Recently when I was staying in Santiago de Compostela I decided to take a trip out to Finisterre. I had been to Santiago de Compostela a few times before, but I had never ventured outside the town. Although I knew that the Mercado de Abastos in Santiago de Compostela has some of the best offerings of seafood to be found in Spain, I just had a feeling that if I went right out to the Galician coastline, I would find a hidden surprise. After all, Finisterre is right on the waters edge, so surely the seafood in Finisterre would be top notch, right?
Nowadays Finisterre, a small village on the Costa da Morte, is most famous for being the official end point of the Camino de Santiago, the 800 kilometre long pilgrim trail that runs from France and across the North of Spain. But Finisterre is, and has historically being, a fishing village. So in theory… yeah, I think you know what I am getting at.
On arrival to Finisterre I was presented with four options for lunch.
* The restaurants directly across from the fish market which, although their prime location, their shiny menus and welcoming terraces brand them “just for tourists” and they have even taken this label to heart by selling frozen seafood.
* The only Italian restaurant in the village.
* The larger, more “people friendly” restaurant with a variety of options and menus in English.
* Or, the shabby looking local bar across from the docks where the fisherman eat their lunch.
The choice is almost obvious, no? Well, I thought it was but apparently it wasn’t, because my group and I were the only ones who opted for what I felt was the only choice. At least, the only choice when one is stopping for a quick lunch in a fishing village, that happens to be next to one of the most famous oceans in the world for it’s seafood fishing.
Of course, I went for the local bar where the fishermen eat their lunch. Surely this is where I would find the best seafood in Finisterre?
Being the only foreigners in the place, we were naturally greeted by bemused but friendly elderly ladies who were working in the little bar. They were quick to get us a round of cold cervezas, probably none other than than the local beer that Galicians are (rightly so) very proud of, Estrella Galicia, as we took to the menu.
The obvious choice was to order almost one of everything.
First up we had the scallops. In my opinion scallops are something that can be hit and miss, because even just the slightest overcooking turns them into rubber balls. Luckily this was not an issue. The whole idea of cooking with the natural gifts that the Atlantic Ocean provides us (my fancy way of saying, well, the local seafood) is to keep it as natural as possible. The scallops were lightly fried with nothing more than olive oil and a splash lemon, and presented to us back in their shells.
I always see the “pilgrims” hiking along the Camino de Santiago in various cities and towns in Northern Spain, their outfit completed with a scallop shell hanging off the back of their rucksack. Well take that pilgrims, I got the real deal. Shells right from the sea at Finisterre – no shells bought from the souvenir store for me!
I always do wonder, don’t they realise the tradition started because the pilgrims were collecting the shells from the sea at Finisterre when they finished? Anyway. I digress. Back to food.
Navajas (razor clams) were next on the menu, served up to us in their long, thin shell. Navajas offer more meat than their more familiar cousins, the ordinary clam, and they also retain more sea salt and have a grittier texture, probably thanks to trapped sand. But you know what? I love them.
They were fried up with a simple splash of salt, lemon, and parsley to prove once again that the secret to the Atlantic cuisine is true – less is more.
Following the navajas came the puntillas (baby squid), crispy on the outside but tender in the middle and, of course, super duper tasty. This just made me excited for the octopus dishes that were to follow. After all, the Atlantic Ocean is well known for it’s octopus, so it would be rude to not have the octopus family on our plates in three different ways.
But before the octopus family in the second and third way came along, we had a break from the seafood to enjoy some local vegetables.
Padrón is a province in Galicia that is home to the now famous pimentos de padrón. These peppers can now be found all over Spain, but traditionally they were only produced in Padrón. But people still say to this day that the pimentos de padrón grown in Galicia taste better than pimentos grown in other regions, so it’s not everyday I get to eat the peppers in their home region.
These small, green peppers have a slightly bitter flavour and taste delicious fried up with a bit of salt and olive oil. They aren’t typically hot and spicy, except for, lets say, every 2 in 100.
Yes, that is the one strange feature that these peppers have. In my years of living and travelling Spain I have never personally eaten a hot one. But let me tell you, if you don’t like spicy food, you WILL get a hot one, first go. It always seems to happen…
Now, back to the octopus family.
First up we had simple fried calamari, dressed with not much more than a splash of lemon and tasty in their own right. But the fried calamari could never to be beaten by the star of the octopus family.
Enter the pulpo a feira.
Pulpo a feira could be considered Galicia’s national dish, and is one of the Galician dishes that has been exported to other regions in Spain which means now it can be round in a host of bars and restaurants around the country. When I look at Spain as a whole, this is one of my favourite dishes in the whole country. Now that’s a big call.
Keeping in style with the typical Atlantic cooking, it’s actually very simple. The octopus is boiled to an optimum point, where it is just cooked enough but not cooked so much that it’s rubbery. It could almost be likened to cooking pasta al dente. Once it is ready the tentacles are chopped in slices, laid out on a wooden platter, then drizzled with olive oil, dashed with salt and sprinkled with smoked paprika.
And there you have yourself a gourmet tasting meal.
It’s no secret that you can find good seafood all over Spain.
After all, the Spanish are the second biggest consumers of seafood in the world, so it would want to be good. But you will be hard pressed to find anything better than chowing down seafood across from the same docks where it has just arrived from, and right on the best coastline in Spain for fishing.
Just because I ate at the building in town with the plainest exterior and simplest interior doesn’t mean anything. Just because the owners looked scruffy and they didn’t communicate in English shouldn’t be a reason to put anyone off.
This is where the best gastronomic delights are often found. It’s the quality of the ingredients and the integrity towards the food which counts.
That’s it from me about the seafood in Galicia. What about you? Have you been to Galicia before? Did you enjoy the local seafood there? Where else in the world have you tried great seafood?
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Marina from MadeinMoments.com says
All of this looks and sounds soooo good! I think I just fell in love with your blog 🙂
Cyra says
Thanks Marina! You guys should definitely go to Galicia while you are in Spain. It’s so beautiful!