To eat the entire trayTABERNA BASARAS
At Taberna Basaras they talk like blows: their ring is actually a tiny bar counter inside a slightly larger establishment.
In its barely 27 square meters they hide nearly three hundred bottles of wine, although they admit that they do not know for sure: “The truth is that we have never stopped to count them,” they laugh.
They are everywhere;
on shelves, in small refrigerators, camouflaged inside the few high tables where a group of
txikiteros
already sit with the newspaper under their arms.
They mumble between reds and whites, the same colors of the Athletic Bilbao shirt that Andoni Goikotxea wore and which hangs signed on one of the few sober walls in the premises.
In the center of the universe
We are on Pelota Street in the historic town of Bilbao.
At one end, the moss green, Basque green estuary.
In the other, Dog Street.
The ball and the dog.
And on the touchline, this little bar founded in 1940 and run in recent years by Jon Ocaña, although the current owner is Joel Sacha Barck, who had been in the house and learning from the master since 2022. They have just raised the blinds and are barely At 11:30 in the morning, however, people don't come to Basaras for breakfast - or yes, no one is judged here -: pints of beer and glasses of wine come out before skewers.
The showcases are still orphaned of solids that would soothe the stomach.
At 12 the famous 'crickets' of Bilbao begin to come out - half a boiled potato, a piece of onion, another of lettuce and an olive skewered on a toothpick (1.60 euros), a simple and successful combination if there is one -, their Bilbainitos—prawns cooked with mayonnaise and egg (2.10 euros)—, creamy cod croquettes, tuna dumplings (1.70 euros).
“Everything like my mistress (mother in Basque) did,” Ocaña specifies.
She is Beatriz Martin, who handed over the baton after spending twenty years in the kitchen, also tiny, of this tavern that she confirms that there are still places where nothing is a simulacrum.
They also have these mullets that are so delicioustavern basaras
A map in wines
“Wow, Gorka.
What's happening!".
“Well couple!
“Agur!”
“I charge you like this, Txutxi: three zuritos, four croquettes.
The rest is done.”
They always have their eyes on their hands, but they see more than meets the eye: who passes by, who enters, who is going to stay a long time.
Ocaña transmitted to Barck the ability to read whoever manages to sit at the bar, which is a triumph on weekends: they know if it is a classic profile or that group of curious drinkers who usually order good wines, especially during the week. and they know that Basaras is a cache;
and his ideologist, a specialist in sommelier and WSET3 - the highest qualification of the Wine & Spirit Education Trust - who has rejected positions in Michelin-starred rooms.
The key is to get right with what the client is looking for at that moment: “We have almost 80 open references: we must take into account if it is cold or hot, if it is day or night, if they want something more complex, more
rock and roll,
or they simply don't feel like thinking,” reflects the former owner.
On their blackboards – scholastic and meticulous handwriting –, fortified with the special presence of Sherry, high-born reds and whites that rub shoulders with the town, references of emerging wineries still eager to challenge the appellations of origin;
wines that speak French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Basque;
sparkling wines that also take off near here, rarities.
First Ocaña, and now Barck with the same team—Lisbeth Rojas and Galasse Ndiaye, no one has left here—offer drinks that, more than fermented, are authentic secrets by the glass.
They have a great variety of winesTABERNA BASARAS
Pepe Ocaña - Jon's father and, in some way, also a member of the tavern for a long time - was a González Byass distributor, and he knew something about wines.
“At that time my father had a dozen wines by the glass, something that was unusual.
From Bierzo, from Priorat... you didn't have anything from beyond the border, but there was always something different to try.”
He introduced his son Jon to wine.
“I was nine or 10 years old: what he didn't let me taste, I tasted secretly!”
Pepe died shortly after the inaugural chupinazo of the Bilbao festivities of 2018. He left a legacy that survives today in this corner of the Siete Calles that is an obligatory stop and inn for the Bilbainadas groups, the cream of the city's hospitality industry and for anyone looking for a classic direction that remains in constant motion.
The anchovy ritual
At one o'clock in the afternoon the first of the potato omelettes (2.20 euros per portion) that will be made during the day are ready.
It adds points freshly made: juicy as expected from Bilbao.
At that time, the albardada anchovies (two at 1.80 euros) that fly, and the trawlers if it's the weekend (slice of bread, caramelized pepper, Zamorano cheese and anchovy), have also come out.
When his mother took over, Jon added products such as Joselito ham, known as 'Josetxu' here, or portions of cheese from small Basque artisan producers that Ioritz Imaz sends him from his San Sebastian cheese factory Abatza.
And good ham, of course Basaras tavern
One, two, three of each are scattered on Pelota Street, also speckled by the red and orange color of the marianitos prepared in a Martini glass that they embroider.
They share their two barrels, the stools on which no one sits to support the drinks and continue with the conversation that enlivens the midday hours at the Botxo.
There is also one of those pinchos that produce nostalgia when you cannot be part of the Bilbao street ritual: the anchovy pincho with Rioja joy (2.10 euros).
Bocartes de Santoña that they roast by hand: they soak them, remove the thorns, trim their beards.
They marinate them for more than a week in mild olive oil.
Her mother, Bea, always cut the bread on the bias: “If I kill myself cleaning anchovies it's so they look good!” she said.
Then, Riojan joy, a little thread right in the center.
The detail that makes something simple a great bite.
Bilbao-style
saudade .
A secret of Botxo
The soundtrack is provided by the cadence of the staff's voice, who rather than offering and serving, recites.
They give explanations about the origin of the wine, its production, and its tasting notes.
Some customers are in a hurry, nod and disappear into the crowd.
Others, like that Catalan woman or this Frenchman who recently arrived in the city, who serve, take photographs of the bottles (the second even asks for “a moment” to show it to her wife, who is waiting outside).
Some people stop at the Basaras tavern to forget something on their way somewhere else.
There are those who, like this couple who keep the reference to themselves, stop in Basaras to remember.
They say that to understand this tavern you have to understand Bilbao.
Perhaps this phrase also works the other way around and this history of the Old Town helps to understand the city and its people, those who prefer to keep this tavern to themselves as if its name were the same stash they hide: “Basaras we don't show it to nobody.
Basaras is ours,” say its parishioners.
And so be it.
Basaras Tavern
: pilota Kalea, 2, Bilbao (Bizkaia).
Map
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