The building of Tayko Hotel Bilbao (the fourth in Spain built in concrete) turns 100
The building of Tayko Hotel Bilbao (the fourth in Spain built in concrete) turns 100
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the construction of the building that today houses the Tayko Hotel in Bilbao (Tayko Hotels also has an establishment in Seville, and will soon open another in Madrid). And it is not just any building: it is the fourth building in Spain built with a concrete structure. In order to highlight its architectural and historical relevance, when the property was transformed into a hotel in 2019, it was stripped to the maximum possible extent, bringing its innards out for all to see. Thus, the 52 rooms and suites, the common areas, and the two restaurants are done entirely in concrete, metal, and brick in a bold effort to combine tradition and modernity, industry and culture.
Located in the old town next to the estuary, this building has witnessed the industrialization and de-industrialization of Bilbao, and today Tayko guests can discover the history of the city through the scars of the property. Its importance is such that the hotel participates in the annual Open House Bilbao festival, whose aim is to teach citizens about the most unique buildings in the city. This festival is part of the international Open House Europe cooperative project, in which cities such as Lisbon, Athens, Stockholm, Dublin, and Milan participate.
In addition to its architectural importance, Tayko is a pole of attraction for gourmets from all over the world because of its two exceptional restaurants: Ola and La Bodega de Ola, both run by Chef Martín Berasategui, who has a total of 13 Michelin Stars, one of which was granted to him for Ola’s culinary merits.
In addition to having been awarded a star by the Michelin Guide, Ola has also received a Repsol Sun. For this restaurant, Berasategui has designed (together with executive chef Raúl Cabrera) two menus with a wine pairing option that have conquered the hearts of lovers of haute cuisine. “The Best of Martín Berasategui’s Cuisine” is an extensive menu that stands out with dishes such as: caviar on bonito (tuna) fritter and dashi broth; oyster with fried codium seaweed bao and its tartar; shivering with seafood and plankton served with salicornia and razor clams; and grilled monkfish with coconut juice, coffee, and piparras (peppers). The tasting menu, on the other hand, proposes, among others: crunchy beet pearls with cured scallop tartar; caramelized millefeuille of smoked eel, foie gras, spring onion, and green apple; tomato, sardine and verbenas fine pie; and roast pigeon with rhubarb chutney, toasted bread, black pudding, and apple with a touch of spice.
Martín Berasategui is known to enjoy shopping locally and to follow the trends of the fresh food market in terms of what ingredients are best at different times of the year. After all, the Ribera Market –the nerve center of fresh ingredients in Bilbao– is located right next to the hotel. “Nature is wise and you just have to listen to it” – that is the opinion on which Ola’s cuisine is based: culinary delights that are updated according to the ingredients available at any given time.
La Bodega de Ola is a more informal space than the one mentioned above and it features a menu with bar dishes to be shared like wagyu cured beef served with toasted bread, tomato, and olive oil; salmon and red prawn salad; and tripe and snouts prepared in a traditional way. In addition to the bar dish menu, it also has a restaurant menu and a tasting menu. The dishes on the restaurant menu are also designed to be shared: oysters with ponzu sauce, spring onion, and peppercorns; burrata from Bilbao, artichokes, and emulsified truffle juice; cod in tempura with a creamy sauce of chard and Iberian jowl; lamb sweetbreads with special mashed potatoes in olive oil; and caramelized rice pudding.
The tasting menu brings together the best of the restaurant menu for a rounded proposal that includes: cream of chestnut with cardamom; salmon and red prawn salad; blood sausage with creamy cabbage and spinach fritters; piece of Iberian pork with creamy cauliflower puree and its reduced juice; and warm chocolate cake with milk, pumpkin, and vanilla ice cream.
The quality and tradition of La Bodega de Ola has been recognized by Repsol, which has included the establishment among those recommended by its guide. The combination of haute cuisine and signature wines in a space as casual and contemporary as this has also caught the attention of the Michelin Guide, which has classified it as “a full-blown restaurant.”
La Bodega de Ola is located at street level in the same place where the emblematic Zubicaray Department Store was previously located and where, before that, there was a hardware store. In 1924, when the building was planned, the lower part was reserved for commercial use and the upper floors were designed for housing. From that original construction, stained glass windows of architectural interest and the original wooden stairs around which the department store was designed (among other interesting features) have been preserved – all thanks to the intervention of Angulo Arquitectura, the firm in charge of the renovation of the property and its conversion into a hotel. To discover the details of this twentieth-century jewel, we recommend staying in one of its rooms and becoming inspired by the explanations that the hotel staff offers about the history of the building.
Tayko
Calle de la Ribera 13, Bilbao.
Tel.: +34 944 652 070
