I leave Nerua convinced that it was one of the best meals of the year. Is it because of the enthusiasm that a tuna with tomato in summer or a small butter bun to accompany coffee produces in all Bilbao residents, especially if they live abroad? Or maybe it's because of the surprising price of the tasting menu, especially considering that we are in the Guggenheim, icon of the new Bilbao. Or perhaps for the coherence of claiming the territory and the soul of the city in a place like this. Josean Alija simply calls it “being yourself.” He has been doing it for years, without big headlines, without needing to reinvent the wheel every season, simply feeding locals and visitors well.
As everyone knows, the most touristy places in a city are just the ones to avoid if you want to eat well and pay fairly. In Bilbao, however, something curious happens: the Guggenheim Museum is a must-see stop to discover one of the best restaurants in the city. And we would dare to say that, due to the quality-price-service-location ratio, also in the country.
In times of inflation and haute cuisine remembering that prices must be raised, the tasting menu that Nerua offers for 92 euros is almost a miracle. Starting by talking about price may seem strange, or even ugly. It is not about taking center stage from the dishes or the proposal, but it does confirm that Alija's thing is something that goes outside the usual script.
“The concept of haute cuisine is changing, we have to make it accessible and democratize it,” defends the chef from Bilbao. “I am happy with a decision that fits the moments, and has allowed us to move forward. It is easy to know if something works: if you fill out and they pay you what you ask for.”
The decision he is talking about is the change of direction that Nerua took after the 2020 pandemic. Change or evolution? “We were clear that a change of cycle was coming, so when the pandemic returned we took the opportunity to do something that was in our heads, that had already been decided.”
Simplify the proposal with a single shorter and more economical tasting menu that would attract more local audiences, à la carte and off-menu with short-season products and, in short, “do something more dynamic, informal, without losing the lines that have defined us.” ”.
This evolution helped make Alija's simple, clean kitchen with few elements shine much more. And to reveal that link with traditional Basque cuisine that was always there, but that now seems to be expressed more freely.
The refined versions of grillo (onion, lettuce and potato, the grandfather of all Bilbao pinchos) or bilbainito that are presented in the appetizers are a good clue of this commitment to the territory.
“With your eyes closed you can tell where you are,” the chef proposes. Or remember that, beyond the summers with sun, tourists or the clean estuary, the soul of Bilbao and its cuisine are still there. Although it is increasingly difficult to find places that make it a key piece of his speech.
It is true that temporality and product have been for a few years the new mantra of haute cuisine that wants to renounce artifices or menus designed more for the chef's show than for the diner's enjoyment.
In reality, Nerua was never there, but like few others he has known how to be part of this paradigm shift and demonstrate that, even in the most touristy point of a city, things can be done well. “I've been thinking and talking the same way for 20 years,” she recalls. In case anyone thought this was trendy or riding the wave.
Summer in the Basque Country tastes like bonito with tomato. And anchovies, rushing the coastal catches. And to verdines when the season arrives. Through the window, dozens of tourists walk along the walkway that separates the estuary from the museum. On the plate, these products follow one another in a tasting menu that perfectly represents that Bilbao summer.
Apurtuarte pepper with pilpil de balazo, roasted eggplants with “makil goxo” (licorice) and olive oil yogurt, stewed txipiron with lamb tongue, verdines with razor clams… “The product has always been the axis of what happens. The technique is only there to give it a voice,” says the chef. Clean, elegant and recognizable flavors for the establishment, a magnificent letter of introduction for the visitor who wants to soak up the culture of the place.
And it is difficult to imagine Nerua anywhere else, although Alija confesses that she has received proposals. From Dubai, he remembers being almost surprised that anyone would think this cuisine could fit there. But a place with a gastronomic product and culture (Mexico, Peru, Japan...), maybe it could be, he thinks out loud.
“Nerua is Bilbao. "I wish we were as well-known as San Mamés - he jokes - but we are part of that heritage, of the city's DNA."
