We arrived yesterday in Santiago de Compostela, the first of our three planned destinations during a week in the NorthWesternmost region of Spain: Galicia.
This was my third visit to Santiago, but the others were long ago and I don’t recall much about the food, other than the octopus, the base of what is probably the most famous dish of this city and the surrounding area. Seafood immediately comes to mind when thoughts turn to Galicia (the v variety boggles the mind) but the region is also celebrated for its beef, cheese, and sweets… Walking into a “gourmet” shop a few minutes after arriving, I was awe struck not only at the diversity of the offerings, but how different they are as compared to other regions of Spain. Spirits, cheeses, conserved seafood…it’s almost like being in a different country!! I cannot wait to explore further.
Unfortunately, the typically rainy weather of “Green Spain,” is very much in evidence, which kind of inhibits aimless wandering. But last night, before dinner, I stopped into the Santiago outpost of FRINSA, celebrated for its tinned seafood:-everything from sea urchin and sardines to various types of clams and scallops, some of whose names were new to me.
I bought a dozen tins of ventresca, the belly of the tuna caught in the seas off Cantabria and of a different species than the red tuna of Andalucia. Don’t want to cart those tins back to your hotel: No problem. As I experienced in Madrid, gourmet shops will often offer to deliver your items at no charge, in this case to my hotel.
Our first dinner in Santiago was at ABASTOS 2.0, a restaurant with three sections–bar, terrace and dining room. We ate in the dining room, across the street from the Mercado de Abastos, the city’s principal food market.
The restaurant was recommended to me by Maribel, our HO incomparable expert on all things Spain. The dinner proved to be a perfect introduction to the wonders of Galician food!
It was difficult to decide, as so many dishes tempted and, in fact, our waiter dissuaded me from ordering an extra dish, saying it would be excessive. (The razor clams will wait until another day; soon!)
We loved this restaurant, and I could happily dine here every night of our stay in the city. Close to perfection in the welcome, the service, and the food:
The language here is Gallego:
My first course, percebes (24 euro) the barnacles extracted from sea cliffs at great peril by specialized percebeiros. Article with photos: The “battle between man and the waves:”
It takes some work to extract the meat from the carapace, but it’s not difficult once the waiter offers instruction:
The dark bread, “made with sea water!!” was terrific (no pic).
My partner chose veal; we both were a bit disappointed but that may be because Americans are used to very tender beef; this had decent enough flavor but was not tender. It was also cooked too rare for my partner, who thought it would be bad form to ask the waiter to send it back to the kitchen. Potatoes were wonderful.
Interior of the dining room. Casual and very convivial with excellent service; our waiter, Frank, stands in the rear.
I loved this place!!
Terrace across the street; surely the weather “dampened” the experience for these diners!!
