Bido Restaurante – A Coruña, Galicia

Date of visit: Friday, September 23, 2016

 

La Casa Barrié – photo taken from the English Route of the Camino de Santiago that passes directly in front. Home to Bido Restaurante.

The city of A Coruña is known for having beautiful architecture and some absolutely gorgeous stately historical buildings. One of the grande dames of the Corunese cityscape is La Casa Barrié (Barrié House), built in 1916. Unique in both size and design, it occupies a large city block near the Plaza de Vigo and is built in an “eclectic” style, which is to say a mixture of different architectural styles (Classic, Baroque, and Modernist). It is within this building that Bido Restaurante is located, right on the English Route of the Camino de Santiago on one of the main thoroughfares that leads into the old part of the city.

Beginning in August of this year, social media in A Coruña started buzzing about a new restaurant set to open in late September by Chef Juan Crujeiras, founder and co-proprietor of Michelin-starred A Estación Restaurante in Cambre, Galicia. Since I was fortunate enough to have visited A Estación twice last year and enjoyed both visits immensely, I was really hoping to be able to dine at Bido during my September trip to Galicia. Alas, it wasn’t to be … the restaurant’s opening was three days after I was scheduled to leave A Coruña. When Chef Crujeiras ever so kindly invited me over to Bido for a sneak peek of the restaurant a few days before the actual opening, I was absolutely delighted to accept!

The name Bido comes from bidueiro, the Galician word for “birch”, as in the tree. The restaurant’s unique logo incorporates a graphic interpretation of a birch leaf (note the blocks that form straight line of the letter “B”, top of the letter “I” and the corners of the “D” in BIDO, below), and also makes reference to the intricate patterns often seen in the old fashioned hydraulic (cement) tile floors of which Chef Crujeiras is quite fond.

When I arrived early on a Friday afternoon the team at Bido was buzzing about working to finalize all of the last minute details since the restaurant was actually opening in just a few more days. Table settings weren’t yet laid down, but there was already an inviting comfort to the refined airy space. Personalized with birch branches, leather chairs, and natural golden tones, the architecturally impressive interior brings a sense of nature and the outdoors into this city restaurant. While the setting at Bido is a bit more elegant than at her sister restaurant in Cambre, the atmosphere is less formal. There are no tablecloths, for example, and one can sit at the comfortable bar to enjoy a beverage and a bite to eat.

Sipping on a glass of wine at one of the comfortable high tops near the window with a lovely view out onto Calle Marcial de Adalid. Note the birch leaf motif from the logo repeats in the awning.

Bido Restaurante serves contemporary Galician cuisine in quite the same style as the dishes that are served at A Estación. A unique feature of Bido’s menu is that the main courses are all served as media raciónes (half portions), so that guests may try multiple items. As a matter of fact, several of the dishes listed in Bido’s menu are quite similar to dishes we enjoyed at A Estación and, from all accounts, they are executed with the same high level of quality.

The current version of the menu (menu photos courtesy of Chef Crujeiras):

Para Empezar, Picar O Compartir (To start, Nibble, or Share)
Entrantes (Starters)
Principales (Main Dishes)
Y de postre qué hay? (What’s for dessert?)

 

 

Well, I did get to try something of the food during the visit to Bido – a seafood croqueta! It was delicious!

Bido takes full advantage of the beautiful well-stocked bar that dominates the front of the restaurant with a specialty cocktail program that covers a great many of the classics. In addition to the cocktails and spirits, they offer a by-the-glass selection of unique and interesting higher end wines. Normally wines of this level are only available by the bottle, particularly in A Coruña, so this is a unique feature allowing guests to sample wines that might not otherwise be found by the glass.

Below, Chef Crujeiras poses with one of the bottles being sampled on the afternoon of my visit and with yours truly (MyLifeOnVacation) for an Instagram post.

In a recent interview on the local Galician culinary radio program Come e Fala, Chef Crujeiras expressed his excitement about this new project and commented that Bido’s opening has exceeded his expectations. With a passionate and devoted team on board (including Manual Otero, the charming maître d’ – head waiter, from A Estación who was featured in this interesting article earlier this year), this new outpost has been established in fine form. While A Estación remains as highly regarded as ever, the arrival of Bido is an absolute boon to A Coruña’s dining scene.

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Bido Restaurante
Marcial  de Adalid 2, A Coruña, Spain (map)
+34 881 92 28 47

Website: www.bidorestaurante.es
Facebook: www.facebook.com/bido-restaurante
Bido Instagram: www.instagram.com/bidorestaurante
Chef Crujeiras Instagram:  www.instagram.com/crujeiras

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Come e Fala Radio Program – September 9, 2016 episode featuring Chef Crujeiras

A Coruña’s Modernist Route (Ruta Modernista) – For more information on the beautiful historical modernist buildings in A Coruña , see the Coruña Turismo site – available here in English.

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A Coruña, Galicia – the Adventure Begins!

So, where did we leave off?  I must apologize, dear reader, for the long (long!) delay in returning to the blog to tell you how my trip to Galicia in May 2015 went.  I really left you hanging there, and I am sorry!  So, I’m going to do a day-by-day recap starting now.  I’ll date the entries with the actual date being discussed so there’s less confusion.  Enjoy!!

Friday, May 15^th, 2015 – Arriving A Coruña

There were some beautiful views on the approach into Coruña:

The square things in the water are shellfish farms. Galicia is absolutey known for its excellent shellfish – mariscos!

 

Towards the top in the middle is the beach at Cabañas, on the Camino Inglés. Towards the bottom are Mugardos and Ares, which I hope to visit the next time.

The wonderful thing about summertime in Galicia is that, compared to where I live in Arizona in the southwestern United States, it remains light out very late. So when my flight arrived around 8pm I knew there would be time to get out and explore a little while on my way to dinner.

I did have a moment of worry (note, not full blown panic, at least!) at the A Coruña (LCG) airport when my suitcase didn’t come out on the carousel with the rest of the bags. It turns out that luggage coming from the United States goes through a different area. I did find it … all by its lonesome on a separate carousel in another room.

Lonely little suitcase, the only arrival from the U.S.

LCG has free wi-fi so I was able to get online while waiting for my bag and send a couple of messages with the news of my arrival.

The ride into Coruña was uneventful, save for an interesting conversation with my Portuguese taxi driver. (Side Note: this was just the first of many interesting and sometimes enlightening conversations with taxi drivers)  Part of this friendly taxi ride conversation was about my visit, where I explained that I was there to walk the Camino. He commented that “anglo saxon” husbands (such as those from Great Britain, the US, Australia, etc.) must be less jealous than Spanish husbands. He could not imagine his wife leaving for 2 weeks to go walking around another country without him. To each his own, we agreed. He was kind enough to point me to the parking garage that I would need a few days later (at the Hotel Blue in Coruña), before dropping me at a different hotel I had selected for my first night.

Passing by the Port of A Coruña on the way into town.

Hotel Lois is located just two doors down on a pedestrian street, Rúa Estrella, located at the start of a long stretch of a really fun part of the old town with lots and lots (and lots!) of restaurants and bars. It is a lively scene on any night of the week with most places spilling out into the streets (pedestrian and non). The hotel was a very comfortable, small, (10 room) establishment above a restaurant of the same name (Restaurante Lois), done in a simple modern style.  My room had a nice little ‘gallery’ room, which is a balcony enclosed by framed glass, typical of the style of buildings in A Coruña.

 

Restaurant & Hotel Lois (black awning) – Restaurant on ground floor, hotel above.

A Coruña is called the “crystal city” due to the ubiquity of this modernist style of building, built in the late 1800’s / early 1900’s.  The view from my room was absolutely lovely.

Typical Coruñese building with framed glass galeries. Beautiful!

On the walk to dinner, I passed through some of the nice squares in the old town.

 

More typical Coruñese façades, and a very nautical themed statue. Trident!

I even saw one of the players from the local soccer team, Deportivo La Coruna (Lucas!), walking through the Obelisk plaza (below).

Obelisk – I have a photo of Lucas too, but it seems kind of stalker-ish to post it.

ah, Art Nouveau!

 

Art Nouveau façade detail

 

Plaza Maria Pita at dusk.

 

Maria Pita, herself

knock, knock

After a wonderful dinner at El Descansillo (that will be another post!), the view in Maria Pita square during the stroll home is perhaps even more beautiful after the sun goes down.

Nighttime Art Nouveau building detail.

See next post for details of my first fabulous meal in Galicia – El Descansillo.  The first of MANY fabulous meals!

 

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Ferrol – Start of the Camino Ingles (Camino de Santiago)

In June 2014, I made my way to Ferrol (Galicia), Spain in order to embark on my very first Camino – on the English Route (Ruta Inglés) of the Camino de Santiago. There are two ‘official’ starting points of the Camino Ingles, one in A Coruña and the other in Ferrol. Most opt to begin in Ferrol, as the distance to Santiago de Compostela (118 kilometers) is enough to qualify to receive a Compostela certificate upon arrival (on foot) to Santiago.

My first afternoon was spent exploring Ferrol on the Modernist Route of gorgeous buildings using a very handy map found in the lobby of my hotel:

This one is for rent!

After all of that touring around, my next search was for Churros con Chocolate. Luckily, I found them just a few steps away from my hotel.

The following day, I finally made it down to the port to look for the official starting point of the Ruta Inglés, where people for hundreds of years may have come by boat from England to walk the Camino. It was a picture perfect day with beautiful views of a working port.

And mere steps away was the highlight of the day: lunch at O Camiño Do Inglés (Rúa San Francisco 17).

The staff was so friendly, and so patiently explained the whole menu to me.

Starting with olives and albariño.

tapa: mini bocata de raxo (little roasted pork sandwich)

I had seen this online and knew I had to have it: Verduras a la parrilla, huevo, salmorejo, y aceite de chorizo (grilled veg, egg, tomato/bread puree, chorizo oil). Just as incredible as it looks! That egg!

They said this was their signature dish – alitas de pollo, crema de patata, y cebolla carmelizada (boneless chicken wings, potato purée and carmalized onion). Wow, incredibly rich and delicious.

Obligatory Camino decór

After the fabulous lunch, I was then officially on the Camino route …. where you just follow the shells all the way to Santiago!

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