Mel's Pintxos & Winebar
Basque pintxos counter in the village, run by beach veterans who studied in San Sebastian.
After 31 years running a Zandvoort beach pavilion, Jeroen and Hanneke Mel went to Bilbao and San Sebastian, learned pintxos properly, and opened this little wine bar halfway up the chicken stairs between the Zeestraat and the village center. The counter display does the talking: rows of skewered things on bread, garnalenkroket, bavette with chimichurri, bacalao, tortilla, each a few euros, so dinner becomes a game of one more round. The chalkboard splits fish, meat and vega, the wine list runs Spanish by the glass, and the room is small enough that you will be chatting with the owners by the second glass. It is the evening answer to a beach day: shower off the sand, walk over, graze until the board is empty. Open Thursday through Sunday from five, and worth planning your weekend around.
Start with the garnalenkroket pintxo and the bavette chimichurri, then let the counter decide.
What to order
- Garnalenkroket pintxo€6.50
Shrimp croquette on bread, the counter bestseller
- Bavette with chimichurri€6.50
The meat-side star of the chalkboard
- Tapas plank for two€14.50
The lazy and correct way to open the evening
- Tortilla€4.50
Proper Spanish potato omelette by the wedge
More in The Beach
The whole chapter
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Seven generations of fishing family running the most serious fish kitchen on this coast.
Berg Vis
Arlan Berg's red-white-blue fish cart, the true first stop of any Zandvoort beach day.
Republiek
Permanent architect-built pavilion where dry-aged beef and wood-oven fish outclass the postcode.