It probably wasn’t easy for Iván Abril, the Galician chef behind Kimtxu, to imagine the quick success of his Basque-Asian tavern, opened in June 2014. In a city with the culinary tradition of Bilbao, the overused concept of fusion food puts many people on the alert.
With his experience in Nobu (London), Hong Kong and restaurants in Spain such as Lasarte by chef Martín Bereasategui, Abril decided to set up an unpretentious eatery using local ingredients whenever possible and applying Asian techniques. The result is Kimtxu, a warm restaurant with an open-view kitchen that makes flavourful dishes served on quaint crockery on paper tablecloths.
From Monday to Friday, the set menu (€18) changes weekly but always includes a starter, two main dishes and dessert. As well as the à la carte menu, featuring popular dishes like sukalki (ragout) dumpling, ham broth and chili oil (€12,30) and fried scorpionfish with miso & mustard and anchovy & chili dips (€17.80), Kimtxu offers two tasting menus with seven (€38) or nine dishes (€45). They change regularly but always include dishes from the menu plus some seasonal offerings.
Wine follows the same uncomplicated approach of the menu. In fact, Kimtxu doesn’t have a sommelier as such although Camilo, the head waiter, decided from the start that “wine would be a lively part of the restaurant” choosing “sustainable wines with balance” that are not available on supermarket shelves. Although Camilo is leaving Kimtxu to take a rest and embark on a new professional challenge, he leaves the dining room management and wines in the hands of Cristian, with previous experience at Mugaritz.
The wine list is short -just 32 wines- and moderately priced. It features wines that go well with the sort of food that is served at Kimtxu, like Vidonia Blanco, a delicious white from Tenerife that our table ordered, plus a few others with a mineral profile (Albariño Albamar, La Banda de Argílico by natural producer Ismael Gozalo, a couple of sparkling wines and the odd foreign wine) and fresh reds such as Pésico, 4 Monos GR10 or Gorrondona, an interesting local red txakoli. Rioja, which is immensely popular in Bilbao, is represented by two wines that follow the same fresh style of the rest of the list: the red Corriente by Telmo Rodríguez and Gómez Cruzado Viura & Tempranillo Blanco. Y.O.A.
