Bilbao City

Spotted a beautiful building quite close to the Guggenheim museum. Its name starts with a "B" though  I can't remember what it is

Did you know that Singapore and Bilbao had something in common ? Bilbao was named in 2010 as  the inaugural Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize Laureate in recognition of its integrated and holistic approach to urban transformation. Incidentally, this 2012 award was given just recently to New York City for its remarkable turnaround and development 10 years after the Sept 11 attacks.

Bilbao is indeed a vibrant metropolis where the old sits beautifully alongside the modern. Wished I could have stayed a little longer .

Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao

Louise Bourgeois' Maman, The Spider of Guggenheim

Frank Gehry's masterpiece - The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

Jeff Koons' gigantic puppy at the entrance of the museum

I love this wooden menu at the Museum's bistro

lukewarm terrine of spider crab, chive cream and tomato and hazelnut vinagrette

Salad of roast beef stuffed with lettuce and mustard with piquito pepper emulsion

Creamy rice with stewed baby squid (love the wings drawn with strokes of black squid ink)

Roast lamb with pumkin puree and a trace of coffee

Roasted pears, hazelnut sand with fresh milk ice cream

fluid chocolate souffle with frozen ice cream

My favourite surprise at the end of the meal - a wooden box of sweet things

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao opened on October 19, 1997 to much fanfare. Designed by Californian architect Frank Gehry, its limestone, glass and titanium building is truly one of its kind. It all came about when Bilbao, the fourth largest city in Spain was embarking on an ambitious redevelopment plan in the 80's and an avante garde museum was a big feature in it. The concept materialized in May 1991 when an agreement was signed between the Basque Government and  the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Known around the world for its world class museums, the Guggenheim name is found in New York, Venice, Berlin, Dubai and now Bilbao.

The museum serves as a catalyst for development in this former warehouse district of Bilbao. The form and structure of the building leaves one in awe as no modern building in recent times has come close to its grandeur and scale. The titanium plates ( the same material used for the construction of aircraft bodies) give a shiny vision of a science friction metropolis and with installation art surrounding it such as Louise Bourgeois' Maman : The Spider of Guggenheim, the illusion is complete. As if to soften the hardness of its image lies a kitsch installation art at the entrance - a gigantic puppy designed by Jeff Koons.

The Guggeheim museum specialises in post war modern art pieces and one of its highlights in its vast  gallery space - the permanent collection of Richard Serra's installation "The Matter of Time," a cornerstone of the museum's collection that features works by Constantin Brancusi and  Richard Serra. It is a pity that photography is not allowed within. I only managed to take pictures of the artistically arranged food at the Museum's bistro.

St Telmo Museum, San Sebastian

St Telmo Museum at San Sebastian

All the works above are that of Antonio Ortiz Echague
Gaadalajara 1883-Buenos Aires 1927

Sert Murals 1929 depicting Basque Society

Made an unexpected visit to the San Telmo Museum in San Sebastian, Donostia. We were trying to take shelter from the rain and there it was, a unique building with a perforated recycled aluminium facade. It even has moss and lichen growing freely from it. The San Telmo Museum was originally a convent but has been modernised to blend in with its history and the surrounding environment of Mount Urgull .

It happened to be a Tuesday, a day of free museum entry ! Couldn't believe how lucky my friends and I were ! Was amazed at some of the art pieces in the gallery especially the collection of the works by Antonio Ortiz Echague who drew with incredible life likeness.

There was also a chapel at a special section which I almost missed, holding the murals of the Catalan artist Josep Maria Sert. Some of his murals can be seem at the Waldoff Astoria and the Rockefeller Centre, New York . Joseph Maria Sert's murals in St Telmo consist of massive pieces depicting Basque legend, culture and the region's sea faring life. It was quite a spectacle that filled up a huge room.

Degustation menu at Patxi Aizpuru, San Sebastian



Asparagus cake with king prawn cooked in 2 sauces

Green beans on top of mashed potato with fresh foie and truffle oil

Small squid in ink

Hake steak in batter with Donostiarra crab spoon

T-bone from luismi, erudite

Pineapple souffle with vanilla ice cream and sweet rum soup

My trip to Barcelona, San Sebastian and Bilboa has been a gastronomic pilgrimage. I have been exposed to some new taste, some fascinating and some taking time to get used to. As San Sebastian has the reputation of having some of the world's best restaurants, my friends and I had to try a degustation menu. After walking around in the cold for quite a bit, we settled down at Patxi Aizpuru which we thought had a reasonably priced degustation menu. The food came in small quantities as expected. I love the combination of fresh foie and truffle oil which gave a fragrant sensation to the palate and the squid in black ink was fresh and succulent. So far, none of the Mediterrean seafood that we have tasted so far, such as prawns and squid disappointed as they were fresh and best of all , not overcooked. The asparagus cake took some getting used to for me as the texture was a little too spongy and tasted a little too bland like soft toufu. The crabspoon was too salty for my liking but the pineapple souffle was light and refreshing. However, it looked more meringue to me than a souffle and had a nice, sour pineapple taste which combined well with the rum syrup.

Overall, the food is quite good. Different from my favourite chuleta (T bone steak ) with sea salt in Astigarraga which was rustic and full bodied. But variety in tastes makes life wonderful !

Patxi Aizpuru Restaurant
20003 Donostia - San Sebastian
c.31 de agosto, 17

Cider House at Astigarraga

A little town in San Sebastian famous for apple cider

Zapiain -one of the top apple cider brands coming from Astigarraga

Serving up apple cider in a special way

Chorizo sausages

Tortilla - Spanish omelette with onions

Bacalada or bacalao - salted cod

La Chuleta ( T-bone steak ) grilled in a country oven and sprinkled with sea salt

Barrels of apple cider (also known as sidra in Spanish)

My friends read in a guide book that cider houses are one of the hidden dining gems of the Basque country in San Sebastian. So we took off on an adventure on a local bus to Astigarraga in the San Sebastian countryside and started our search for cider houses. Along the way we saw some nice country cottages, sheep but nothing remotely like a place that presses apple cider. We walked furthur in and once we started smelling hay and manure, we knew we were in too deep. We started walking back and deciding that I had nothing to loose, I opened the door of a place that seems like a pub of sorts. It was empty but when I looked down, I saw wooden barrels and a lady smiling at me.

 "Apple Cider ?"  in all my eagerness. I wasn't leaving the town without a taste of sidra. She nodded her head and I signalled my friends in.

A special menu at 38 Euros came with a free flow of apple cider but we decided to order ala carte instead. Chorizo (probably cooked in cider), tortilla (apparently an in house specialty), bacalao (salted cod) with peppers and chulata (for three). After the chorizo, the bacalao and some tomato bread, the friendly waitress came with a huge slab of la chuleta ( T-bone steak). "Ta-pao" (Chinese for take away) was all I could think of. There was no way we could finish that. We waited and drank up the apple cider as the slab went into an old fashioned oven. The food probably digested a little during the 40 minute wait and the chulata was devoured on arrival, including the bone which I relished with great gusto.

That was one of the best beef dishes I have ever had ! Rustic with full bodied flavour ! And yes, the apple cider was nice too.

Tapas and pintxos

Tapas refer to appetizers or snacks in Spanish cuisine and can range from a chunk of tuna or sardine, a cocktail onion and an olive skewered on a long toothpick to piping hot meat with sauce served in a miniature clay dish. In Spain, tapas has evolved into an entire lifestyle. The Spanish has perfected the art of socialising over drinks and having snacks in between at different times of the day, in fact at any time of the day and night.

In San Sebastian and Bilbao which are Basque country, tapas are called pintxos or pinchos which essentially is the Basque version of tapas. Eating small meals throughout the day is quite a good idea as it makes digestion easier and keeps the weight off. This strategy didn't seem to work for us as we were snacking on tapas throughout the day and eating full dinners at night.

Some of the tapas and pinchos that I have tried included

patates braves  - fried potatoes with hot spicy sauce

bacalao - salted cod usually served with bread and tomatoes

boquerones - white anchovies served in vinegar

croquetas - little potato nuggets filled with meat

tortilla - Spanish omelette

truita - Spanish omelette containing fried potatoes and onions

pulpo - Galician-style octopus

gambas - prawns sauteed in peppercorn sauce

pimientoes de padron - deep fried green chilli peppers

boquerones - white anchovies served in vinegar

 

A selection of pintxos at Bar Diz at San Sebastian

Tortilla and truita - Spanish omelette

Pintxo selection at Bar Diz in San Sebastian

The locals have their tapas or pintxos with wine

A cute little dog waits quietly while his master enjoys his pintxos

The Basques specialise in pintxos on a stick

Pintxos also consist of meat served with sauce in hot miniature dishes