Restaurante San Fermín - Pamplona
The Restaurante San Fermín is a family-run Spanish restaurant in Pamplona. Due to its long history, the Restaurante San Fermín offers an authentic and traditional gastronomic experience of the cuisine from the Spanish region of Navarre.
The Restaurant
The family run restaurant was founded by Irene Iribarren Sancha. Having worked in the hospitality sector for many years, Irene decided that she wanted to set up her own business and so she bought a small establishment on San Gregorio Street in Pamplona. Here she opened her small restaurant, 'San Gregorio'.
This restaurant was extremely small, only being able to cater for twenty-five people at a time. It was situated on the first floor of the building and only had two members of staff who had to juggle working in the kitchen as well as the restaurant floor. However, this was just the way things worked Spanish restaurants in Pamplona during the period after the Spanish Civil War. Times were hard and people just had to get by as best they could. This led to the Irene's two children, Presen and Bonito, coming to help out in the restaurant as soon as they were old enough.
Fortunately for this restaurant, they became very popular and successful and they earned enough money over the years to be able to afford a bigger establishment. The family set up in another first floor room on San Nicolas Street, opening their next restaurant which was called San Fermín; a name that every Pamplonian knows all too well as being the Saint celebrated during the Sanfermines in the city.
Since the 1970s, the Restaurante San Fermín has been passed down through the generations and has always maintained its family atmosphere. Today the grandson of the founder, Iñaki Elarre is the front man of the restaurant and he has brought a new lease of life into the restaurant whilst still maintaining the restaurant's heritage.
The restaurant is decorated in a mixture between modern and classic styles. However the main focus of the design of the interior is on a welcoming and family style that makes customers feel at home. This is enhanced by the magnificent wooden floor that is made of a rich, honey coloured wood and the soft lighting.
The Menu
The Restaurante San Fermín prides itself on offering authentic and traditional cuisine from the region of Navarre at a reasonable price. They also enjoy creating new dishes from traditional Pamplonian recipes which means that their menu is in constant evolution.
The 'à la carte menu' has some fantastic examples of traditional Spanish food for you to try such as the 'Ciervo en salsa de uvas' (Venison in grape sauce), 'Solomillo en salsa de hongos' (Sirloin steak in a mushroom sauce) and 'Centollo al horno' (Baked Spider crab). Some of the dishes may seem a bit elaborate but ordering them from the Spanish menu at random and discovering what they are will certainly be a great way to learn Spanish in Spain!
The restaurant also offers collection of set menus which include a Daily Menu and a House Menu. These menus offer you a range of the Restaurante San Fermín's best cuisine from their main menu at an affordable price.
Like any other great Spanish restaurant, the Restaurante San Fermín has a great collection of wines. The majority of the wines in their collection are Spanish wines but there are also a few French bottles dotted around. And if you are no wine connoisseur you can always ask for the house wine!
The real sparkle at the Restaurante San Fermín today comes from Iñaki Elarre, the grandson of the founder. Iñaki specialises in producing creative desserts which can be found on the restaurant's interesting dessert menu. Some of his specialities include the 'Biscuit de higos y almendras con chocolate caliente' (Fig and almond biscuit with warm chocolate sauce) resembles an ice cream but with some exciting new flavours. The perfect excuse for any sweet-tooth to visit Pamplona!
