Only Locals Eat Here: Lovely Affordable Restaurant near Bilbao in a 12th Century Mill
Why I recommend this restaurant
Welcome to a new episode of The Northern Spaniard. Today I'm going to tell you about a lovely restaurant about 15min away by car from Bilbao (also reachable easily by underground). It's located by the coast, so you can turn this into a day plan! I will provide an itinerary as well 😄
This recommendation is NOT SPONSORED, as the rest of the recommendations in this newsletter.
You will only find genuine recommendations in The Northern Spaniard.
🍳 What can I eat at this restaurant?
It's a Cervecería, a type of restaurant we have in Spain that is kind of like a Beer Garden. You can order a wide range of well prepared typical dishes, and seat outside in their big garden full of tables.
You can also sit inside, in the old mill construction, and appreciate the architecture of a Basque ancient mill in the valley of the river Gobela. When you sit inside it operates more like a normal restaurant.
🍽️ Portion Sizes
Keep in mind that the portions are big, so don't over-order food! I make this mistake myself sometimes when I go, as everything sounds delicious. But these are not Pintxo-sized!
⭐ My food recommendations
🍺 Typical Cervecería Food
For sharing 4 people, I would recommend for starters...
- one salad, probably the Mixed Salad - 10€
- Cider-cooked Basque Chorizo (Txistorra a la sidra) - 6.80€
- Maybe some other dish if you're more than 4 people
And for mains:
- one roasted chicken (it's absolutely delicious) - 13.90€
- one cachopo (it's a giant "schnitzel" from Asturias) - 18€
🥩 Steaks & Other Braised Meats
You can order some nice Basque meat here, such as:
- Braised Rib-Eye Steak with fries - 18.60€
- Braised Duck Magret with fries - 21€
- Braised Rib-Eye Steak with fries & roasted peppers for sharing, served on a hot stone so you can cook it to your taste at the table - 44.50€/kg
I definitely recommend the last option!
🐟 Braised Fish
I never tried fish here, so I can't recommend it from my own experience. However, being this restaurant located about 2km away from the sea & specialised in chargrilling stuff, I would guess fish is also very nice!
Here are some options from their menu:
- Seabass - 19€
- Pil-Pil Cod Loin - 21.50€
- White Tuna from Northern Spain with tomato and peppers (traditional style, only available during White Tuna Season) - 19€
🍺 Drinks
I included this section as there are some drinks that you can find in a cervecería that are not common to all restaurants. Especially if you're in the Basque Country:
Sidra (Cider) - If you haven't tried it yet, cider in Northern Spain is a delicious drink to have with your meal. If you're coming from abroad, you may have tried sweet cider before, such as Apple Bandit / Orchards Thieves. Cider in Northern Spain is not sweet, but on the slightly bitter side. I recommend trying it instead of beer. You can buy a 750ml bottle for around 7€ in this restaurant. It's more expensive than it should be if I'm honest, but I've always been happy to pay it when eating here.
Kalimotxo - Mix of Coke & Red Wine, typically drunk in popular festivities in the Basque Country. You can order a 1L jar for 8.20€.
Sangría - You probably know this one 😄 You can order a 1L jar for 8.20€.
Beer - You can order a 1L jar for 8.20€.
1L Bottle of water - 2.10€
🍰 Desserts
I really recommend that you take dessert, as they're homemade and absolutely delicious. I've tried the Cuajada & Cheesecake and I can only recommend them.
- Cuajada (typical Basque dessert) - 5.5€
- Cheesecake - 6€
- Apple pie - 6€
- Arroz con leche - 5.50€
- Goxua (typical Basque dessert) - 5.50€
- Flan - 5.50€
- Natillas - 5.50€
👥 Ambiance
The ambiance here is super local. There was only one time that I spotted some tourists here. It's a big venue, with outdoors and indoors seating, so you probably will find a table. It can be crowded on summer days though. The vibe here is really authentic, and the building is a great add-on as you walk through centuries-old walls just to get to the toilet!
This restaurant is great for families, as there's a lot of space and even a playground. The food is also easy to share so that makes ordering easy. And it's well connected to Bilbao by public transport and road. Its proximity to the beach and cliffs also make plans such as hiking or going to the beach easy to combine with eating here.
📝 How it works
If you sit indoors, it operates more like a restaurant. In this case, I would book a table if you want to.
If you sit outdoors, I don't think you can book a table. When you arrive, you can sit at an empty table, and one person goes to order the food and drinks from the "desk". It's pretty straightforward.
When you pay, you get a number, and then when that number is displayed on a screen you go and pick your order and bring it to the table. You will need to pick your own cutlery, plates, glasses, etc... and bring it to the table yourself as well. There's no table service if you sit outdoors. That's the magic of this type of restaurant!