Who Chef Ben is<\/h2>\n
Ben was born in Donostia, trained in kitchens in London and New York and came home. He was the first head chef of a well-known restaurant in the city and today he does only this: teaching people from elsewhere to cook Basque produce. The classes are in English or Spanish, and the approach is that of someone who explains what he is doing and why he does it that way, not a performance from behind a counter.<\/p>\n
We say that plainly because it is what separates a good cooking class from tourist entertainment: in his, you do the cooking. He guides, corrects and explains; the hands in the mix are yours.<\/p>\n The fullest format is the Market and Cooking Tour<\/strong>. You meet in mid-morning at Plaza Sarriegui, next to La Bretxa market, and the first hour goes on walking the stalls: what fish has come in from the Bay of Biscay, what vegetables the farmhouses have that week, which cheese or cured meat looks best that day. You shop with what is there, not from a fixed list, and that is exactly what makes every class different.<\/p>\n With the shopping done, the group moves to his kitchen and the hands-on part begins: several dishes that you then eat together at the table, with a selection of Spanish wines. The full experience lasts around five hours and includes a welcome drink, an apron and the multi-course meal made in the class. It runs from two people upwards.<\/p>\n There are other, shorter formats that follow the same market-plus-kitchen logic: a class centred on pintxos, another on traditional Basque dishes, a paella one and, for groups of adults, a meal inside a private gastronomic society, that corner of Donostia life almost no visitor gets into. Prices depend on the format and the size of the group, and are on his website.<\/p>\n The Parents and Children<\/strong> class exists because so many families asked about it. It has the same market visit beforehand and the same hands-on format, adapted so that the youngest really take part, with tasks cut to their size, and see where what they later eat comes from. It lasts around four hours and finishes, like the others, eating what has been cooked at the table.<\/p>\n For a family staying with us it is a perfect plan for a rainy morning or a day without the beach: the market is less than ten minutes' walk from the apartment across the river, and you come home fed and with a new recipe.<\/p>\n The "burnt" cheesecake now served in New York and Tokyo was born in a bar in the Old Town of San Sebasti\u00e1n, a few minutes on foot from the market. Tasting it is easy; understanding why it turns out that way, less so: the oven temperature, the point at which the top scorches while the centre still wobbles, why there is no biscuit base.<\/p>\n Ben does not publish the recipe, but he teaches it in class when asked, and he is asked a lot. If that is what brought you here, say so when you book: it is one of the dishes that comes up most in the traditional cooking class, the family one and the gastronomic society one.<\/p>\n From our apartment<\/a>, the meeting point is under ten minutes away on foot: you cross the Urumea by the Santa Catalina bridge, follow the Boulevard and arrive at Plaza Sarriegui, at the foot of the market. It is a flat walk with no steps, which matters if someone in the group uses a wheelchair; in that case, check with Ben when booking so he can take the route round the market and the space in the kitchen into account.<\/p>\n If your plan is a different one, it also works the other way round: Ben and his team cook at home for groups of six or more, in the house where they are staying. Our apartment sleeps up to six, so a private dinner in the living room, with the stone wall behind you, is a real option for a whole group. Check it with him directly; each service is adapted to the group.<\/p>\n In high season and on key dates, such as the film festival, it is worth booking the class at the same time as the apartment; in winter there tends to be more leeway. All the information, the formats and the bookings are at chefbensansebastian.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n What language are the classes in?<\/strong> Do I need to know how to cook?<\/strong> How long is it and what does it include?<\/strong> Can it be done in a wheelchair?<\/strong> Can you cook in the apartment?<\/strong> There is a way of understanding the cooking of San Sebasti\u00e1n that does not involve booking a table: going to the market with someone from here, choosing the fish that came in that morning and then cooking it with your own hands. That is what Chef Ben does, a Donostia cook who has spent years … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":633,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rentalsansebastian.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rentalsansebastian.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rentalsansebastian.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rentalsansebastian.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rentalsansebastian.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=716"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/rentalsansebastian.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":767,"href":"https:\/\/rentalsansebastian.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716\/revisions\/767"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rentalsansebastian.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rentalsansebastian.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rentalsansebastian.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rentalsansebastian.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/rentalsansebastian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mercado-bretxa-pescado-san-sebastian.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nFirst the market, then the kitchen<\/h2>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/rentalsansebastian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/chef-ben-familia-mercado.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nIf you are coming with children<\/h2>\n
![\"Basque](\"https:\/\/rentalsansebastian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/chef-ben-basque-cheesecake.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nBasque cheesecake, learned where it was born<\/h2>\n
How it fits into a stay in Gros<\/h2>\n
When to book<\/h2>\n
Frequently asked questions<\/h2>\n
\nEnglish or Spanish. If you come as a mixed group, Ben switches between the two without any trouble.<\/p>\n
\nNo. The classes are hands-on, but they are designed for any level: every step is explained and you cook with company.<\/p>\n
\nThe Market and Cooking Tour lasts around five hours and includes the market visit, a welcome drink, an apron, the multi-course meal cooked in the class and Spanish wines. The other formats are somewhat shorter and keep the same pattern of market, hands-on class and meal.<\/p>\n
\nThe walk from Gros to the market is flat. For the route round the stalls and the kitchen space, check with Ben when booking.<\/p>\n
\nFor groups of six or more, Ben offers a private chef service at your accommodation. Our apartment sleeps up to six; check it with him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"