Restaurants in Bilbao

This Casco Viejo standby serves solid traditional Basque fare at bargain prices in an old-fashioned room with stone walls and exposed beams. In addition to standards like steak Wellington with foie gras, cod a pil pil, and oxtail braised in red wine, Aitxiar plays little tricks with…

One wonders when the “Little Dog” will repaint the blue walls said to have inspired Frank O. Gehry, as half the travelers who stop in come only to see the color. They’d be smarter to stick around and eat. If you choose to sit, by all means opt for a Basque classic like the oven…

Fernando Canales is a rock star among Bilbao chefs. Turn on any local food show and he’s likely to pop up with his chiseled good looks to show viewers precisely how to make some avant-garde creation with three ingredients and a little magic. Yet somehow he finds time to run the…

Proudly serving excellent Basque fare for more than a half century, Matxinbenta remains particularly popular for the business lunch. The three dining rooms share a fresh, modern look with perhaps an excess of potted plants and last-generation modern furniture. Among the house…

It only took the prodigy chef Josean Alija a few months to win his first Michelin star at this elegant fine-dining venue in the Guggenheim Bilbao. Alija won accolades early in his career for creating prize-winning dishes like whipped milk-protein ice cream with candied violets, or…

Once you stumble into Plaza Nueva, it’s hard to miss Victor Montes, which dominates the plaza with tables in good weather and has plenty of indoor seating in three packed dining rooms in back. And those are just for the sit-down diners, who swarm in for home-cooking favorites like…

Chef Daniel Garcia elevates traditional Basque foodstuffs to a level of refinement not seen since the heyday of Escoffier. The main dining room of this beautiful and formal restaurant glitters in French Empire style, but Garcia’s conceptual dishes and their execution are very much…