NOVEMBER 19 — Bilbao in the northern Spanish region of the Basque Country is not a particularly glamorous location, but there is one very good reason to make a visit.

Actually, there are two. For lovers of modern art, a trip to the space-age Guggenheim Museum, located on the banks of the Nervion river which runs through the city centre, is a must.

But I must confess to being among those uneducated heathens who can’t understand the appeal of modern art and believe it often resembles an unfortunate accident rather than an act of deep-thinking creativity, so despite its undeniably spectacular exterior I was happy to give the gallery a miss.

Instead, though, I allowed myself to wallow in the other main reason to visit Bilbao, and the Basque Country in general: food.

This slice of Spain is famous for its specific twist on tapas. The Basque version is called pinchos — spelt pintxos in the local language — and follows a fairly simple principle: a thin slice of baguette bread with a topping.

The method of ordering and payment is also simple, with the food left on trays splayed across the bar counters usually at a fixed price of around one Euro, and the size of the bill determined by the number of cocktail sticks — which are used to attach the toppings to the bread — left on your plate when you’ve finished eating. Eight sticks? Eight Euros. Simple.

But in the bewildering number of toppings dreamed up by the region’s thousands of bartenders, this is where the simplicity stops.

Some people visit Bilbao for the stunning Guggenheim Museum but really, some just come for the food. — Reuters pic

Some are straightforward: a slice of ham, a chunk of cheese, a sliver of chorizo, or an anchovy with a slice of tomato. But there’s also an endless variety of more creative options, all of which are individually prepared with consummate care and attention.

From the thinness with which the onions and peppers are sliced to the subtle delicacy of the olive oil and lemon juice dressing and the imagination of the cod mixed with melted cheese and potato, this is what makes pinchos stand out from any other bar snack I have ever tasted: the care and attention which goes into their creation.

Even though the prices are so low and the quantities in which they’re produced are so high, it’s never just a simple case of sticking something on top of the bread and declaring it ready for consumption. There’s always something more, something extra, something unique, to make each bar slightly different from all the others in the way their dishes are prepared.

As you can no doubt imagine, I happily meandered my way from one pinchos bar to the next, aided on my journey by glasses of red wine from the nearby Rioja region (often, unusually, served chilled), and would be hard pushed to pick out any particular favourite venues except El Globo in the city centre, which is always recommended for any visitor.

Luckily for me, however, the culinary delights of Bilbao didn’t stop there and an even bigger treat was in store when I visited the small steak restaurant La Baka Baska, located just a few steps from the main entrance to the Guggenheim Museum.

Perhaps even more than pinchos, Basque cuisine is renowned for the quality of its meat, and especially for its chuleton de buey steak.

Chuleton, which best but not precisely translates as T-bone in English, is a thick cut of steak on the bone, grilled over a barbecue and served simply, just like that, with no added dressing or sauces other than scattered chunks of sea salt (one of my unsophisticated companions asked the waiter if he could have a fried egg on top, but was met with a withering look of contempt and a simple answer: no).

A proper foodie would be able to tell you what makes the chuleton de buey so special. Maybe it’s the specific breed of cow, the way they are reared, the ageing process, or the way they are cooked. But I’m not a proper foodie, so I’m afraid its amazing taste remains a mystery simply to be savoured rather than explained.

However they did it, though, the whole meal was simply perfect — including, to our delight, the price.

A set menu starting with a tomato and onion salad, followed by a shared platter of ham croquetas and grilled prawns, then a large steak served with fried potatoes and grilled peppers, followed by homemade cheesecake, along with as much wine and water as we wanted... all of that cost just 30 Euros (RM147).

As one of my UK-based companions noted, that kind of meal in a fancy London steakhouse would set you back around £200 (RM1,098) per head, yet here were five of us walking out with plenty of change from that amount for the whole bill.

Sadly, my time in Bilbao is now over so I can’t report on any more of the city’s restaurants. But whenever possible I’ll be heading there again for pinchos and chuleton — and if you’re ever in that part of the world, so should you.

This is the personal opinion of the columnist.