BILBAO


Urban recognition // Bilbao was named European City of the Year at the 2018 Urbanism Awards, which takes into account everything from urban development to environmental issues


a riverside hall that’s the largest covered market in Europe, the aisles accost you with mounds of mussels, towers of tomatoes, walls of cheeses and vats of green beans. There’s a touristy element to it — local advice is to avoid eating in the style-over-substance bars within the market hall — but many of Bilbao’s leading chefs still stock up their restaurant larders right here. The sheer variety of local ingredients makes


the omnipresent pintxo — the Basque take on tapas — the perfect Bilbao food. Found on almost every bar counter in town, these snack-sized creations are traditionally meant to be consumed in two bites. Today, however, they’ve evolved from simple-but-brilliant classics such as the gilda — an olive, a chilli and an anchovy on a stick — to creative concoctions that might involve anything from quail eggs to spider crab. Most bars off er a wide choice, but generally


have their own, honed-to-perfection house speciality. The locals have a word — poteo — which refers to the act of moving from bar to bar, ordering a drink and a pintxo in each. You hear the word said a lot, and no wonder. To spend an evening driſt ing around a soſt ly lit neighbourhood, gorging on bite- sized dishes and watching the edges of the buildings grow gradually hazier, is one of Bilbao’s greatest joys.


CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Croissants at Bohemian Lane cafe, Bilbao’s fi rst vegan bakery; Bohemian Lane owner Sandra Mateo; Café Bar Bilbao prides itself on serving some of the best pintxos in the city


THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’ “I’ve worked behind the bar here for 30 years,” says Aitor Aginako, his face cracking into a grin above his neatly pressed blue shirt. Café Bar Bilbao sits in one corner of the Old Town’s Plaza Nueva and has a marbled counter, a chequerboard fl oor and patterned wall tiles. “In 30 years, you learn how to look aſt er customers. You need to know where to stand — always be close by, but without invading their space — and how to treat people with respect. But most of all,” he says, pointing to small portions of bacalao al pil- pil (salt cod in a garlic and chilli sauce), “you need good pintxos.”


Q&A with Patrizia Vitelli, Bilbao Food Tours


HOW IMPORTANT IS FOOD TO THE LOCAL CULTURE? Food is everything in Bilbao. Every big decision, every celebration, every important meeting takes place around a table. We’re lucky to have a huge variety of ingredients — we have a long coastline and the climate is just right for growing crops and vegetables — although Basque cuisine is still quite traditional. It’s honest food.


WHAT’S THE RELATIONSHIP LIKE BETWEEN SAN SEBASTIÁN AND BILBAO? There’s a healthy rivalry. San Sebastián gets called ‘Little Paris’ — in the ‘70s and ‘80s, some of its chefs trained in France, so it’s a bit posher there. Although if you ask them, they’ll say the bilbaínos think a lot of themselves!


WHERE TRADITIONAL BASQUE RESTAURANTS WOULD YOU RECOMMEND? Try El Arandia de Julen — it does the best beans and steak — or Pulpería Vermutería Florines for good-quality octopus. bilbaofoodtours.com


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