As my favourite hobby is to explore places to enjoy “tapas” and getting along with local people, this is a magnificent chance to show to the Local Guides Community my home town Bilbao.
First of all, I have to get to know you the huge variety of food available in bars and taberns of the Basque Country and Spain (internationally called tapas). This is quite important, due to the real experience of eating tapas is to take something in a bar with a short drink and many more in other different taberns, not all of them in the same place as many persons think .
I will order the food in bars by its size, from the smallest to the biggest, depending on the tabern and the region you can ask for:
- Pintxo
- Tapa
- Canapé
- Pulga
- Montado / montadito
- Cazuelita or ½ racion
- Tosta
- Sandwich or half bocadillo
- Ración
- Bocadillo / perrito (hot dog) / hamburguesa (burger)
- Cazuela
- Plato
- Bandeja
- Barco
According to the food is proper to ask for a “racion” and not for a small pintxo, this happens for example with olives, snails or squids (rabas) and so on.
Obviously going by your own or in a group will make you ask for “cazuelas” or depending on the food is not possible to ask for the smallest size of tapas.
In Bilbao we have ”pintxos” and for uncountable things we ask for “raciones”, but as I have said before it depends on the place you go in. The “pintxo” usually goes with a small wodden stick that holds the bread with the other components. The racion goes in a plate or in a clay recipient.
Well and now to live a real pintxos experience I will list you some of may favourite places in Bilbao with some of the pictures of mine and my friend Jorge. Here you have and enjoy:
- Artajo “ración de rabas”.
- Víctor Montes, one of the best pintxo baord any pintxo to chose (gilda or bacalao=cod).
- Once aldeanos, croquetas.
- Ugarte etxea. Spicy sandwich.
- Doze, mexican hot dog (perrito)
- Bodega Joserra, medio bocadillo of tuna.
- Baste, tigre.
- Melilla y Fez, pintxo moruno (lamb).
- Gaztandegi, pintxo of cheese.
- El Huevo frito, pintxo of manitas de ministro.
