Restaurante Mina Bilbao Spain

Located opposite the Ribera Market right on the river is Restaurante Mina. Mina serves farm-to-table innovative dishes with a focus on sustainability.

Bryan found Mina in the Michelin Guide when looking for a good place to take his colleagues the first night after arriving in Bilbao. Mina was perfect. It's location is pretty much in the center of town (walkable from our hotel!). The food is seasonal, creative, and delicious.

Chef Álvaro Garrido emphasizes local and seasonal ingredients as a core tenet of the restaurant. They think the tasting menu is the only way to really experience what the restaurant offers.

If you have time before dinner, it's beautiful to walk along the river and explore this side of Bilbao. You can also cross the bridge and visit Ribera Market (though please note the fresh produce market closes at 3PM, though the restaurants are still open).

Dining at Mina

Upon entering Mina, you'll notice it's not a big restaurant. In fact, they only take a maximum of 25 guests per evening. There are a handful of tables, and then eight seats at the kitchen counter (where you can watch all the action!)

There are two tasting menus: 10 courses for 130 EUROS and 14 courses for 160 EUROS. Wine pairings are 60 EUROS or 80 EUROS, respectively. We went with the 14-course tasting.

14-Course Tasting Menu

Tomato + perillo leaf

On the left, Carranzana sheep cheese with ginger and melon. On the right, bonito with dashi stew and codium emulsion.

Black garlic and mushroom infusion

Pickled Guillardeau oyster

Txangurro and salt-cured egg yolk soup

Scallop cured in kombu seaweed and pork skin stew

Hello caviar!

And a mysterious onion shaped bowl?

Purple onion royale from Zalla

Aubergine (eggplant) confit with red tea and white prawn

Flambeed red mullet with rebozuelos stew

Trout pastrami with citric butter sauce and roe

Cod kokotxas with a cockle juice

Charcoal-grilled deer sirloin served with spiced emulsion

Palate cleanser simply called "The sea."

Hazelnut, smoked butter and spicy chocolate

Mignardises

Restaurante Mina - General Thoughts

It was a really lovely dinner. The cozy, intimate ambiance helped us relax after a long day of travel. One diner who was supposed to be there had missed her flight (and the dinner). Everyone kept saying how she really missed out.

To get a better, more "live" sense of the restaurant, watch this short video I made of our dinner at Mina.