Rias de Galicia

[milla]

A subdued, charming (anyone notice the artwork on the walls?) and traditional Galician restaurant in Barcelona that lets the quality of the ingredients, gently prepared in a traditional and respectful manner, speak for themselves. Plump and juicy berberechos for an amuse followed by a feast of Pulpo a la Gallega, spectacular oysters, baby elvers in the traditional style, percebes and incredible pulpitos that were extraordinarily sweet. We ate a fair amount so i can't quite remember if that was everything.

A tank out front had spider crabs, small blue crabs, blue and green lobster and langoustes of various sizes. Service unobtrusive and quietly professional. A confident family affair.

Not cheap but I look forward to returning when given half the chance.

Oh, and Ferran Adria sitting in the corner enjoying a quiet dinner.

Rias de Galicia.

Highly, highly recommended.

[TGullet]

Would you please suggest less priceyb seafood places?

[pedro]

Good seafood is pricey. Excellent seafood is really expensive. Almost anywhere you can have some gambas a la plancha, which needless to say, were frozen. If I were you, I'd either concentrate all my budget on a really good piece of seafood rather than having a large range of run of the mill plates, or get myself hold of a place to cook it and buy them in the market. Seafood at the Boquería is cheaper than in Madrid, where yesterday I saw gamba roja at 89.95€/kg at Ernesto Prieto in Chamartín.

[jesteinf]

When people write about the seafood palace Rias de Galicia, the word that comes up most often is "referential". In other words, if you eat a clam at Rias de Galicia, that's what a clam is supposed to taste like. Of course, that sort of experience comes with a price. This restaurant is the home of the 72 euro plate of barnacles (about $100 at the current exchange rate). While I can't argue with the "referential" nature of the food, the atmosphere and the service left me cold, and not terribly thrilled about spending 200 euros on dinner in a town where a better overall experience can be found for less money. Not sure if it was the economy or not, but the restaurant was almost completely empty from the time we arrived for our 9:30 reservation until we left at around 11 or 11:30.

Clam amuse - Not sure what type of clams these were, but they were barely cooked with some olive oil and chili flakes. Probably one of the highlights of the meal.

Tuna and seabass tartar with miso (half portion) - Bright and fresh tasting, the textures of both types of fish really added to this dish. Probably the least "traditional" dish we had at Rias.

Fried baby squid (half portion) - Good, but no better than anywhere else where we had the same dish.

More clams - The clams themselves weren't as good as the first clams we had, but the sauce was unbelievable.

Grilled shrimp - The wife's dinner. She said they were good, but I didn't have any because I was more than occupied with...

Mixed grilled seafood - Multiple types of clams, scallops, shrimp, crab, small lobster...who even knows. All grilled simply with olive oil and sea salt, and all unbelievably delicious.

Finished off with a simple dessert of pastries filled with fresh cream and chocolate sauce.

So, again, I can't really argue with the quality of the seafood. I just felt like something was lacking here (soul, heart?). Our dinner at Rafa's the next night was probably at about the same level in terms of quality, but left me much more satisfied overall (and at about half the price). I'm glad that we went to Rias, but I probably wouldn't go back.

Rias de Galicia

http://www.riasdegalicia.com

C/ Lleida 7

+34 934 234 570

[pedro]

The first clams are berberechos. 'Cockle', I believe is the English term.