Long trip report: Leon, Galicia, Asturias, Madrid

[dostrovs]

It was a very food intensive trip along the distal portions of Northern Spain. Special thanks to all the info provided by Maribel on this forum. As well, Erika 1’s advice played a role in the decision making.

After going through the near-purgatory of 6 am crowd in Barajas (I still do not get it while they can not fix it!!!) we took a brief ride to Chamartin on the local train. Good info: the train ride is free from the airport if you are taking high speed RENFE within 4 hours before/after that. Getting from Chamartin to Leon took us about 2 hours. We stayed in the magnificent Parador de Leon/ San Marco - very affordable and out of this world. Leon is worth the trip just to stay there. Right the next building to the Parador is: Cocinandos (2 soles/ 1 star) - preset menu. We took the shortest one. The chef was extremely accommodating and considering our postflight state promised to take care of us in 90 minutes. Which he did successfully. His spouse is running the dinner room. There was a garden serving parilla to the group of guests that day. We were given a map of Leon y Castillia pointing to the location of the product’s origin in corresponding dishes, which was very cute. I had a glass of an excellent albarin. We enjoyed the meal with the highlights of foie gras, tuna salad and little “lechal” lambchop on the tiny grill. It was very well priced, considering the delivery. Highly recommended.

After recharging our batteries we took a stroll along Leon, which is not a very big but rather attractive town with many interesting sites out of the scope of this report. We went for dinner to Marcela (1 sol). There is a bar and a restaurant. You want the latter.

• Some local morcilla, which is different in the way it is served. No casing. Looks like a stew rather than sausage. I am a succker for morcilla and eat it everywhere. (I believe most people do not eat it just because of pure prejudice. Just go and buy/ order it in Despana in NYC… or try it right there. I guarantee you will change your mind).

• delicious cantabrian anchovies (I have probably got 10 boxes of them over the course of the trip - to go).

• a kind of strange raw tomato covering the chopped shrimp with pil-pilish sauce over it.

• good croquettes (don’t remember by now with what)

• molleja - decent.

• on my question about dessert they mentioned souffle, which i requested. It came out to be “backed Alaska”, which I am not a big fan of…
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

They tried to upsell some expensive meats and good looking tuna belly, but we had no stamina or stomach for that anymore. I think it is a good place. Would go back.

The morning after we picked up our rental car and drove about 45 minutes to Jimenez de Jamuz. The tiny town in the middle of nowhere which had one of the most anticipated meals of the trip. Bodega el Caprichio (2 soles) is a celebrated aged oxen meat destination. The restaurant is located in one of the retired meat aging chambers with no reception which I believe contributes to the meal experience. They were kind enough to provide us with media raciones which has allowed us to try many things. We tried:

• Delicious oxen tartar. perfectly seasoned which is a rarity among tartars!

• Cecina! My god! Better than 100% bellota! The waiter was absolutely correct!.You will not find cecina like that anywhere.

• morcilla de Leon. Once again stew like. Beef, not pork. Incredibly rich.

• tuetano - served with pomelo and jalapeno on the side. It was their weakest dish. Underseasoned with no salt offered.

• side of charred red peppers.

• I had a glass of their house Ribera del Duoro.

That day they had meat from retired working oxen, which we were told doesn’t happen too often. The price was 50 euro above their most expensive steak/ per kilo. We decided what the hell! We are not coming back any time soon! It was on par with matsusaka beef in Japan, if not better! Please see the picture below. The proprietor, Jose Gordon, slices all the steaks by himself at the table side. Taste wise, it was the meatiest thing I have ever eaten. Fortunately the size was not too big and we managed to consume most of it. The sliced off fat was grilled again and brought to the table. After all, I think it would be wise to come to that restaurant just to have that steak and nothing else. By itself it is a real treat.

We could not even think about the desert.

Please drive there from wherever you are in Spain! Totally worth it. Es la leche!

The last meal in Leon was a total disappointment. Cocina con Mimo (1 sole/ bib gourmand).

Well .. about 50 euro preset menu. I will let myself to insinuate that they have had the same menu for a long time. The dishes had two tastes: over seasoned and under seasoned. These two flavors do not work together very well. I will stop my comments here.

The next installation will be about our time in Galicia.

[erica1]

I, for one, cannot wait to read the rest…BRAVO!!

[ssinny95]

Great report. Looking forward to hearing more.

[dostrovs]

Early in the morning we headed from Leon to one of the Galician provincial capitals, Lugo. The only town in the world with completely preserved Roman walls. They are very impressive. The trip went not without adventure. While driving along the autopista the other driver pointed to my back tire. It was running flat. I have a strong feeling I was given the car with this problem by the rental agency. Check your tires when you rent a car! Luckily the gas station exit was very close. I pumped air which held us till Lugo, where I took it to a tire shop. 18 euros later we were on the course again. The lunch in Lugo was in Espana (2 soles).

• small cup of caldo gallego

• tuetano/ tartar. One of their most popular dishes. I would like them better apart.

• beef chorizo with Padron peppers. That one I really liked.

• It is once again a meat eaters destination. We were too overwhelmed by the day prior and not ready to have another oxen steak. We settled on a small picana recommended to us by the waitress. It came with a side of the delicious Galician potatoes.

• delicious tarta de queso

I liked the place. Would have the oxen steak, if not for the day before… FYE: No English spoken.

Easy drive to Santiago de Compostela. You immediately dip into a heavy touristy environment which was not present the previous days. The town is very good looking, but not very big. The dinner was at Lume (repsol recommended). I liked the place, but not sure if I am ready to endorse the long communal table. We were seated facing each other with the two very loud groups by the sides. One French and one Aisian. Besides imposing the overwhelming touristy feeling it pretty much rid us of our ability to communicate. As for the food, it was not bad

• barbecochos with garlic. Alway huge flavor.

• leek in galmesan (local hard cheese GALician parMEGIAN) sauce. I like dishes like that.

• cuttlefish curry. It was not really a curry, just some darkish sauce.

• under the influence of erika 1, we shared a Japanese burger. Very flavorful. A lot of different textures. But it is just a burger.

Agree with Repsol. It is recommended, but not outstanding.

Wisely we booked the roof tour of the cathedral the day prior and spent the day doing the touristy things. Mercado de Abastos. Despite being very touristy it is oriented towards local tourism. The biggest cheese selection of all the markets I have visited in Galicia. Do your cheese shopping there.

The lunch took place in Indomito (1 sol). The restaurant is located about 10 minutes walk away from the historical part. It is a small plate concept. The owner was surprised to see foreigners. He asked if he could select dishes for us, which we went along with.

• raw shrimp in ajo blanco

• little stack of foie gra and mushrooms

• squid with Pedron peppers

• small pan fried merluza

• quail in papillote - dumpling/ thigh

• figs with ice cream

We enjoyed all the dishes. It was not overwhelming, well seasoned and had good flavor combinations. I did not find them to be very authentic. You can find plates like that in many restaurants in Spain. Probably selecting by ourselves would make things more interesting. They poured a glass of mencia for me, which came out to be vinegar. The owner apologised. I would come back. Recommended.

The dinner was in Abastos 2.0. (repsol recommended). The restaurant has two spaces: the communal table within the market complex and tables in the space across the street. At 8 pm all the tables were occupied on Tuesday night. It is highly irregular for a restaurant in Spain.

• percebes - the smallest and saltiest I have ever tried. Just awful.

• vieira - raw with some panko crunch on top

• navajos - very good. Fresh. Well seasoned.

• tuna confit with pumpkin and almonds - strange dish. My wife hated it. I did not mind, but agreed that something should have been changed because the tuna was too dense and chewy.

• pulpo - excellent. Perfect texture and flavor.

The service was dismal. The waiter did not know the menu and kept coming back stating that the dishes were not available. We ordered grilled veal. When the time for the dish came, he actually told us it was a stew. We had to cancel it and to look at the menu again. That is how we came up with the tuna…We were served within a very short time to get out ASAP. Would not come back, despite good octopus and razor clams. My feeling is that the shellfish is very good everywhere in the area.

We took a morning stroll in Pontevedra. The town is nice, but I would not stay overnight. Mercado de Abastos was a bit busier than in Santiago, but had only one vendor of cheese. We headed to Juncal Alimentary, which was recommended to me by multiple sources, including a few Gallegos. It is a smallish grocery of high quality products. The selection of the canned seafood was surprisingly small. I purchased a few anyway.

Our lunch was highly anticipated. I was eyeing Casa Solla (3 soles, 2 stars) for a while, but did not want to go through the long set menu. Browsing through Guia Repsol I have learned about a new format they had - La Taberna. I have emailed the request and promptly received confirmation. We were greeted and seated around the counter (Japanese style). Senior Solla himself wrote one the blackboard behind today’s menu of small plates. Since there were only 6 of them we asked him to prepare them all. Which he gladly did. He wrote my name on the board with his calligraphic handwriting adding the ordered dishes below. Since my wife does not have comprehension of Spanish he switched to English in communication. The extremely knowledgeable sommelier selected a few glasses of wine for me and my wife. Interestingly, one of them was Portuguese… The point of this setup is to enjoy small plates with small production regional wine. We tried:

• bonito y gaspachuelo

• tomate y encurtidos (pickles) - excellent flavor combination with a lot of taste in every ingredient

• salpicón bogavante - very lightly seasoned, where you can taste every element

• caballa (type of mackerel) escabeche - lightly pickled with mustardy overtones

• empanada with shellfish. That was the only one I tried in Galicia, which I really enjoyed.

• albondigas picosas. very tender. As per Senior Solla, it was done the way his family used to make it.

• some small production local cheese as a dessert.

Pepe Solla is a celebrated self taught chef with a remarkable taste. Along with his sommelier they created a very special atmosphere for every diner. I believe to have a personal meal prepared for by an individual of such caliber is an unmissable opportunity. The price was more than reasonable. Highly recommended.

We spent the night in the Grand Hotel La Toxa. Remarkable location, but Wednesday night is the worst one for dining in the area of O Grove. Every single restaurant I had a remote interest in was closed. Eventually we took a 30 minutes drive to Cambados to dine in Yayo Daporta (2 soles, 1 star). It is a two person operation: Senior Daporta in the back and Seniora Daporta in the front. They had only preset menus. We went with the shorter one.

• forgettable seaweed/ rice cracker

• la navaja naturalmente - delicious combination of razor clams in different forms of preparation

• deconstructed croquetas de centollo and cigalla - very inventive and delicious. Served by the chef personally

• la cebolla y sus capas - local onions prepared in different ways

• la merluza Yayo Daporta - chef’s way of preparing at a low temperature

• pork belly with cheese gnocchi and rice

-100% Albariño de Cambados - desert made out of local grape prepared in different ways

• milhojas with ice cream

Chef’s specialty seems to be taking a product and presenting different ways it can be prepared. We enjoyed the meal very much. Our initial point of concern was the service because it was mostly handled by Senora Daporta herself. It can make the meal very long. During the Wednesday night we attended the place, 5 out of 10 tables were occupied and luckily there were no large groups. It was visibly difficult for her but she accomplished the task very effectively. Clearly it was not her first rodeo. Recommended.

Cambados itself is an important center of the fishing industry and even has Parador. After strolling through the town I was not sure it was worth staying overnight.

More of Galicia to come.

[dostrovs]

Early in the morning we headed from Leon to one of the Galician provincial capitals, Lugo. The only town in the world with completely preserved Roman walls. They are very impressive. The trip went not without adventure. While driving along the autopista the other driver pointed to my back tire. It was running flat. I have a strong feeling I was given the car with this problem by the rental agency. Check your tires when you rent a car! Luckily the gas station exit was very close. I pumped air which held us till Lugo, where I took it to a tire shop. 18 euros later we were on the course again. The lunch in Lugo was in Espana (2 soles).

• small cup of caldo gallego

• tuetano/ tartar. One of their most popular dishes. I would like them better apart.

• beef chorizo with Padron peppers. That one I really liked.

• It is once again a meat eaters destination. We were too overwhelmed by the day prior and not ready to have another oxen steak. We settled on a small picana recommended to us by the waitress. It came with a side of the delicious Galician potatoes.

• delicious tarta de queso

I liked the place. Would have the oxen steak, if not for the day before… FYE: No English spoken.

Easy drive to Santiago de Compostela. You immediately dip into a heavy touristy environment which was not present the previous days. The town is very good looking, but not very big. The dinner was at Lume (repsol recommended). I liked the place, but not sure if I am ready to endorse the long communal table. We were seated facing each other with the two very loud groups by the sides. One French and one Aisian. Besides imposing the overwhelming touristy feeling it pretty much rid us of our ability to communicate. As for the food, it was not bad

• barbecochos with garlic. Alway huge flavor.

• leek in galmesan (local hard cheese GALician parMEGIAN) sauce. I like dishes like that.

• cuttlefish curry. It was not really a curry, just some darkish sauce.

• under the influence of erika 1, we shared a Japanese burger. Very flavorful. A lot of different textures. But it is just a burger.

Agree with Repsol. It is recommended, but not outstanding.

Wisely we booked the roof tour of the cathedral the day prior and spent the day doing the touristy things. Mercado de Abastos. Despite being very touristy it is oriented towards local tourism. The biggest cheese selection of all the markets I have visited in Galicia. Do your cheese shopping there.

The lunch took place in Indomito (1 sol). The restaurant is located about 10 minutes walk away from the historical part. It is a small plate concept. The owner was surprised to see foreigners. He asked if he could select dishes for us, which we went along with.

• raw shrimp in ajo blanco

• little stack of foie gra and mushrooms

• squid with Pedron peppers

• small pan fried merluza

• quail in papillote - dumpling/ thigh

• figs with ice cream

We enjoyed all the dishes. It was not overwhelming, well seasoned and had good flavor combinations. I did not find them to be very authentic. You can find plates like that in many restaurants in Spain. Probably selecting by ourselves would make things more interesting. They poured a glass of mencia for me, which came out to be vinegar. The owner apologised. I would come back. Recommended.

The dinner was in Abastos 2.0. (repsol recommended). The restaurant has two spaces: the communal table within the market complex and tables in the space across the street. At 8 pm all the tables were occupied on Tuesday night. It is highly irregular for a restaurant in Spain.

• percebes - the smallest and saltiest I have ever tried. Just awful.

• vieira - raw with some panko crunch on top

• navajos - very good. Fresh. Well seasoned.

• tuna confit with pumpkin and almonds - strange dish. My wife hated it. I did not mind, but agreed that something should have been changed because the tuna was too dense and chewy.

• pulpo - excellent. Perfect texture and flavor.

The service was dismal. The waiter did not know the menu and kept coming back stating that the dishes were not available. We ordered grilled veal. When the time for the dish came, he actually told us it was a stew. We had to cancel it and to look at the menu again. That is how we came up with the tuna…We were served within a very short time to get out ASAP. Would not come back, despite good octopus and razor clams. My feeling is that the shellfish is very good everywhere in the area.

We took a morning stroll in Pontevedra. The town is nice, but I would not stay overnight. Mercado de Abastos was a bit busier than in Santiago, but had only one vendor of cheese. We headed to Juncal Alimentary, which was recommended to me by multiple sources, including a few Gallegos. It is a smallish grocery of high quality products. The selection of the canned seafood was surprisingly small. I purchased a few anyway.

Our lunch was highly anticipated. I was eyeing Casa Solla (3 soles, 2 stars) for a while, but did not want to go through the long set menu. Browsing through Guia Repsol I have learned about a new format they had - La Taberna. I have emailed the request and promptly received confirmation. We were greeted and seated around the counter (Japanese style). Senior Solla himself wrote one the blackboard behind today’s menu of small plates. Since there were only 6 of them we asked him to prepare them all. Which he gladly did. He wrote my name on the board with his calligraphic handwriting adding the ordered dishes below. Since my wife does not have comprehension of Spanish he switched to English in communication. The extremely knowledgeable sommelier selected a few glasses of wine for me and my wife. Interestingly, one of them was Portuguese… The point of this setup is to enjoy small plates with small production regional wine. We tried:

• bonito y gaspachuelo

• tomate y encurtidos (pickles) - excellent flavor combination with a lot of taste in every ingredient

• salpicón bogavante - very lightly seasoned, where you can taste every element

• caballa (type of mackerel) escabeche - lightly pickled with mustardy overtones

• empanada with shellfish. That was the only one I tried in Galicia, which I really enjoyed.

• albondigas picosas. very tender. As per Senior Solla, it was done the way his family used to make it.

• some small production local cheese as a dessert.

Pepe Solla is a celebrated self taught chef with a remarkable taste. Along with his sommelier they created a very special atmosphere for every diner. I believe to have a personal
prepared for by an individuale of such caliber is an unmissable opportunity. The price was more than reasonable. Highly recommended.

We spent the night in the Grand Hotel La Toxa. Remarkable location, but Wednesday night is the worst one for dining in the area of O Grove. Every single restaurant I had a remote interest in was closed. Eventually we took a 30 minutes drive to Cambados to dine in Yayo Daporta (2 soles, 1 star). It is a two person operation: Senior Daporta in the back and Seniora Daporta in the front. They had only preset menus. We went with the shorter one.

• forgettable seaweed/ rice cracker

• la navaja naturalmente - delicious combination of razor clams in different forms of preparation

• deconstructed croquetas de centollo and cigalla - very inventive and delicious. Served by the chef personally

• la cebolla y sus capas - local onions prepared in different ways

• la merluza Yayo Daporta - chef’s way of preparing at a low temperature

• pork belly with cheese gnocchi and rice

-100% Albariño de Cambados - desert made out of local grappe prepared in different ways

• milhojas with ice cream

Chef’s specialty seems to be taking a product and presenting different ways it can be prepared. We enjoyed the meal very much. Our initial point of concern was the service because it was mostly

handled by Senora Daporta herself. It can make the meal very long. During the Wednesday night we attended the place, 5 out of 10 tables were occupied and luckily there were no large groups. It was visibly difficult for her but she accomplished the task very effectively. Clearly it was not her first rodeo. Recommended.

Cambados itself is an important center of the fishing industry and even has Parador. After strolling through the town I was not sure it was worth staying overnight.

More of Galicia to come.