The best Michelin Star and signature cuisine restaurants in Bilbao and its surroundings
Bilbao and its surroundings are home to several Michelin-starred restaurants, offering an excellent representation of Basque haute cuisine.
Here are some of our favorites, along with other creative or signature cuisine restaurants that match the same level of gastronomic quality.
Atelier Etxanobe
After 25 years of a gastronomic adventure at Etxanobe, Fernando Canales and Mikel Población present Atelier Etxanobe as an opportunity to express themselves with absolute freedom in their passion and profession: cooking and gastronomy.
“We offer our clients unforgettable experiences through original culinary creations that convey the passion, joy, and pleasure we feel when imagining and creating them.”
Atelier Etxanobe‘s gastronomic vocation is reflected in a single offering, the Chef Atelier menu, which encapsulates the entire tradition of excellence of the Etxanobe restaurant. This menu is also available with a pairing option included.
ENEKO
Chef Eneko Atxa returns to his roots with the Sutan menu. An open menu with dishes designed to be cooked in front of the diner. Full of flavor, technique, and tradition, made with local products.
In this building, located on the outskirts of Larrabetzu, Azurmendi was born in 2005. After earning the first two stars in 2012, it moved to the top of the hill, where a sustainable building was constructed to house it.
Now, in his ‘first home’, the chef has wanted to return to his origins, talk about his land, his culture and traditions, Basque producers, and their work. This is the ENEKO restaurant, which already has a Michelin star.
For the chef, seeing the diner’s face while cooking is a responsibility that demands and leads to perfection. This is why at ENEKO in Larrabetzu, the cooking is done in front of the customer.
Garena
Garena is a farmhouse nestled in the wild nature provided by the surroundings of the Urkiola and Gorbea mountains.
Its main attraction (1 Michelin Star, 2 Repsol Suns) lies in the presentation of dishes created with the products of a centuries-old cuisine, which were once vital for the subsistence of the inhabitants of the area and are now elevated to haute cuisine by Chef Julen Baz. This allows us to relive a distant past in a current gastronomic luxury.
“We link our cuisine to the territory, with a gastronomic proposal that is based on tradition. The life of the farmhouses is the cornerstone of this project. A way of life that is on the verge of disappearing.
Stories in the form of dishes that take the diner on a journey through 500 years of history to understand this way of life of survival and direct contact with nature.
Among other things, you can find preparations with snail, sheep, zurrukutuna, babatxiki, rabbit… Humble products to which, after processing, we give a special shape and texture, always thinking of maximizing the diner’s enjoyment.
Traditional flavors, good products, and few ingredients define us.
The project is completed with an 11-hectare vineyard where we cultivate the native varieties Hondarrabi Zerratia and Hondarrabi Zuri to produce our own txakoli, Garena and Geroa.”
Ola Martín Berasategui
A Michelin-starred and Repsol Sun-awarded restaurant. Located in the heart of Bilbao’s Old Town, under the gastronomic direction of Martín Berasategui and with Raúl Cabrera as executive chef.
It combines traditional and modern techniques to create high-quality dishes with fresh, seasonal ingredients. The restaurant offers two menus: “The Best of Martín Berasategui’s Cuisine” and the “Ola Tasting Menu.”
With elegant decor and a cozy atmosphere, it is the perfect place for special celebrations, as well as for hosting events and weddings.
Azurmendi
Azurmendi, located in Larrabetzu, Basque Country, is a 3 Michelin-starred restaurant led by Chef Eneko Atxa. It is a benchmark of Basque haute cuisine, renowned for its commitment to sustainability and its creative cooking that pays homage to local products.
The Restaurant:
Situated in a unique building, integrated into nature and built with sustainable principles.
Features a garden-greenhouse and a seed bank, where many of the ingredients used in the cuisine are grown.
Offers two tasting menus: Erroak (traditional) and Adarrak (seasonal).
The gastronomic experience goes beyond the food, including a tour of the garden and the kitchen.
The Cuisine:
Eneko Atxa bases his cooking on respect for the product and the season.
His dishes are a blend of tradition and innovation, with artistic presentations and surprising flavors.
The restaurant is committed to sustainability, using local products and environmentally friendly cooking techniques.
Azurmendi is a unique experience for gastronomy lovers. It is a place where one can enjoy high-quality cuisine in a privileged setting, with impeccable service and a commitment to sustainability.
OLiO
In this haven of the senses, where oil, art, and excellence merge into a symphony of flavors.
This is the refuge of gastronomic delight, where each dish is a masterpiece meticulously crafted by the expert hands of Abel Corral, with the collaboration of Nelson Da Silva. Together, they celebrate the richness of Basque-French cuisine with an unparalleled “je ne sais quoi.”
At OLiO, oil is the guiding thread of an experience where passion for culinary art and love for fine dining intertwine in a feast for the senses.
El Paladar by Zuriñe García
Zuriñe García is in charge of El Paladar, the gastronomic restaurant at the Puente Colgante Boutique Hotel.
She is one of the few female top chefs who has led a Michelin-starred restaurant and was honored in 2018 by the Basque Gastronomy Academy as Best Restaurateur.
El Paladar offers a gastronomic experience focused on unconditional respect for the ingredients.
Traditional Basque recipes, passed down through generations, are reinterpreted through the creative vision and skilled hands of Zuriñe García and her team.
You can enjoy a choice of à la carte dishes or tasting menus!
In addition to the restaurant, the venue also features a bar and terrace area, where you can savor a gourmet snack menu and a curated selection of draft beers in a relaxed and casual atmosphere.
AbOIZ
AbOIZ is situated in the center of the small town of Garai, in the Duranguesado area of Bizkaia, just 30 minutes from Bilbao.
The rustic decor, reminiscent of a traditional Basque farmhouse, is complemented by modern design elements.
Large windows offer diners a stunning view of the mountains and valleys, providing an extraordinary natural backdrop.
AbOIZ is the perfect venue for hosting business meetings, conventions, dinners, and, of course, unforgettable weddings.
Chef Jorge Fiat, together with his kitchen team, creates a diverse range of dishes that blend traditional Basque cuisine with innovative trends, always using high-quality local products from the area.
Porrue
Unai Campo is the head chef at Restaurante Porrue. After working in prestigious steakhouses in Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, he has taken charge of Porrue, where he specializes in fresh, seasonal grilled dishes including meats, fish, and vegetables. The gooseneck barnacles and grilled octopus are particularly delicious!
His culinary success is attributed to the careful selection of ingredients, with seasonal products sourced from local farmhouses, villagers, fishermen, and even his own small farm in Bakio for vegetables, citrus fruits, and herbs.
At Porrue, you can also enjoy a drink with a creative presentation of gin and tonics featuring aromatic ice made from their own lemons. The restaurant also offers an exceptional champagne selection.
Delaunay
A restaurant inspired by the artist Sonia Delaunay, with an exclusive menu designed by the eminent, award-winning Basque chef Beñat Ormaetxea.
Each of his dishes is an expression of talent and local quality with an innovative, avant-garde touch and the finest pairings: a superb selection of wines and champagnes of the moment.
Aitor Rauleaga
Aitor Rauleaga has created a space in the heart of Bilbao, next to the Jardines de Albia, where he continues to develop his vision of an honest, flavorful, and timeless cuisine, where the product takes center stage and tradition sets the standard.
Seasonal ingredients, classic recipes, genuine flavors with no tricks, and a special touch for hearty spoon dishes. All of this paired with a fresh and surprising wine selection.
La Revelía
At La Revelía, silence is the essence.
In the beginning, chef Fernando González found it difficult to sleep because he was so attuned to every creak of the house (not to mention the occasional visits from wild boars, roe deer, and other wildlife). Now, he finds it wonderful and wants to share his story with you.
He left behind the success of Bilbao’s restaurants, his friendships, and city life to move with his family to the heart of the forest. They settled in an old farmhouse called Azkarraga in the Aldana district of Amorebieta to begin a new chapter in their lives.
Due to the building’s ruinous state and the freedom it offered in terms of design and materials, the “rehabilitation” project took shape as a contemporary, minimalist architecture that blends seamlessly with the environment.
Inside La Revelía, the design features dark tones with black wall finishes and continuous terrazzo flooring, with large openings that frame the landscape like a beautiful canvas.
The restaurant’s kitchen is designed to be an integral part of the dining experience, allowing diners to enjoy the close, sustainable nature of the cooking process.
Chef Fernando González uses mostly local, seasonal ingredients from nearby farms.
The cuisine is greatly influenced by the seasonality of the produce, ensuring that every dish showcases the ingredients at their best.
Both the restaurant and the building’s design and operation focus on sustainability, using geothermal energy as a renewable resource and working towards achieving energy efficiency.
To understand why the head chef chose this remote forest in the Basque Country, you simply need to visit, disconnect, and enjoy the interior dining space or the terrace with its natural surroundings, where you will be close to wild nature and animals just 20-30 meters away.
