Best restaurant for fish and seafood

[Saborosa]

Hi

If you had to choose one (or, if this is too hard, a top 3) place to take a fish and seafood lover in the whole of Spain, what would it/they be? (I mean restaurant/bar, rather than an aquarium! )

And what would be your choice in Catalunya?

And what would be the best thing to order?

And best time of year to go?

This is for a 40th birthday treat. A special situation or atmosphere would be nice but it doesn't necessarily have to be fancy (I'm considering Rafa's for instance). Just excellent food and preferably friendly and pleasant (or at least not unfriendly and unpleasant) surroundings/atmosphere.

Thanks in advance for your help

Kirsten

[vserna]

My own choices:

Top three in Spain: Combarro, Madrid - O'Pazo, Madrid - Casa Bóveda, Carril, Galicia.

Top three in Catalonia: Botafumeiro, Barcelona; Casa Gatell, Cambrils; Hispania, Arenys de Mar.

It's difficult to say 'when' - in summer there's this prejudice against having oysters, but then it's in summer that tuna fish is best! So good seafood restaurants will always have interesting seasonal fare.

[vinobiondo]

My own choices:

Top three in Spain: Combarro, Madrid - O'Pazo, Madrid - Casa Bóveda, Carril, Galicia.

Top three in Catalonia: Botafumeiro, Barcelona; Casa Gatell, Cambrils; Hispania, Arenys de Mar.

It's difficult to say 'when' - in summer there's this prejudice against having oysters, but then  it's in summer that tuna fish is best! So good seafood restaurants will always have interesting seasonal fare.

←

Let me enthusiastically second the suggestions of both Botafumeiro and Joan Gatell. I had very good experiences at both. You cannot go wrong with a mixed steamed seafood platter at Botafumeiro. Gatell was more "prepared" dishes

[Bux]

I notice Botafumeiro doesn't seem to be closed on Sundays. Is that unusual for a seafood/fish restaurant of such note?

[Silly Disciple]

Given my limited experience, I would choose Rafa hands down for perfectly cooked fresh fish and seafood.

When? I imagine it gets crowdier during the summer.

What to order? whatever he has the day you visit, it's guaranteed to be the day's catch.

SD

[g_camper]

I can't help in the area to which you are headed, and I certainly cannot comment on the choices of vserna or bux. One of my very favorite meals is Sanlucar de Barrameda at Bajo de Guia. Sitting out, next to the beach and eating almost anything, but having tortillas de camarones at some point. Brings me a smile thinking about it - not fine cuisine, but fine food.

[Judith Gebhart]

My own choices:

Top three in Spain: Combarro, Madrid - O'Pazo, Madrid - Casa Bóveda, Carril, Galicia.

Top three in Catalonia: Botafumeiro, Barcelona; Casa Gatell, Cambrils; Hispania, Arenys de Mar.

It's difficult to say 'when' - in summer there's this prejudice against having oysters, but then  it's in summer that tuna fish is best! So good seafood restaurants will always have interesting seasonal fare.

←

Let me enthusiastically second the suggestions of both Botafumeiro and Joan Gatell. I had very good experiences at both. You cannot go wrong with a mixed steamed seafood platter at Botafumeiro. Gatell was more "prepared" dishes

←

I am a true lover of seafood and fish. So I will suggest some alternative options. Starting with Galicia where Spain is indebted to this area for exquisite examples of both fish and seafood, plan to vist Sanxenxo and specifically, La Taberna de Rotillio. THis was not our original destination. Armed with Victor's most engaging description of a good Gallician seafood restaurant, we anticipated lunch at Pepe Vieira. The weather was so miserable, we arrived in Sanxenxo eager to find any luncheon location we happened upon. Never saw Pepe Vieira. Found La Taberna de Rotillio which proved to be extraordinary. We will go back to try La Taberna de Rotillio and maybe find our original destination, Pepe Vieira.

Barcelona's best seafood fish options are varied. We have visited Barcelona over the last ten years at least 50 times. We have visited Botafumeiro, 6-7 years ago when Michelin gave them l star. That Michelin star has been deleted for some time. Botafumeiro is a Gallician restaurant as are most of the best Barcelona seafood destinations. Out last visit was dreadful. Unlike our prior 3-4 visits, we were seated in the "American" section. We were offered an English menu which we felt was limited. The mediocre meal was delivered with uninspired service. We will never return.

The other Gallician Barcelona restaurant of merit is Rias de Galicia. We repeatedly delighted in their fare for more than five years. For those wanting an alternative to Botafumeiro, we suggest this option.

I would also agree with O'Pazo's menu in Madrid. In January, thanks to Victor, we had our favorite baby eel dish. There were many more exciting items on their varied menu for this old revered establishment.

I can also suggest those visiting the Basque country, to try Goizeko Kabi, in Bilbao; they will deliver percebes, baby eels and enumerable delightful traditional seafood or fish from this area. Many of the Basque's best chefs, if given enough notice, will happily offer an all seafood and fish menu.

I would also suggest Etxebarri in Axpe-Marzana who will bow to your wishes for an unprecedented seafood and fish fare cooked a la brasa. A meal that cannot be duplicated anywhere in the world. This is a unique chef with superb provisions. We are intoxicated with this chef's extraordinary ability to deliver a superb product with a cooking technique that has no equal.

I hope this offers some alternatives to the good examples already explored. Judith Gebhart

[vmilor]

I also recommend Elkano in Getaria. Very very good.

But the top list is a bit meaningless given the amazing quality of seafood in Spain. It is plentiful and the quality difference between, say Combarro or O'Pazo and a fine marisco in Madrid, such as say El Barril, is not as pronounced as one would expect. This is very different than, say in Paris(or New York) where the best are head and shoulders above the others.

[vserna]

the quality difference between, say Combarro or O'Pazo and a fine marisco in Madrid, such as say El Barril, is not as pronounced as one would expect.

←

Indeed. Spain is like only one other major country, Japan, in that there is a national passion for seafood and the consumers are willing to pay for it, even at amazing prices. (We usually lose out to the Japanese when they really want something - 90% of our baby eels and of our bluefin tuna winds up in the Tokyo market because they pay even more - much more!) Therefore, outstanding fish and shellfish can be found almost everywhere, even far inland. Two general principles: Galicia and, perhaps surprisingly, Madrid are the main hubs; and the difference between great seafood restaurants and merely excellent ones (as the El Barril chain, or Casa d'a Troya) is usually not in the quality of seafood available, but in the range and variety of what they have.

Judith: Sanxenxo is a very small town, population 16,000. Pepe Vieira is on the sea, 200 yards east of Taberna de Rotilio. Next time, perhaps you should do what I did when I first went there: ask directions...

[Saborosa]

Wow, thanks a lot everyone. As I thought the real problem is going to be in making a choice! Well, between us we should have enough birthdays left to try them all (touch wood)! I'm very tempted by Galicia.

Re: Botafumeiro. I've only been once but was quite disappointed. We sat at a table and I have a feeling sampling a selection of seafood at the bar would have been a better option.

Can't remember my dish - I think it may have been a suquet or other fish in sauce dish. It was a little bland, I thought. Though we did have some excellent percebes to share as a starter.

Mainly it was the feel of the place I didn't like. Bit stuffy, impersonal, noisy, crowded, felt like part of a production line. But some people might not see it like that, it's just not my thing really.

On a more general, and perhaps hypocritical!, point, I've been reading up on the world's dwindling fish stocks. As a seafood lover I don't want to be one of those people who loves too much and kills the thing they love!

There's quite a lot of UK-related info available online from organisations such as the Marine Conservation Society and Marine Stewardship Council, but Spain seems a little behind on this subject. Though there has been a campaign against eating juvenile fishes which, judging from what I see in bars and markets in Barcelona isn't having much effect. Also there's going to be a conference on eco-labelling of fish organized by PescaMarket and involving many of the top producers and retailers such as Pescanova and Carrefour. So people are starting to pay attention, which is great.

I was wondering if any members had any other info on how to make sure the fish and seafood i'm eating here is from sustainable or non-threatened sources. Looking at the lists of fish to avoid, it seems pretty much anything from the Med is out of bounds. Or you need to make sure the fish are line caught or molluscs are sustainably harvested. Will the scary ladies at the fish stall know? And would they tell me if they did? I think such info is supposed to be displayed on the price label, but compliance with this varies wildly in my experience.

Hmmm, should this be a new thread?

[butterfly]

The fishmongers at the market will certainly be able to tell you where a fish was caught and if it was line- or net-caught. You'll always pay a premium for the line-caught fish, because of the added effort expended and the superior quality.

[The Viking]

My two cents worth:

Restaurant Kaia in Getaria, november 2003; Wild turbot from the grill located on the pavement outside below the restaurant's entrance; succulent and doused with the freshest DAURO Empordà olive oil directly from the press, and in the excellent company of Sr Santolaya..

I realize that this is a one-off experience in exceptional circumstances, but reports from friends sent to Kaia concur with my opinion. Enjoy!

[Saborosa]

Hi folks

I hope you'll forgive me for reviving this thread to ask a more specific question.

Despite the fact that the Cantabrian Sea seems to be being fished to death , does anyone have any recommendations for seafood restaurants on/near the Asturian/Cantabrian coast (that will be open in August)?

Or indeed, any other Asturian/Cantabrian recs - particularly in/around the Picos de Europa?

Thanks in advance

k

[anyavon]

Carme Ruscalleda at Sant Pau does absolutely spectacular seafood. I've spoken about her on the other post. Not explicitly a seafood establishment but certainly leaning that way, and with a sea view. Botafumeiro can be blah, and SO expensive. Ditto O'Pazo in Madrid where I recently had a not quite perfect and very minimalist meal for about 150 euros per person. Rias de Galicia in Barcelona is a bit better than Botafumeiro (they do great octopus) but same problem as with these other upmarket Galician marisquerias. My feeling? If you're paying that much, might as well go with a virtuoso modern chef, like Ruscalleda.

Getaria, Elkano has slightly better food than Kaia but no view & less atmosphere. Both are great. And Extebarri is not-to-be-missed though you'll want to have meat too. And bacalao on the grill. Hispania, near Barcelona, too. You can have a few great seafood dishes, plus those incredible tomatoes and beans.

For me, the SINGLE BEST seafood restaurant in Spain is Ca' Sento in Valencia. Foodies from Barcelona take a train down to eat there, book way ahead, it's only 8 tables. Raul, the chef, trained with Adria but surrenders his ego to the ingredients. Their salt-grilled cigalas will make you cry. That whole Valencia-Alicante region is probably the best for seafood. La Sirena in Elda in Alicante is also fantastic, she's one of the best woman chefs in Spain.

Problem with Galicia is, unless you go to a modern place like Pepe Viera, they still overcook seafood. Chefs in Catalonia and Basque Country and El Levante tend to be more skillful.

[pedro]

The only sensible way to pay 150€ per person at O'Pazo I can think of is ordering marisco. Lots of them. What do you consider 'minimalist'?

I don't consider my disappointing meal by all accounts of last summer at Sant Pau a representative one, given the general recognition achieved by Carme Ruscalleda. Probably they were having a bad day, I was having a bad day, or a combination of both. Nonetheless, I wouldn't go to a "virtuoso modern chef" temple to sample seafood: I go to see what they're up to. Surely, they will have top notch product and they will cook it in the most exquisite ways, no question about it. But if I have an appetite for seafood, I prefer to go to a place where minimal process has been applied to it during its travel from the sea to my plate.

Elkano. Sea view? You have the sea in your plate, what else do you need?

I'm not particularly fond of fish cooked a la gallega. I believe there are better ways to extract the best qualities of fish, or at least, I enjoy them more. Albeit, charging all Galicia but its most modern chefs with overcooking, and by extension almost every single Galician restaurant in the world, looks like a way too broad statement to me.

I'm sorry I didn't answer your question, Saborosa. Let's see if someone more experienced than I on Asturias and Cantabria can give you some hints.

[chapeaulong]

Rafa's, Rafa's and oh yeah Rafa's, in Roses. Enough said.

[Corinna Dunne]

... And yes, another vote for Rafa's

[nimzo]

Wow, thanks a lot everyone. As I thought the real problem is going to be in making a choice! Well, between us we should have enough birthdays left to try them all (touch wood)! I'm very tempted by Galicia.

Re: Botafumeiro. I've only been once but was quite disappointed. We sat at a table and I have a feeling sampling a selection of seafood at the bar would have been a better option.

Can't remember my dish - I think it may have been a suquet or other fish in sauce dish. It was a little bland, I thought. Though we did have some excellent percebes to share as a starter.

Mainly it was the feel of the place I didn't like. Bit stuffy, impersonal, noisy, crowded, felt like part of a production line. But some people might not see it like that, it's just not my thing really.

On a more general, and perhaps hypocritical!, point, I've been reading up on the world's dwindling fish stocks. As a seafood lover I don't want to be one of those people who loves too much and kills the thing they love!

There's quite a lot of UK-related info available online from organisations such as the Marine Conservation Society and Marine Stewardship Council, but Spain seems a little behind on this subject. Though there has been a campaign against eating juvenile fishes which, judging from what I see in bars and markets in Barcelona isn't having much effect. Also there's going to be a conference on eco-labelling of fish organized by PescaMarket and involving many of the top producers and retailers such as Pescanova and Carrefour. So people are starting to pay attention, which is great.

I was wondering if any members had any other info on how to make sure the fish and seafood i'm eating here is from sustainable or non-threatened sources. Looking at the lists of fish to avoid, it seems pretty much anything from the Med is out of bounds. Or you need to make sure the fish are line caught or molluscs are sustainably harvested. Will the scary ladies at the fish stall know? And would they tell me if they did? I think such info is supposed to be displayed on the price label, but compliance with this varies wildly in my experience.

Hmmm, should this be a new thread?

←

Fish conservation in Spain is a very strange area. I once spent a year writing a report on the effects of the EEC on the Spanish fleet. After spending a month on the boats in La Coruna, logging catches, attending auctions etc I went to the ministry in Madrid to get the official figures. Imagine my surprise when they bore no relation whatsoever to the catches landed.I guess that until the Government is happy to take action little will change Certainly in Andalucia I have seen campaigns run against the catching of juvenile fish but these have usually been alongside a few plates of boquerones. What bothers me more is the huge by-catch and the catching of billfish, next time you see marlin on sale in Waitrose please stop to think how many have been left by the longliners.

[anyavon]

The only sensible way to pay 150€ per person at O'Pazo I can think of is ordering marisco. Lots of them. What do you consider 'minimalist'?

I don't consider my disappointing meal by all accounts of last summer at Sant Pau a representative one, given the general recognition achieved by Carme Ruscalleda. Probably they were having a bad day, I was having a bad day, or a combination of both. Nonetheless, I wouldn't go to a "virtuoso modern chef" temple to sample seafood: I go to see what they're up to. Surely, they will have top notch product and they will cook it in the most exquisite ways, no question about it. But if I have an appetite for seafood, I prefer to go to a place where minimal process has been applied to it during its travel from the sea to my plate.

Elkano. Sea view? You have the sea in your plate, what else do you need?

I'm not particularly fond of fish cooked a la gallega. I believe there are better  ways to extract the best qualities of fish, or at least, I enjoy them more. Albeit, charging all Galicia but its most modern chefs with overcooking, and by extension almost every single Galician restaurant in the world, looks like a way too broad statement to me.

I'm sorry I didn't answer your question, Saborosa. Let's see if someone more experienced than I on Asturias and Cantabria can give you some hints.

←

In Asturias in Arriondas, there is Casa Marcial run by a very creative chef, Nacho Manzano. Also in Arriondas is El Corral del Indianu with another creative chef. I had some incredible meals at Corral but I'm hearing it's gone downhill. Has anyone been lately?

There is also a seafood place called Eutimio in Lastres,a very pretty village just above the coast. We had a nice folksy meal there not long ago. Great boquerones and seafood rice.

On Cantabrian coast, there is a place called Meson Marinero but I can't remember the town, it's right on a beach. Not great but fun, locals really seem to like it.

Pedro, for 150 euros p.p. at O'Pazo, we had some cigalas, some gambas de Palamos, almejas de Carril, maybe one other thing, and rodoballo. Which is what one orders there. There were 10 of us so portions came our rather small. Jamon was on the house because Juli Soler was with us. No dessert, nada. And a nice but not fancy wine. It was all fine but breathtaking, no. Certainly not compared to what you'd eat at Ca Sento in Valencia or Etxebarri for less. My feeling about these upmarket Galician marisquerias is that they pretend to be simple and no-frills but many are pretencious in the end. I'm not saying you should alway go to a creative place for seafood but if you're going to pay as much as you would at O Pazo or Botafumeiro or Rias de Galicia in BNA, you might as well...

Agree about Elkano myself but travelers seem to prefer Kaia for the view and the atmosphere.

[Bux]

I don't think I want to take sides in the discussion between those who feel the ultimate meal is one of the most pristine fresh seafood and fish and those who prefer to see the hand of the chef beyond just simply poaching or grilling the fish to a perfect state. I will however back any claim that Ca Sento is insufficiently rewarded by one Michelin star and perhaps still under recognized by two soles from Campsa, though it is a simple restaurant on several levels.

[Rogelio]

On Cantabrian coast, there is a place called Meson Marinero but I can't remember the town, it's right on a beach. Not great but fun, locals really seem to like it.

The town is called Castro Urdiales in the border between Cantabria and the Basque Country.

[nimzo]

Castro is just up the coast from Santurtzi, sardine capital of the Basque country and worth a visit if you like the oily little critters.

[Bernabe]

g_camper make me smile with his final comment 'not fine cuisine, but fine food'. This is what I can say about 'Bar Bolos' in Avenida del Puerto in Valencia. It's amazing to enter in this restaurant, where it's not extrange to see more waiters and cooks than customers, and where you can enjoy fresh fish straight from the Puerto (sea port less than a mile away). If you worry more about the 'ingredients' than 'presentation', stop by. You will love it (and your wallet too). :)

[vserna]

Pedro, for 150 euros p.p. at O'Pazo, we had some cigalas, some gambas de Palamos, almejas de Carril, maybe one other thing, and rodoballo. Which is what one orders there. There were 10 of us so portions came our rather small.

←

Small portions of this, 150 euros per person? Heck, that's the most expensive dinner at O'Pazo - ever!

[JesusBarquin]

I am sorry to be so late in this thread, but I have no doubt that 'Bar FM' in Granada should be in it as a real star, as well as Ca' Sento, Elkano, Kaia, Casa Balbino (Sanlúcar de Barrameda) and some others.