Typical Gastronomy in Santiago de Compostela

Galicia is know for is cuisine, made with traditional recipes, tasty products and quality ingredients. That is why you should make a stop in Santiago to try is famous gastronomy, that includes meat, vegetables and sea food. Its cuisine is traditional, with recipes that has been transfer throug generations, andnowadays we are also finding more nouvelle cuisine, the old ingredients and plates with a twitch that brings new flavours and textures to your palate and is bringing a worldwide popularity to the Galician Cuisine.

Seafood is so importan here, that the symbol of the city and the pilgrims is a scallop (Vieira) shell, a delicious molusc, with a big size that can be prepared in many ways.

Octopus (Pulpo) is other symbol of Galician cuisine. Its taste and texture is so good that the original recipe just need some olive oil, salt and paprika to enhace the taste of the octopus.

Barnacles (Percebes), even if they are quite rare and expensive in the rest of Spain, in Galicia can be easily found in restaurants or markets, recently pulled out from the rocks in Costa da Morte.Other essential shellfish includes spider crabs, oysters and king prawns.

But is not just seafood what you can find in Galicia, its meat is tender and tasty and the most typical is beef. Probably, the quality of this beef meat is related to the way those cows are raised, usually with a lot of freedom in big fields of grass, that keeps being green and full of food for the animals thanks to the climate.

Do not forget to try the Galician pasty,filled with almost any ingredient like meat, fish, vegetables... The most traditional filler for this pasty is the vegetarian one, that includes tomato and peppers. And talking about peppers! The most typical peppers in the area are the Padrón Peppers, that“some are spicy and others not”.

To finish your meal, the best option is the home-made desserts: rice pudding or custard, tetilla cheese, or the famous Santiago Almond cake or Santiago Chestnut Cake, and all this fit perfectly with a galician wine like Ribeiro or Albariño.

Contact us if you want to visit Santiago with us! We can also arrange a gastronomic tour four you.