Menu del Dia, Bilbao

We arrive in Bilbao after a short bus ride from San Sebastian. After a little bit of stress trying to find a room last minute, we discovered Bilbo Rooms. The room is comfortable, spacious & full on natural light. We freshen up and head out in search for lunch ...

Just around the corner we discover a little restaurant - la Deliciosa. They have an unbeatable 12€ lunch set chalked on a blackboard by the entrance so we head on in. Within moments of being seated, a bottle of mineral water is plonked on the table and a bottle of Rioja Vinestral red wine is opened at the table.



I had a rich red soup, which was full of squid, prawns & clams in a rich tomato broth.



Kim started with a salad of endive, salmon & herbs (no pic) and then for the main course has a braised ox-tail. The ox-tail is fall-off-the-bone tender, in a rich red wine sauce with a stack of crisp roast potatoes on the side.



Of the 4 choices available, I also seem to have chosen a meat option, the Solomillo steak. Sirloin steak slices cooked medium and covered in a light mushroom sauce with the same crisp potatoes and a generous shower of chopped parsley.



We are both happily content, but dessert is still to come. Chocolate brownie is slightly warm, with a disc on vanilla ice-cream sitting on top and a splash of raspberry coulis.



Chocolate profiteroles are a decent display of the classic dessert. Light choux puffs filled with pastry cream, that is oozing from the sides. They are then generously covered in a warm chocolate sauce, and topped with a mountain of whipped cream.



Not bad for 12€ each ...

La Deliciosa
Calle Jardines nº1 bajo
48005 Casco Viejo-Bilbao-Bizkaia
T: +34 944150944

Open daily, not closed on holidays
Weekdays; 1:30pm - 4pm & 8pm - 11:30pm
Weekends; 1:30pm - 11:30pm

It's a force ... pulling us in! Back at Cyan, the Met., Bangkok

Only hours have passed and we find ourselves drifting back towards the Met. for todays lunch. Also hard to beat the fact that they too are offering crazy lunch deals like we had been finding here and here. Cyan was offering a 3 course lunch set for around 700B. We like lunch deals like this, it let's us go crazy on wine and other extras ..... to which we started out with a glass of white and of red wine.



They came in cute little cylindrical glasses, the white even in it's own ice bucket. These were then poured into our wine glasses waiting on the table, which allowed us to share first the white wine, and follow with the red.



A basket of bread is then placed in front of us, with 2 slices each of sour dough, rye and 7 grain. So soft and fluffy, a scraping of soft butter the perfect accompaniment.



We then tackle our choices. The first choice, salmon carpaccio. The salmon beaten out to a perfect this circle, topped with lemon, capers, parsley, olives and 2 slices of grilled bread. Another familiar dish from our days in paradise but a fine example of great produce speaking for itself.



Next up, an incredible salad of buffalo mozzarella, grilled zucchini ribbons, roasted peppers, parsley, basil pesto and pine nuts. The pesto running down through the salad and coating each bite. Another fine example of exemplary produce.



For main course we choose the chicken and the beef. The chicken is a perfectly cooked breast supreme, crispy golden skin but so moist and succulent on the inside. It's sliced into long lengths, and layered with pieces of crisp prosciutto and a salad of rocket, red grapes, pine nuts, herbs, more pesto and pearl barley. A very satisfying dish, so tasty and delicious. Great comfort food!



The beef, Australian Angus cooked to a blush pink in the centre but the taste of the coconut charcoal grill apparent on the crisp outside. There are 3 'chips' of golden polenta, fried to a golden crisp, but encasing a creamy centre with a touch of parmesan. A medley of grilled vegetables is sitting underneath, including asparagus, red onion, red & yellow peppers, mushroom and a few leaves of fresh rocket give it some life. A caper and anchovy butter giving a nice little bit of saltiness and extra richness as it slides down and over each component.



We had selected our desserts, but Shannon brings out 2 little coconut pannacotta with strawberries, and to hello. A few other 'special' things are on the way ....



The blueberry cheesecake, oh wow !! A biscuit like base but full of nuts holds a creamy cheesey centre, resembling a curd ... plump blueberries are then suspended in a rich blueberry syrup, sprinkled with roasted pistachio nuts with a scoop of blueberry sorbet adding to the decadence.



Sticky date pudding. A classic, but often stodgy and way to heavy. What graces our presence is indeed a show of Shannon's genius; a super light, fluffy, cloud like pudding. A piece of pudding is resting on a chunk of grilled pineapple with caramel sauce and ice-cream. Wow, the pudding though, how to describe the lightness ... definitely some molecular gastro-geniusness.



The last sweet treat to grace our table, something that looks rather familiar. At first glance looking like a profiterole filled with ice cream and topped with chocolate sauce. But it was so damn good, I was seriously in a daze of gastro-pleasure and can't really remember what it was but it wasn't as it seemed. There was some delicious hazelnut, some praline, flavored pastry cream and mmmmm



Another outstanding meal had within the Metropolitan hotel. But now I need to lie down ..............

Cyan Restaurant
the Metropolitan Hotel
27 South Sathorn Road
Tungmahamek
Sathorn
Bangkok 10120
Thailand