The Best Restaurants in Basque Country, Spain, According to a Michelin-Starred Chef

In the Basque Country, pandemics have served as a reminder of how food forms the structure of local life. Eating well is a priority in the autonomous provinces of northern Spain, especially for some local chefs.

This area is an endless feast. Beyond the many Michelin-starred restaurants, culinary destinations beckon. Some people ate pinchos bars sprinkled with waxy paper napkins and two delicious snacks such as croquettes and Spanish omelettes on slices of bread and skewered with a toothpick. Sidrelias (cider bar) quietly standing in the lush mountains. Regular customers drink a sparkling natural cider and slice it into a forearm-sized fire-baked steak.

“Our culture is based on food,” said Michelin-starred chef and owner Alvaro Galid. Mina, A restaurant in the Ravieh district of Bilbao. “Geographically very fortunate,” he says, fresh seafood from the Cantabrian Sea, high-quality produce from small family-owned farms, meat and milk from livestock raised in lush pastures. Got the product. The result is a sacred culinary heritage, even for cutting-edge chefs, and of course, culinary worshipers from all over the world.

Garrido, who runs Mina’s Front of House, and his partner, Lara Martin, won their first Michelin star in 2013 and have since won their next fan base. On a rare holiday, when Mr. Garido isn’t in the kitchen with Mina’s “warrior”, when he’s calling staff, a native Bilbao visits a supplier or nearby prepared by one of his associates. Enjoying a meal at the restaurant.

I first interviewed Mr. Galid in December 2019 and used his extensive restaurant knowledge to discover some of his favorite places in the Basque Country. (I worked as a kitchen intern in Mina for about 6 weeks in 2014.) Immediately after that, the pandemic caused the hospitality industry to grow exponentially. Restaurants throughout Spain were forced to close by government order, and some were not reopened.

However, some of Garrid’s list of places have succeeded in quickly pivoting their business. Bilbao’s Michelin-starred restaurant Zarate, known for its pristine seafood, has transformed the street-facing dining room into a seafood counter with takeaway food. Others have doubled the terrace service, waiting for outdoor meals to be approved. Mostly outgoing and deeply food-centric, local customers wanted to come back.

Then there was that characteristic Basque resilience spirit that helped the restaurant navigate during some of the darkest moments of the pandemic — in the stranger that the locals endure in the face of adversity. There is none.Manager of Amai Agarcia de Albis, Area! The sister of the chef owner, Edulta Lamo, told me, “When the crisis came, it reminded me of my grandparents during the Spanish Civil War.” With the hardships of their ancestors in mind, they did their best as soldiers and maintained their gratitude.

Eventually, all the restaurants on Mr. Galid’s list got over the pandemic. National Tourism Industry Association, ExcelturAs predicted in the January report, Spain’s gross domestic product could reach about 88% of pre-pandemic levels (€ 135 billion, or about $ 138 billion) in 2022. About $ 155 billion in 2019. With the resurgence of tourism, the region has revived and the atmosphere of many restaurant owners is cautiously optimistic.

Here, Mr. Galid shares five restaurants that should be on your radar the next time you visit the Basque Country.

“Area! It’s in Campez, a small town in the middle of the mountain,” Garid said. Chef Edulta Lamo made a name for himself at A Fuego Negro, a restaurant in San Sebastian, and reinvented the classic pinchos. (Sadly, A Fuegro Nuegro was closed during a pandemic 14 years later.) Area! For him, Lamo returned to the roots of the Campezo (or Campezo in Spanish) family and pioneered a gastronomic style that could only be described as “mountain cuisine.” “

“They cook using products from the mountains — they produce wild herbs and what the chef and his team have collected themselves,” Garrido said. Area! The team also deals with local honey, truffles, rare native plants and different types of games.

The different spaces in the restaurant each offer their own dining style. You can order wild boar burgers at the bar or “camouflaged” venison with root vegetables in the dining room. To experience the nightly tasting menu (95 euros, or $ 97), you need to book at least 24 hours in advance, but lunchtime is the best time to experience Lamo’s vision on a relatively bargain menu. It may be a measure of. For only 20 euros, a richer noon menu is available for 40 euros.

Subidaalfrontón, 46, 01110 Santikurutze Kanpezu, Arava, Spain

About 20 minutes from Bilbao, in the small town of Amore Vieta Echano, one of the best-preserved secrets of the Basque Country, chef Benhat Olmetosea quietly serves avant-garde Basque cuisine. , There is a Jauregi barrier. “Beña uses local ingredients such as mushrooms, dried and salted beans, and’teardrop’spring beans to make traditional plates with a modern touch,” Garid said. The latter is available in just a few weeks each year.

In a restored farmhouse with views of the botanical park surrounding the Jauregi Barrier of the same name, you can find a menu of classic Basque ingredients juxtaposed with innovative techniques and creative flavors. The “eyes” of Euskera, the local language, crispy ink. Or Iberian pork cheeks grown in acorns stewed in Rioja red wine. The tasting menu starts at 45 euros for 5 courses.

Chef Olmae Chair said local customers continued to upset the business during the pandemic, even when the tourism industry was almost over. “Because we are close to three major industrial hubs, businessmen will eat regularly,” he said, and temporary closures make people more hungry for eating out than ever before. I added that. “When someone bans something, it’s like making you want it even more.”

In the latest Michelin Guides in Spain and Portugal, Jauregi Barrier It was included as a recommended restaurant. “Sooner or later they will give him a Michelin star,” Garid said.

Barrio Bideaur, 4, 48340 Amorebieta-Etxano, Spain

Txakoli is known as a refreshing, barely effervescent, typically Basque white wine. It is also the name of a country house where Basques have historically gathered to eat simple meals like eggs with chorizo ​​and share a jug of wine. Even today, some restaurants call it “txakoli” in honor of traditional comfort food and homely hospitality.

Surrounded by hills overlooking Bilbao, “just a few kilometers from where I grew up,” Garid said. Txakoli Simón is a well-established local favorite. “Here we eat simple and traditional dishes such as fried eggs and red peppers, blood moles, high quality T-bone steaks.” Their steak, or txuleta, is from Galegarian cows and in Bilbao. Some people think it’s the best. It’s not a small feat for an area that is proud of its grill culture.

General manager Oscar Garcia is Txakoli Simón was primarily an “asado” or grill restaurant, and it didn’t make sense to mess with takeaway options when the restaurant was obliged to close. (Txakoli Simón’s specialty steak txuleta costs € 49 per person.) However, demand increased as soon as the store opened. According to Garcia, about 85% of their customers were local and used the restaurant’s spacious outdoor seating area in nature. Now, Garcia said the business is back to normal.

Camino San Roque, 89, 48015 Bilbao, Spain

“Their tasting menu tells us about the Cantabrian Sea,” Garid said of the Michelin-starred Zarate in the heart of Bilbao. Chef Sergio Ortiz de Zarate began his seafood work in Lekeitio, a small fishing village on the Cantabrian coast where Zarate procures much of its menu today. Although you can order traditional Basque dishes like kokotxos (Lower hake chin) At his eponymous restaurant à la carte, the 11-plate tasting menu is a true undersea expedition.The diet begins with a pair of shimmering anchovies, followed by a tangle of baby eel garlic, and may end many courses later with hake perfectly performed with pill pills. Local favorites made with sauces, olive oil, garlic and gindilla pepper.

The pandemic seafood counter, La Lonja de Zarate, was subsequently closed, but the dining room is back in full swing. Whether you choose a tasting menu (from € 105 for 11 courses) or your own adventure (from € 25 for Primopiat), Chef Zarate chooses carefully by enhancing rather than hiding its essence. We insist on staying true to each product that has been made.

Licenciado Poza, 65, 48013, Bilbao, Spain

“Zuberoa is one of the most famous restaurants in the Basque Country,” Garrid said, using the words of Esquera to describe the Basque Country. Chef Hilario Alberites prepares an elegant take of traditional Basque cuisine in a 600-year-old Basque farmhouse in the village of Oiartzun near San Sebastian. In a family-owned restaurant with one Michelin star, there was little problem getting food back to the door after the pandemic restrictions were relaxed. “Our restaurant has been known for years when we have been functioning. We are a restaurant that has been passed down for generations,” says pastry chef Jose Maria Alberites. I did.

“This is the restaurant where the chef goes to enjoy iconic regional dishes such as foy with chickpea cream and mythical potato puree,” Garido said. He also states that their gaming dishes, such as roasted pigeons with venison and toasted liver, should not be overlooked. (Admission starts at € 38.50. The 9-course tasting menu is € 159.50.)

Araneder Bidea, 20180 Gipuzkoa, Spain