Round table with Albert Raurich, Amaiur Martínez Ortuzar and Mariano García Romero about the new reality of the situation facing pintxos and tapas counters.

Albert Raurich (Dos Palillos* - Dos Pebrots, Barcelona) optimistically closed the round table that had taken place in the San Sebastian Gastronomika – Euskadi Basque Country main studio about the future of pintxo and tapas counters against the background of the Coronavirus. Although previously during the debate, neither he nor his colleagues – Amaiur Martínez Ortuzar (Ganbara, San Sebastián) and Mariano García Romero (Cafetería Donald, Sevilla) – painted a very flattering picture of the situation.

The debate, moderated by the journalist and gastronomy critic, Carlos Maribona, began with a reality that is shared with the entire bar and restaurant sector. “It’s complicated and worrying”, the chef from Ganbara announced. A situation that gets worse if we talk about the bar counter because with the current framework, according to Raurich, “the bar counter disappears because the very concept of a counter no longer makes any sense”. It was made quite clear that bar counters as we understand them: having a snack, a beer here and a coffee there and a great deal of turnover are not viable. In Ganbara and Donald they have chosen to put out benches and tables – Raurich is still keeping his Dos Palillos closed-; but “if people sit down, they don’t just want a pintxo, they want something more than that, they want to have dinner” Amaiur Martínez explained. This is one of the options that they are exploring in the mythical bar in the old part of San Sebastián: serving more portions and switching to customers staying for longer. In this respect, Martínez Ortuzar claimed that “the pandemic has been a catalyst for something that they had been demanding for quite some time now in pintxo bars: more comfort and more hot pintxos”.

On the other side of the proposal was the viewpoint offered by García Romero who “doesn’t care whether a table is occupied by a coffee or a beer” because what’s really important is “staying in touch with customers, so that they don’t stop coming because you can’t have a coffee at the bar counter”. Raurich found it difficult to understand why gastrobars, as in his case, had to remain closed as “by leaving space free at the bar counter you can make them viable and safe”.

Come what may, the path to follow seems clear: “we need to reconsider things because this could go on for quite a while, the chef from Dos Palillos predicted,” to which the son from Ganbara added, “and tourists will take a while to come”. Mariano García is already working on this, expanding the business to offer takeaways: “the customer who used to come to have some tapas for dinner, now takes them home”.

The three restaurateurs once again all had similar criticisms of the authorities because of their lack of action and support, as well as on account of certain regulations that in many cases they found difficult to understand. “Let’s see, why do we have to close at 12 o’clock. Do we turn into Dracula?”. Mariano García humorously described the limits on opening hours to tell us that, as he saw it, the regulations could be maintained not only at night but also in the daytime.

However, at least the debate closed on a hopeful note. “It’s just another crisis”, Mariano said based on the wisdom of experience. And furthermore, “the bar counters will be back” Albert Raurich said, convinced of this because “it’s our character; it’s a philosophy”.

We’ll just stick with that.