6° Spain: The snobby bread company = Panko

(Reminder: see the first blog (the bucket list of terms) for vocabulary questions, usually marked with *)

Date: 23 May 2011

Bar:

Panko 2011 S.l.

C/ Marqués del Puerto, 4,

48009 Bilbao

Tele: 944 24 32 53 ‎

MPS*:

930pm. High spirits, no expectations.

It’s the end of the school year and I have little time left for my Bilbao pintxo-bar critique. Soon I’ll be jet setting off to Asia where I will continue my search for the best ‘hole’ harboring the best cuisine there too. But before I get ahead of myself, tonight ‘Panko’: recommended by a friend.

Situated not far off the Gran Via and near the principle plaza, Moyua, it is a 5 star location. The lone bar on the small strip of street it doesn’t have the sense of overcrowded locale like many pintxo bars in the denser picoteo areas. Thus, variety comes at a distance if you want to change it up during your picoteo.

Pintxos: – overall rating: 3.5 of 5; inventive but lackluster, tasty at times lacking at others but the price is right at 1.80€/pintxo

3 of 5: ‘Sitaki’ (seta japonesa, raíces fritos, jamon) Breaded Japanese Sitaki mushroom, fried yucca roots on top of ibirian ham on a slice of lightly toasted baguette

Hard to eat without making a mess, but worth finger-licking

3.5 of 5: ‘Guantún de Confit de Pato* con mayonesa de pepino’- Duck confit with cucumber mayonaise sauce wrapped in Wan-tun (Chinese dough, usually fried, this was just wrapped like a burrito)

Not ‘full’ of flavor, excellent texture, interesting presentation     

3 of 5: ‘Tapenade de aceituna negra con berro, anchoa, queso idiazabal y parmesano’ -

Black olive tapenade* with watercress, anchovie and Idiazabal and parmesan cheeses

Classic tin of olives, to ‘picar*’ perfect, not too heavy and a great lead-off to share with pieces of baguette bread; you may be asking why is it called 'aceituna negra' or black olives when they are obviously green... I don't know.

4 of 5: Homemade Brownie €2.00

If you don’t order the brownie you’ll regret it. The presentation has varied from just the brownie (a simple, moist dark chocolate not too sweet delight) to brownie w/chocolate ice-cream at no extra charge.

Wine:                   Price:          Rating:

Red : ARES              €1.70/cup       2 of 5

Red : Gavanza           €12.00/btl      2 of 5

Red : Reverse 6         €13.00/btl      3.5 of 5*

Red : Magister Bibendi  €1.60/cup       3 of 5
Red : Tres al Cuadrado  €1.70/cup       2.5 of 5

Right away I wasn’t impressed with the Ares. The Gavanza (a crianza*) was poor on the palate, I didn't mind the Magister, but the Winery Arts Reverse six from Ribera del Queiles (Navarro) has a decent balance (one component didn't overpower another (ie. acidic/sweet)), pleasant enough to do some investigating; the 3 al cuadrado or 3 squared is also from Ribera del Queiles, but I the 6 still caught my attention more:

Winemaker's notes:

A blend of Tempranillo* and Merlot.

Cherry red black with a violet rim and deep robe. Intense aroma dominated by fine wood (cocoa, toasted and smoked woods), perfectly combined with ripe black fruit (?). The typical liquorice of the predominant Tempranillo also appears, in addition to some syrupy notes. Full-bodied and fleshy on the
palate with an unusual strength and structure that need to be mastered and which predict a great wine.

My two about the wine: I think ‘syrupy’ sounds awkward, the consistency was normal. No abnormalities… so ‘black fruit’ must be good. Smooth bodied, that is to say not acidy nor sweet. I recommend trying.

    

Service: 2 of 5 for most 0 of 5 for other

I rate Panko after several visits. Every time the service has been quite fine, with usually alert and willing wait staff, at times smiling and helpful. However, I have qualms enough to be on the verge of not returning. Wavering from ‘not sure to be nice to this customer’ to amazingly nice, the staff can be snooty and even pretend you aren't there. If you question their wine selection you might expect to be helped with a smile or can be looked at like an ignoramus know-nothing. On more than one occasion I've been confronted with an awkwardly rude waiter (maybe the only one that works there) and once even ‘finalé’ed’ with an abrupt ‘can you leave so someone else can sit where you are and eat dinner?’ This might be ok to say to someone who didn’t just buy 2 bottles of wine and upwards of 14 pintxos. 

Ambiance: 2.5 of 5

I’m tempted to give this place a 5 for décor but in that area only. It’s a calming light oak furniture and floor with a natural ‘Maine’(Ab) wood smell you notice as you enter. The tables are attractive, prominent fixtures that dominate the openness of the bar. It is clean, well-lit and inviting. The music varies, but set at a background level for an optimal conversation atmosphere.

The 'downer' - crowd - Tonight is Monday so the crowd is low-key and pleasant; but my outside knowledge/experiences from other visits jades my review, that low-keyedness changes to an outright snobbish pretentiousness towards the weekends. That in addition to the wait staff’s bipolarity, I’d give them a 1 if it wasn’t for this being a Monday review.

Price: 2.5 of 5; the bar juggles elegance and arrogance, and not well enough to charge what they do for pintxos but the quality is there

€1.90 per pintxo (A €.10-.20 reduction would make this place excellently priced)

€1.60 cheapest glass of red wine

€2.10 for a caña*

Other pintxo options:

foie

Opinion: 2 of 5

Panko is connected with a well-known entity in Bilbao, the Basque Cook, a restaurant under the same owner. Both places are excellent eateries. However, Panko’s snobby feel is realized more and more as the weekend approaches, as it’s not well known yet so Monday night is still relatively ‘high-brow free.’ In a sense it is the perfect Monday night place, but only Monday night place.