If ever you are in Bilbao and want an incredible experience of wonderful flavor and texture for your palate, I highly recommend you dine at Restaurante Azurmendi, which is about a 30 minute cab ride from the Guggenheim Museum. I recently returned from one of those lifetime events as my wife and I joined my five siblings (four brothers and a sister), each of their spouses and our Mother, who so incredibly and generously sponsored the trip — for a 12 night cruise on Crystal’s Symphony. We sailed from Southampton, England to Rome, with a number of beautiful ports in between. And for the record, we thanked Mom profusely for her gift to us! On to the Azurmendi…
Our second port was Bilbao, Spain, and after a visit to the Guggenheim, one of my brother’s had done some research and set us up for a lunch at Restaurante Azurmendi. I can sum it up with this: In all my years of dining, I experienced new flavors, textures, plating and presentations on just about every course that was included in Azurmendi’s prix fixe menu, a picture of which I will attach hoping it is legible.
First, the setting: the Azurmendi sits about half way up one side of a beautiful valley, so after the rather steep ride up the property’s driveway, the view down and over the rest of the valley is simply gorgeous. The restaurant itself was clearly designed to take full advantage of the view, as the dining room walls are made of glass allowing its guests to easily enjoy the lush, green countryside surrounding.
But our experience started before we entered the dinging room. As the eleven of us were enjoying the nature oriented waiting area of the facility, the servers brought out three picnic baskets of three different starters for each of us to whet our appetites. The uniqueness of the food experience we were about to enjoy started right then! I won’t go into the menu items specifically as you can see them on the menu itself, but rest assured, when 11 people are oohing and ahhing over the tasters we were served, not much more needs to be said.
In a surprise to all of us, next we were invited into the kitchen to meet the chef/owner and his staff. The kitchen and work spaces were spotless, the explanation of their process appreciated, the pride in their work as a team was obvious, and they were each warm and welcoming to our group. So far, beyond good!
We were then seated at a spacious round table for 11 (it was my wife who stayed on the ship with my 85 year old mother), and the meal began. Again, I won’t go into the food because, quite frankly, we ate what was put in front of us. This is something which I had never done previously, but truly enjoyed this day. Again, check out the seasonal menu for the specifics, but know that each course was wonderful. We had two rather finicky eaters who weren’t wild about one course each, but they tried them all and still loved the overall experience. We shared three or four bottles of fine regional wines to complement the meal, which was topped off with some delicious desserts.
OK, the reality check — it’s expensive, so it may not be for everybody. I believe we had the 135€ per guest option (the other was Euro 165€) which did not include the wine. Yeah, big tab at the end of a 2.5 hour lunch, but this wasn’t about the money or time — it was a meal that each of us will remember for the rest of our lives! Incredible food in a beautiful setting with life long loved ones: you can’t beat that!
Corredor del Txorierri, Salida 25 | Barrio Legina, s/n Larrabetzu, 48195 Larrabetzu, Spagna Phone 944 558 866
Restaurant Azurmendi. Larrabetzu If ever you are in Bilbao and want an incredible experience of wonderful flavor and texture for your palate, I highly recommend you dine at Restaurante Azurmendi, which is about a 30 minute cab ride from the Guggenheim Museum.