Pintxos in Bilbao Old Town

This is the part of the capital of the Bizkaia the most steeped in tradition, visited by everything from shoppers to the bar-crawling txikiteros. Throughout Bilbao’s Old Town there are establishments offering a wide range of pintxos, clustering in places like the Plaza Nueva, Calle del Perro or Somera. The most typical pintxos and portions include squid in batter, breaded mussels, mushrooms, cod, peppers and omelette. Highlights in the Plaza Nueva include Sorginzulo, with specialities like ham croquettes and anglerfish and prawns, and Gure Toki which serves black pudding with baby squid, cod in pil-pil sauce or Idiazabal cheese soup with mushrooms and quail egg. The historic Víctor Montes boasts a highly-recommended bar groaning with the most traditional of pintxos. Santa Maria (Santa María 18), a typical tavern with decor from the 60s, specialising in liver pâté pintxos with caramelised apple, Irrintzi (Santa María 8) with its modern pintxos, Berton (Jardines 11) and Sasibil (Jardines 8), both on the Calle Jardines and both offering excellent pintxos and wines; the tavern Askao Berri (Askao 5), famous for its snacks on bread known as Traineras and Txapelas, and Gatz (Santa María 10), where you can try black pudding omelette, are other unmissable stops on this gastronomic tour. On the other side of the estuary in old Bilbao you’ll find the area around the Marzana dock, with several establishments where you can taste the finest pintxos.