41 Best Restaurants in Galicia and Asturias, Spain

"From market to plate" is this nueva cocina restaurant's philosophy: chefs start and finish the day with an empty larder and a blank menu. The freshest fish and produce are handpicked at the neighboring Mercado de Abastos and coaxed into exciting dishes that defy tradition. Be sure to book ahead as the industrial-chic dining room and terrace fill up fast. 

This tiny restaurant is beloved by locals for its authentic food. It feels like an old farmhouse, with stone walls and floors, a fireplace, pine tables and stools, and dusty wine bottles (adega is Gallego for bodega, or wine cellar). Appetizers such as pulpo con almejas al ajillo (octopus with clams in garlic sauce) are followed by fresh fish at market prices and an ever-changing array of delicious desserts.

Fusing traditional Galician cuisine with Japanese, Mexican, and Peruvian, among others, Casa Marcelo whips up creatively plated dishes in an open-plan kitchen. The jovial dining area—always full and always loud—seats guests at long communal tables, a nod to the fact that the dishes are meant to be shared.

An invitingly cozy space awaits behind the ancient stone facade of this restaurant, 200 meters (656 feet) from the main plaza. Part of the house is original, but much has been renovated, providing an attractive combination of traditional mountain design and modern construction. The menu is all well-priced highland comfort food—think leeks in vinaigrette, braised beef tongue, and cocido lebaniego (a boiled dinner of sausage, chickpeas, and vegetables)  The lunch menu is one of the best values in the area.

The two exquisite tasting menus at this tranquil Michelin-star establishment offer a whirlwind tour of modern Cantabrian cooking at a good value. Request a table in the romantically lit brick wine cellar, and savor such delicacies as roast partridge with celery-root puree, griddled tiger prawns, and ultra-creamy rice pudding. 

La Galana is a typical Asturian sidrería with colossal barrels lining the walls, thick wooden tables, and plenty of standing room at the bar, where locals munch on Cabrales cheese. The kitchen serves refined cider-house fare: Expect cheeses with quince jam, bubbling cauldrons of fabada, and a range of creative tapas. There is also a terrace overlooking the porticoed Plaza Mayor and a sit-down dining area beyond the bar with fancier fare including coal-fired steaks, suckling lamb, and grilled sea bass. 

Although the eggplant-colored walls, crystal chandeliers, and carefully chosen antique furniture evoke a traditional French dining room, the food at this restaurant—attached to the A Quinta da Auga hotel—is unmistakably Galician. Try delicacies such as chestnut cream soup, fresh-caught hake, and bay scallops roasted in their shells with garlic-parsley oil. The weekday lunch prix fixe is a steal at €29.

A solid bet on a street packed with middling tourist eateries, this seafood restaurant has polished wood floors and a bustling terrace. The caldo gallego, santiaguiños (slipper lobsters), arroz con bogavante (rice with lobster), and seafood empanadas are superb—as any of the university-faculty regulars will tell you.

This upscale restaurant by one of the region's most promising chefs serves elevated Galician cuisine in a bright, modern dining room with exposed stone walls. Menus feature a plethora of hyperlocal ingredients that have "first and last names," as the chef likes to say: Cambados oysters, Fisterra razor clams, Cachena beef, etc.

Appropriately named, A Viaxe (a journey) takes diners through the edible landscape of Peru and South America, with especially bright renditions on Peruvian dishes using Galician ingredients. A coveted spot at the bar includes views of the open kitchen and detailed presentations straight from the chef himself.

This award-winning, modern Asturian restaurant in the old town is adorned with rustic stone walls and a hand-painted mural. There are also inventive tapas and tasting menus (starting at €65). Notable dishes include creamy rice with tiger prawns and squid, Xaldu lamb royale with mushrooms, and warm chocolate cake with ice cream. 

Decorated with an ornate barometer to gauge the famously unpredictable local weather, this family-run seafood spot is in a 19th-century building on the harbor. In addition to an inexpensive menú del día (prix fixe), there's outstanding seafood à la carte including fried calamares (squid) and uni-stuffed asparagus. If there were ever a place to splurge on bogavante, large-claw lobster, it's here. For dessert, the fig ice cream is delicious.

Tucked behind the cathedral, this tapas bar specializes in products from El Bierzo, a comarca (subdivision) in Castile-León, either in the animated bar or in one of the stone-walled dining rooms. Visitors stopping in for a drink at the bar can expect a generous portion of free tapas, while the menu has a selection of grilled meats, revueltos (scrambled eggs with a variety of toppings), cold meats, and cheeses.

The paintings on wine-barrel ends that decorate this classic restaurant have given it the nickname "Museo Redondo" (Round Museum). The building dates back to the 16th century when it was a wine cellar, apparent in the heavy wooden beams overhead and the rough, rustic tables. With meaty culinary specialties from La Rioja and fresh seafood from the Bay of Biscay, there is plenty to choose from. The menu changes daily and seasonally, but the fish of the day is a sure bet.

This casual seafood spot around the corner from the Hostal de los Reyes Católicos specializes in shellfish ranging from melt-in-your-mouth battered mini-scallops to a take-no-prisoners variado de mariscos platter with langoustines, king prawns, crab, and percebes (barnacles, a local delicacy).

Skylights, plants, and an air of modernity belie the age of this sophisticated restaurant, which opened in 1924 and is now in its fourth generation. The nueva cocina menu changes seasonally, and there is also a tasting menu. Dishes might include artichokes in spicy afuega'l pitu cheese sauce, langoustine tiradito, or apple cake with cinnamon ice cream.

Book a table at this terrace garden restaurant 2 km (1 mile) outside of town toward O Grove for a fine-dining culinary tour of the region. Local mackerel, chorizo, hake, and beef are mainstays here, as are traditional Galician cheeses and wines. Though the ingredients are primarily local, they're enlivened with international, nueva cocina touches (think king crab fajitas and scallop aguachile). 

Fancy it ain't, but this jovial tapas bar is where you can devour the freshest catch from the Rúa Pescadería fisherwomen, and it does a roaring lunch trade with Vigo locals. Expect heaping plates of marisco (shellfish) and scallops with roe at market prices, plus fresh and fruity Albariño, its trusty sidekick. Indoors there are round tables covered with paper, while the outdoor terrace is a pleasing place to slurp down some oysters and watch the old town bustle.

A restaurant housed inside the Llanes fish market and right on the water means you’ll get the freshest catch in town. Watch your next meal come into the port on small fishing boats and enjoy simple preparations that highlight the natural quality of each fish, mollusk, and crustacean on the menu. 

El De Alberto marries traditional Galician flavors with eye-catching modern presentation. Alberto, the passionate and friendly chef-owner, has no qualms about, say, dolloping kimchi sauce on local octopus or painting truffle butter on baked scallops (instead of the usual squirt of lemon). The sunlit dining room with white tablecloths and colorful velvet chairs sits at the halfway point between casual and fancy. 

Signed photos from the likes of King Juan Carlos and Julio Iglesias cover the walls of this elegant stone-wall restaurant opened in 1928. Specialties include lenguado a la plancha (grilled sole) and navajas (razor clams). The tocinillo de cielo, a double-rich caramel flan, is heavenly, as the name implies. The restaurant's name refers to an era when wine arrived in wooden barrels: if mosquitoes gathered at the barrel's mouth, it held good wine.

Five blocks from the marina, this white-tablecloth dining room with blue walls and hardwood floors pulls out all the stops: Order the tasting menu, for instance, and you'll sample no fewer than five varieties of olive oil. Mains hinge on Cantabrian seafood and run the gamut from cod al pil pil (with an emulsified garlic-oil sauce) to flambéed suckling pig to scallop tartare.

This is one of Santiago's favorite spots for tapeo (tapas grazing) and chiquiteo (wine sampling); it's just a five-minute walk from the cathedral. The traditional bar area takes center stage, playing host to locals, pilgrims, and tourists alike, all gathering for wine, Iberian cured meats, cheeses, and seasonal dishes. It can get crowded, but this only adds to the atmosphere. The tapas live up to their reputation, and they're a better choice than the main dishes.

Llanes has prettier, cleaner, and less noisy places to enjoy seafood, but if you feel like rubbing shoulders with Asturian fishermen and eating their catch cooked just the way they like it, then this spot by the port, guarded by a parrot named Paco, is for you. The glassed-in terrace has a view of the small harbor bobbing with boats, and the menu offers such local classics as baby squid in ink, spider crab, seafood meatballs, and razor clams, all with a minimum of fuss but maximum value.

Head to this renowned white-tablecloth restaurant and meeting spot on one of Oviedo’s main thoroughfares for cachopo, a heart-stopping fried veal cutlet stuffed with ham and cheese—an Asturian speciality. If you prefer something a bit lighter, there are salads, fresh fish, and meat dishes. The bar on the ground floor does a roaring trade all day long in sandwiches and light snacks.

Join the locals leaning on wine-barrel tables to watch soccer and snack on Galician cheeses and spicy chorizo, which hangs from ceiling racks above the bar.

This sophisticated sea-foam-green dining room is the perfect place to feast on fresh fish while sipping Albariño. Don't miss the mussels with béchamel, a dish that La Penela is locally famous for. If shellfish isn't your speed, the roast veal is also popular. The restaurant occupies a modernist building on a corner of the lively Praza de María Pita. Some tables have views of the harbor, or you can eat in a glassed-in terrace on the square.

This friendly, folksy, and romantic chalet was founded in 1891. When the weather cooperates, the terrace is a perfect spot for roast beef, rice with clams, or fabada asturiana. The restaurant is 3 km (2 miles) east of town.