Pintxos, tapas and sangria at The Carrington

When I heard that pintxos were available at The Carrington, I knew I had to go - if only to make up for the regret I still hold for not being game enough to try the pintxos bars in San Sebastian on my trip to Europe. In my defense, the indoor smoking all over the food sitting on the bars in there still turns me off the idea.

The refreshed Carrington is in an area of Bourke Street, Surry Hills that holds a special place in my heart, so it was with delight that I finally managed to get there one Tuesday night for chef Jamie Thomas' pintxos specials night.

Calamari sliders at The Carrington, Bourke Street, Surry Hills

With a group in the back restaurant area of the pub, we'd decided to go some pintxos and tapas with jugs of sangria. This easy-drinking red wine concoction at The Carrington is topped with cracked pepper of all things, and I lost count of how many jugs we shared after the fifth.

This amazing looking calamari slider, with rocket and some kind of mayonnaise smeared all over the bottom of the bun was so picture perfect it was a case of snooze (or change your camera settings) and you lose.

Potato, rosemary and manchego tortilla

Vegetarians and omnivores alike couldn't resist the velvety texture of the most finely sliced potato tortilla I've ever seen, served with a dollop of creamy aioli, I imagine, and paprika.

Anchovy and smoked eggplant tostada

I skipped the anchovy tostada despite the provoking, modernist presentation of the small silvery fish speared onto the bread spread with eggplant.

Chciken and pork sausage roll with Basque ketchup

The miniature sausage rolls - all shiny, tanned and puffed up - were pretty awesome drenched in tomato sauce and disappeared in a hurry.

Beef skewers with romesco

The metal skewers of charred tender beef cubes, sitting on lines of romesco sauce, were unexpectedly one of my favourites.

Pork belly sliders with white cabbage slaw

Another of the sliders on the pintxos menu, the pork belly was a crowd favourite with a thick slab of crackling topped belly and crunchy cabbage slaw.

Someone in the group lucked out as my half of the slider was almost all crackling - making up for me missing the calamari slider.

Hummus, eggplant and laba salad

The generously sized salad of hummus, grilled eggplant and white blobs of labna came with a couple of slices of bread too - sure to satisfy and completely vegetarian-friendly too.

Bull's tail empanadas

We sampled a decent range from the tapas menu, which are sort of the next size up from pintxos. For me, the empanadas were all about the pastry: gold and crisp with a shortness that just makes me smile. I can barely remember what the filling was like (more sangria?) but I remember loving these.

Jalapeno and smoked cheddar croquettes

There was no need to fear the jalapeno in the perfectly cylindrical croquettes as it was barely noticeable. Instead, the cheesy and smooth potato innards were quite the moreish delight, especially with a squeeze of lemon.

Meatballs

The huge meatballs sat amid a saucy dice of vegetables, with a smidgen of grated cheese melting on top. These were incredible and definitely, I think, some of the best meatballs in town.

Salt cod fritters

Some of the bacalao croquettes I've had before are more about the dryness of salted cod than anything else - these are not those croquettes.

These fritters rather had a lightness that together with potato filling and a fabulous orange-hued sauce were so easy to gobble down, especially with a drink on hand.

Morcilla stuffed squid

After chasing up the second-time order of the squid, the blood sausage stuffed creature eventuated finally, and looking pretty impressive too despite my aversion to all things blood. This rocket of a stuffed squid looked seriously tempting, but timing and the blood thing meant that it wasn't for me.

Pintxos. Tapas. Sangria. We'd ticked it all off at The Carrington and yet there was so much more on the food and drinks menu I wanted to try. Which is not all bad as it means a return visit to re-live San Sebastian is definitely in order.