We know a fair bit about meat here in Australia. In the northern hemisphere, though, the great artists of the steak world are broadly agreed to be the Basques. The Basque Country, which lies across the border of northern Spain and southern France, is home to a high concentration of Michelin-starred chefs, and it’s also the land of the chuleta (or txuleta), a massive bone-in rib-eye, often cut from an older beast and almost always cooked over coals, served salty and crusty on the outside and rare within.
Now, for just three months, you’ve got the chance to taste one cooked by a real-deal Basque chef right here in Melbourne at Basque Txoko. It’s a pop-up led by chef Aitor Jeronimo Orive at Nobody’s Baby on Toorak Road in South Yarra. Orive has mostly worked the fancier end of the market, and lists San Sebastian’s Mugaritz and Iggy’s in Singapore among his credits as well as his own Basque Kitchen by Aitor, but this outing is more casual and traditional in its direction. We’re talking Gildas, we’re talking confit piquillo peppers, we’re talking jamón Ibérico, we’re talking prawns in chilli, garlic and sherry. Orive tosses the heirloom tomato salad with tuna belly and pickled onion with a Txakoli wine vinaigrette, triple-cooks the chips and serves his fish of the day with peas, clams and parsley salsa.
There’s appeal beyond the savoury, too. We’re giving serious consideration to hooking into the crème caramel flan napped with a sherry chantilly cream – and when was the last time you ate a Basque cheesecake baked by an actual Basque person?
Orive is excited to be here. “After a career of cooking all over the world, I’m so looking forward to settling back into Melbourne, and sharing the food from the other country I call home,” he says. “Nobody’s Baby feels like a natural fit for Basque Txoko, which literally translates as ‘nook’ or ‘cosy corner’ in the Basque language, but more generally in the Basque region, it’s a space where food, friendship and tradition converge.”
Nobody’s Baby is serving up drinks to match, too, with co-owner Tim Badura bringing big Basque energy to the drinks list. We’re talking plenty of Spanish wines and Spanish beers, plus what they’re calling the James Basque Martini – a deliciously dry deep cut on the Vesper Martini that subs out Lillet Blanc for sherry.
And while you’ve got just 12 weeks to try the celebrated chef’s Basque bangers, Orive has plans to open something more permanent here in Melbourne. “Tim and Gustavo have been so generous with their space whilst I look for a permanent home for my next restaurant in Melbourne,” he says. Let’s go.
Basque Txoko at Nobody’s Baby opens Friday 23 January, 19-21 Toorak Rd, South Yarra, open 4pm until late Tues-Sun, nobodysbaby.com.au, @nobodysbabybar