Bakea

The story

Bakea: Michelin-Starred Basque Cuisine in Mungia, Bizkaia

Aleación: Iron, Wood, Memory

Bakea – peace in Basque – is a restaurant that also works as a workshop. The space in Mungia, a small town near the coast of Bizkaia, is built around a concept of “aleación”: a homogeneous alloy of three elements – iron, wood, and memory. The kitchen is fired by beech, oak, and vine prunings, and the team designs and fabricates many of their own tools, from flambadous to smoking pots to the wood-fired oven itself. This is a place where the craft of cooking and the craft of metalwork exist side by side.

Chef Alatz Bilbao and the Team

Sukaldari Alatz Bilbao grew up in a metalworking family, but after five years at a competing workshop in Mungia he learned to change perspective. “In contact with fire, he learned to cook,” the website notes. At Bakea, he leads a kitchen team that includes Axel Leis, Bittor Barandiaran, and Arturo Gileno, while Alba Bilbao and Sara Galaverna run the dining room. The atmosphere is calm and unhurried, inspired by the traditional txokos of the region – informal gastronomic societies where friends gather to cook and share.

Eating and Drinking: A Tasting Menu of the Territory

Bakea’s cuisine is a personal interpretation of Euskal Herria, the shared cultural and geographical space of the Basque Country. Ingredients come from direct relationships with local producers in Mungialdea. The menu changes with the seasons, offering a roughly 13-course tasting sequence. Dishes photographed on the site include pulpo / manteca (octopus with lard), garbanzo / rape / piparra (chickpea, monkfish, and pickled green pepper), nabo / bilbaina (turnip with a classic Bilbao-style sauce), and setas (mushrooms). A chocolate custard appears as a dessert.

For drinks, the restaurant highlights wines from nearby vineyards, and they offer a corkage option for those who wish to bring their own bottles. The entire experience is grounded in the territory – recognizable flavors, everyday references, and a deep respect for what the land and sea provide.

A Michelin Star in the Workshop

In 2026, Bakea was awarded a Michelin star, a recognition that aligns naturally with the precision and soul of the cooking. The restaurant’s own words describe it as “a place of execution and shared inspiration,” where everything from the cutlery to the ceramics to the food emerges from the same creative process. That coherence – between the metal, the fire, and the plate – is what makes Bakea a singular destination in the Basque Country.