A Piece of Galician Cuisine at Casa de Tapas Cañota

Location: Barcelona, Spain

Cuisine: Spanish and Galician

Finding good restaurants in Barcelona is difficult… not because there isn’t good food of course! But because you can only really rely on personal recommendations. This is why very old-fashioned restaurants tend to be the best because they’ve been tested time and time again. But, Victor’s parents did find a relatively fun, contemporary restaurant called Casa de Tapas Cañota. It’s a quirky place because of its cartoonish charm, but the food is good, the staff are friendly, and you’ll be highly entertained by the menu!

Although, while the restaurant looks and feels contemporary, many of the dishes are traditional, in a good way! They are a mostly Galician restaurant but offer tons of typical Spanish tapas too. They also have some more unique tapas, and they claim that through their different and creative tapas you can reach “nirtapa”. For example, they often have a guest chef that creates a new temporary tapa, so you’ll never know what options you’ll have each time you visit.

We started with, of course, Bravas de patata gallega (“Spicy potatoes” made from Galician potatoes). Galician potatoes are known to be the best potatoes in Spain, and it certainly came through for us.

The second dish that came our way was a lot less familiar but so incredibly delicious. We had Salmorejo blanco. Salmorejo is a purée/soup-type dish made of tomatoes and bread. It originates from Cordoba in Andalucia, southern Spain. But Salmorejo blanco (“white”) omits the tomatoes and is just made with bread, garlic, oil, salt and oftentimes almonds. It may sound too simple to be so yummy, but let me tell you, it blew us all away.

For our seafood pickings, we chose navajas (razor clams) and mejillones (mussels). Both were excellent: fresh and simple, just the way I like it.

We then had Galician octopus, one of the most famous dishes from Galicia that many Spanish restaurants offer. It’s because it’s just so good! The octopus was perfectly cooked, and the seasonings were just right.

And finally, we had an interesting dish called Txangurro tortilla (“spider crab omelette”). Txangurro is the Basque term for spider crab, and these crabs are often caught from the Bay of Biscay. Spider crabs are known for their delicate meat and superb flavour, so its inclusion in the omelette elevated it to new heights.

Needless to say, we were incredibly stuffed after all this wonderful food. The food is delicious, and the place is fun. I personally enjoy the various illustrations and extremely cheesy puns.