Café Iruña is an essential Bilbao haunt on the Ensanche's most popular garden and square, Los Jardines de Albia. Famous for its interior design and boisterous ambience, the Neo-Mudéjar dining room overlooking the square is the place to be. If they try to stuff you in the back dining room, resist or come back another time. The bar has two distinct sections: the elegant side near the dining room, and the older, more bare-bones Spanish side on the Calle Berástegui, with its plain marble counters. The brazier in the corner could almost go unnoticed, if it were not for the unmistakable aroma of spices coming from the lamb brochettes. The house specialty, the lamb is handed out a side window by the cook to its fans, who start lining up from 6:30 p.m. onward every evening. Their reward: A deceptively simple lamb brochette, flavored with cumin and served with “poor man's potatoes” on a round of bread.