, unpaid, as he looked for a real job. With only basic Spanish, his best luck came when he got a job at Villa Soro, a boutique hotel. Before long, Jon realised that the hotel guests were more taken by his tips on where to eat than the reception desk, guidebooks or the internet. San Sebastián Food wasborn.

Jon enjoys meeting guests in the studio and is currently expanding the business into new opportunities in the culinary and wine tourism sector. He lives in San Sebastián with his fiancé Nicole.

Languages: English, Spanish

Femke is based in our studio in San Sebastián’s old town and is responsible for the smooth running of all experiences. She responds to hundreds of bookings and information requests every week via email as well as welcoming our many visitors in the studio.

Aided by years of experience running the wedding planning department for a luxury resort in Mexico, she also coordinating our corporate groups, weddings and private events.

Originally from Holland, Femke is a keen amateur surfer and being Dutch, she loves playing and watching football.

Languages: English, Spanish, Dutch

Kirstin brings a wealth of experience in business, management, and hospitality to the team. She works passionately to develop new products and services for the company, while overseeing the evolution of the studio.

Kirstin is originally from the Pacific Northwest of the United States, but has since found it impossible to leave San Sebastián after being inspired by the rich gastronomic community. Additionally, living in the Basque country allows her to connect with her roots and visit family near Bilbao.

In her free time she enjoys sampling pintxos from local haunts, learning about the Basque culture, and playing football.

Languages: English, Spanish

Eli brings an unstoppable relish for life to everything she is involved in. Born and raised in San Sebastián, she divides her time between leading small groups of guests on experiences and managing our team of culinary guides.

Preserving her roots in gastronomy, (Eli’s mother and boyfriend are both chefs), she has many years of experience in the hospitality industry. She speaks excellent English thanks to two years spent living and working in Edinburgh.

In her spare time, Eli (like all Basques) enjoys eating and drinking with her friends and family.

Languages: English, Spanish, Basque, Italian

Itxaso (pronounced 'i-chas-o') means the ocean in Basque. She has a calming influence on the studio with her gentle and caring nature. One of our Basque team of guides, Itxaso knows everything there is to know about her home town and proudly talks to our guests about its history, culture and cuisine.

Her cupcake baking can rival any patisserie in town.

Languages: English, Spanish, Basque, Italian

Lourdes is a born entertainer and our guests appreciate her open nature and the depth of knowledge of her hometown, San Sebastián. When she is not guiding our guests, she is a busy mother and housewife.

In August, Lourdes spends her free time on the beautiful island of Santa Clara, a short hop from San Sebastian’s Concha Bay.

Languages: Spanish, Euskera (Basque), English

Alex, along with his team of chefs, welcomes guests with open arms into his restaurant kitchen providing a rare opportunity to experience life as a chef for a day. In 1990, Alex trained under the tuition of Luis Irizar who was instrumental in the new Basque cooking movement (nueva cocina vasca), which has transformed traditional Basque cuisine to today’s world stage. Alex has over 20 years of experience in Spanish restaurants, including three years at three-Michelin star restaurant Akelarre under Pedro Subijana, another legendry Basque chef.

Alex and his wife Nuria (who runs dining room) have fulfilled a life-long ambition to have their own restaurant. We feel very privileged to have exclusive access to his real-life, working restaurant kitchen in the nearby fishing village of San Juan.

On his days off, Alex kindly invites us for lunch at his gastronomic society. By the time we’ve been to the market to buy the fish, cooked and enjoyed a long lunch, we’ve lost a whole day of work but we love it all the same.

Languages: Spanish (Accompanied by our translator)

Turlough, originally from Ireland, has spent the last five years working for some of San Sebastian's finest Michelin star restaurants including three-Micheln star Martin Berasetegui***, one-Michelin star Aberlaitz*  and Zuberoa*. As such, his knowledge of modern Basque cuisine is exceptional.

A natural sportsman, Turlough escapes the heat of the kitchen to the Real club de tennis or the Zurriola beach to surf and loves nothing better than drinking champagne.

Cristina won the 2011 Marmitako championships, judged the winner by none other than the godfather of Basque cuisine Juan Mari Arzak! Marmitako is a traditional tuna stew, which requires much patience and skill. Aside from being a top designer for culinary clothing and print, she offers us her skills as an expert chef with over 15 years experience of cooking Basque cuisine.

With a warm and kind nature, Cristina is the perfect instructor to teach you about the roots of traditional Basque cuisine and the techniques and secrets to make it yourself at home.

Cristina, who is Basque through and through, is often seen in her gastronomic society (this one allows women members!) or enjoying the social beauty of going for pintxos in her local neighborhood.

Jenny is one of the most knowledgeable experts on the La Rioja wine region with a wealth of hands on experience including over six years working in wineries in the heart of La Rioja. Jenny’s reputation is backed by over a decade of experience guiding private groups all over the world, prior to joining San Sebastian Food in early 2010.

Jenny heads up our wine experiences and holds a Master in viticulture and oenology. She is currently developing an exciting new Wine Club to be launched by end of 2012 and is also busy scouting out new wine routes to Spain and Portugal for 2013.

Outside of work, Jenny is a regular tennis player, accomplished artist and enjoys hopping over the border to France.

Languages: English, Spanish, Italian, French

Of course, none of our experiences could be possible without the constant support of our team of partner culinary experts, chefs, vineyard and restaurant owners and many more who help with our experiences.

In time, we’ll be adding an extra section so you get to know a bit more about them but for now, you’ll just have to trust us that they are great!

San Sebastian Food is a Limited Company (Sociadad Limitada) which was established in San Sebastian in 2009. San Sebastian Food is a fully insured Travel Agency under Spanish law.

We are always looking for passionate, exceptional individuals to join our growing team. To be considered for future positions, please send your CV to:

info@sansebastianfood.com