MadridEating; Cocina Tradicional Gallega

When Adam took time off to catch up he made it a point to make sure we ate and drank well !!! So we hit places where locals & expatriates would “hang out” for  a drink or more and enjoy great food. Simply put, he brought us to places where you could only eat if you spoke fluent Spanish. This time he brought us to a newly opened Galician restaurant in Madrid Centro – Moaña.

Espaza Enxebre has a total of 4 restaurants throughout Spain, serving Natural & Ecological food at reasonable prices. The healthy way to go. Galicia is known as the land of a thousand rivers. The rivers form the “Rias” as they travel through the region from the inland mountains to the coasts. Galician seafood is well known worldwide. The out flowing rivers creating the “Rias”  makes up the unique flavour for the seafood produced, notably it’s shellfish. Seafood like their cockles, mussels and octopus has a particular essence that cannot be rivaled throughout the world. Like the prized Percebes !!! Truly the best sea creature I have and will ever taste in this lifetime … but, everything good comes with a price. Shellfish harvested in Galicia are almost double in price compared to the rest of Spain. That is why for you to have a taste of the best from Spain at a reasonable price, Espaza Enxebre should absolutely be on the itinerary. Traditional Galician cuisine at a good price.

We were treated to a Spanish favourite, pulpo, simply put, octopus. When we entered the restaurant, we were greeted at the door by a lady who was snipping a big tub of freshly cooked octopus with a pair of scissors. This is always a good sign !!!

In Asia, when you think of octopus, you think of Japanese food, you think of Tako and you can only imagine it being bouncy and chewy. That is usually how they have it in a way. However once you have pulpo, your concept of these eight legged sea creatures will change forever. Rich seafood flavour bursts into your mouth with every bite and it is so so tender ….. mmmm ….. seriously … The tender texture came as quite a shock to me … and yurp, obviously I keep going on and on …. hahaaa …

The octopus is blanched and refresh like how the chicken for the Hainanese Chicken Rice is done. Then it is boiled with the potatoes, and you know that the pulpo is ready once the potatoes are cooked through. Simply fantastic.

They have a very extensive menu, but we only tried the pulpo as we still had a long day ahead. But I am very sure I would head back there when I am in Madrid.

Happy Fooding !!!