It took us a while to get to through the door of this place – mainly because it’s the kind of address people keep close to their chests. Plus it’s not the type you wander into alone for lunch (as we did) – the large, sparsely decorated room has a bar at the entrance with men crowded around it, all speaking Galician, a Spanish dialect not far off Portuguese.
On the chalkboard menu (also in Spanish) is three mains and a dozen tapas dishes, each sounding as appetising as the next. After hearing our astronomical order, the waiter warned that each one was pretty big and recommended a serious cutback, much to our chagrin. A classic thick, melt-in-the-mouth Spanish tortilla (€5), spicy grilled octopus (€9.50) and cocido gallego, a Galician stew with brawn (pig or calf’s head in jelly), two types of spicy chorizo, onions, ham hock, chickpeas, potatoes and bitter spinach. With tender meat of all different textures and smoky flavours, this was the best of the lot – and generous too. All that was washed down with a Galician beer (€1.50) and to finish, an almond tart and a coffee which the owner brought with a bottle of grappa “to cool down.” If only we could have stayed all afternoon, like our card-playing, coffee-drinking neighbours.
TRANSLATION: MEGAN CARNEGIE