Nerua Guggenheim Bilbao — Restaurant in Bilbao

Nerua - Highlight in Bilbao

We visited good restaurants in Bilbao: simple but good ones, good ones, and the Nerua at the Guggenheim which was outstanding. There had been some strange reviews recently, which I definitely cannot agree with. The staff was always very friendly, attentive and skilled. The menue started with an Ameuse Geule "Squid Pelayo Bread (worth to pick each crump)," Fried Egg" (skillfully filled) and "Cricket" (a stick, best from potato) accompanied by a "Legume and Basil Gaspacho" (mainly the essence of real, tasty tomatoes). Each was not only an introduction, but an instant lift to a high level of cooking and eating. As we chose the wine paring (always had good experiences), the fine cava fitted very well and supported the different fragrances without dominating. First course had been "Tomatoes", skilfully peeled, treated and filled. A good example how excellent local products meet artists in the kitchen. Next highlights were the "Antxovy in pickled olives and pepper", nothing like from tin can, more fresh like ceviche, best paired by a local Txakolina white wine and the "Oyster" which just touched the charcoal for a second to create a fine smell and taste. Our favourite had been the "Bonito Tuna", which was carefully "roasted" on the point with the fresh taste of shallots. We never had a better tuna - high end! Sadly the "Sea Bass was also excellent prepared, but lost compared to the tuna. The white Rioja helped to overcome. The" Iberian Pork Belly with pickled vegetables" showed how a mostly underestimated part of the animal can evolve in the hands of experienced cooks best accompanied by an excellent Treinta Mil Maravedíes, a red wine from Madrid I unfortunately had not noticed yet (but will in future). Final highlight had been the "Lemon Pie with almonds, honey and rosemary" where the sweetness of the crust meets the fresh filling for an explosion. Sitting at the "Mesa de Chef" we could watch the team working with high concentration, presicion and dedication to their profession, following the short (not loud) commands of the chef. We were lucky to book this event and spent a wonderful afternoon with great joy and respect. Congratulation to the team, you created not only the best of food but also...

Worst 1 michelin star restaurant i have ever been to, honestly was so upset about the quality of food being served up, it was worse than the food served in the bistro in the same museum.

Every dish was excruciatingly sour, bitter or salty. The scallop omelette was so salty I winced. The bonito was so sour that every bite resulted in pinpricks in my tongue. Another dish with this strange parsley sauce was so bitter I had to sip lots of water. Not sure if they were playing a practical joke on me. I couldn’t bring myself to even finish a few dishes. The dessert was so stodgy and bland. I was incredibly disappointed given that it was the last dinner of my trip to San Sebastian and I had booked this months in advance.

No matter how many times we tried to wave a waiter over to pay for the bill, we were flat out ignored, even though we were rushing out to catch the fireworks show.

I had a much more delicious and better value one michelin star experience at another restaurant in Bilbao called Mina and only wished I made a second booking there, instead of being ridiculously angry at the food. None of the waiters or waitresses even bothered to check in about the taste of the food even when I clearly didn’t touch more than half of my fish.

My conclusion is that this restaurant does not deserve a michelin star, or it needs a new chef to set things straight! Because how can you have a tasting menu that is so lacklustre and at times odious from start to end - that is...

A Michelin one star restaurant. Underwhelming. We had mussels and anchovies cooked two ways for a starter. The mussels did not taste as anything really, and were underseasoned to our taste. The anchovies where ok and the sauce was nice. However 20 euro for 4 fishes is too much given the fact that two days earlier in Porto we had 12 grilled sardines for 6 euros at the beach. And fatty grilled fish flavor is essentially the same. So you are paying for one of the cooks putting charcoal over the fish in front of you. For a main course we had sweetbreads and tuna belly. The tuna was very good and flavorful we really liked it. The sweetbreads preparation is a miss for me - deep frying does not do anything for flavor. The sweetbreads tasted as pop corn chicken in the US - mostly the batter. For desserts we had avocado ice cream ( nice combination of salty and sweet - we liked a lot) and some strawberry desert that was good but not outstanding. The wines are reasonably priced. We had a local hondarrabi zuri and it was excellent. The staff is nice, efficient and attentive - they do not bother you much as at some of similar places. We opted out of a tasting menu and it was the right choice. We also had some complimentary starters from the chef. I did not understand the “gazpacho” - it tasted like raw celery juice. The other three were good. Overall it was a pleasant experience, but in my opinion it does not worth the money…I...