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You are here: Home / Asturias / Best Bites in Asturias

Best Bites in Asturias

August 24, 2015 Lauren Aloise 6 Comments

food from Asturias Spain: The best bites and what you have to try!
Typical foods from Asturias

Oh Asturias– where to even start? The meats? The cheeses? The seafood? The cider? This incredible part of northern Spain is as amazing as everyone told me it would be. From the bright green mountains with free range cattle grazing, to the tiny mountain towns with some of the best home cooked stews you’ll ever try, and the brightly colored seaside fishing villages where you’d be a fool not to order one of everything on the menu… Asturias really does have it all.

And did I try it all? Not even close.

I had a long list of traditional foods from Asturias that I wanted to taste while there, but left after six days with only about half of them checked off. Looks like another trip will be in order! For now, I’ll leave you with my best bites– the dishes that I’m still dreaming about from afar.

Cheat Sheet: The Best Bites in Asturias (this time!)

  1. Cabrales Cheese by Francisco Bada
  2. Asturian hard cider
  3. Mejillones picantes at Sidreria Carroceu
  4. Arroz con leche requemado
  5. Chipirones a la plancha
  6. Carbayones in Luarca
  7. Mariscada at Restaurante Guernica
  8. Fabes con Cabrito at Café Cares

Cabrales Blue Cheese

The award winning Cabrales  blue cheese from Asturias was one of the best foods I tasted in northern Spain.
Award winning Cabrales cheese

I first fell in love with Cabrales cheese when I moved to Madrid, where there are lots of Asturian immigrants. Madrid is filled with Asturian restaurants and bars– many quite authentic. Never a huge fan of blue cheeses previously (little did I know they are pretty much the best cheeses ever!), I was hesitant to taste what many described as a mouth-numbing blue cheese. But it only took one bite to fall head over heels with the intense and creamy Cabrales cheese. Hooked ever since, I knew I wanted to visit a cheesemaker when visiting the Cabrales region, and where better than the award winning family-run Quesería Francisco Bada? We tasted a cheese that had been cured deep in Francisco’s nearby cave for nine months– when the average is only two! It was soft and creamy, and oh so amazing. An absolute must try (if you can find it!).

Sidra Asturiana

Asturian cider is one of the best Spanish drinks to try in Northern Spain.
Tasting cider at Trabanco

I grew up loving Massachusetts apple cider from the local apple orchards (which is a very sweet unfiltered apple juice with spices), but at the same time hating the apple juice from the supermarket. So I wasn’t sure if I’d like the Asturian hard ciders (known for being very dry and quite yeasty). But oh how I love them! I drank plenty of cider during our trip– and how could I not when a bottle in a restaurant costs around €2.40? We saved lots of money on the trip thanks to cider!

Learn how to pour Asturian cider in Madrid (and try plenty!) on the Ultimate Spanish Cuisine Tour!

Mejillones Picantes

Delicious spicy Spanish mussels at an Asturian cider house-- a must try!
Spicy mussels at a cider house

The mussels from northern Spain are some of the best I’ve ever tried so when we saw them on menus as picante (spicy) we just had to try them. Usually when something in Spain claims to be spicy, it’s not– but these were an exception. The best we had were from a small sidrería in Ribadasella, a gorgeous fishing village with lots of local chigres (Asturian cider houses).

Sidreria El Carroceu: Marqués de Argüelles, 25, Ribadesella, Asturias

Arroz con Leche Requemado

Asturian rice pudding with a caramelized crust is absolutely to die for! One of the must-try foods in Asturias.
Rice pudding with a caramelized crust

I’ve always loved anything with a caramelized sugar crust, and creamy Asturian arroz con leche (rice pudding) is no exception. Most restaurants caramelize theirs with a hot iron, which adds a layer of smokiness that you don’t get using a blowtorch.

Chipirones a la Plancha

Asturias has amazing seafood-- here are some delicious grilled squid at a cider house in Ribadesella.
Delicious grilled squid at a cider house

Another of my cider house favorites! Asturias’ seaside villages all seemed to offer raciones of small squid called chipirones. The best we tried were again from our favorite Ribadasella cider house, El Carroceu!

Carbayones Pastries

Asturias food is also sweet-- here are some local Asturian pastries called Carbayones
The delicious Carbayones almond pastries in a local shop

We arrived in Luarca absolutely ravenous, and one of the first places we passed was one of the town’s many pastry shops. Not usually one to swoon over Spanish pastries, these caught my eye and I took a quick picture to remember the name. I never expected they’d make it to my list of best bites! Consisting of a thin layer of puff pastry, a sweet almond and egg yolk filling, and a sugary glaze– these carbayones are a sweet lover’s dream!

Mariscada

Shellfish is one of the must try foods in Asturias-- check out this seafood platter.
The most incredible lobster!

For days on end all I wanted was to eat a good mariscada (a heaping platter of local shellfish).  But the restaurants I had on my list were all booked (a danger of visiting during peak tourism season). Finally, I managed to get a lunchtime reservation at Luanco’s highly rated Restaurante Guernica– this was our day to splurge. The owner himself greeted us and brought us over to a table overlooking the sea and the mountains. This is what I’d been waiting for. We ordered a platter of shellfish (pictured) followed by another platter of fish– did I mention the portions in Asturias are ridiculous?! Too much food for sure, but some of the most delicious seafood I’ve ever had. The local lobster was one of the best I’ve ever tried, with a flavor so different from the Maine lobsters I’m used to. This is a dish worth traveling for!

Restaurante Guernica: Calle de la Riba, 20, 33440 Luanco, Asturias

Fabes con Cabrito

Beans with stewed goat is a typical stew in Asturias.
Delicious beans and stewed goat

After touring the Cabrales cheese caves, we took cheesemaker Francisco’s advice on lunch. He’d told us to stop at Café Cares “a place with a real chef” he told us. For €15 we enjoyed a menú, and the first course consisting of local beans with stewed goat was the hearty mountain food I’d been craving.

Café Cares: Arenas de Cabrales

Six days of eating around the clock and yet so much more to try!

Have you visited Asturias? What was your best bite?

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Lauren Aloise
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Lauren Aloise

Professional eater, writer, cook, food tour operator. Fascinated by food and its history. Loves: a gooey slice of tortilla, fish markets, homemade cocktails, train travel. Hates: Overhyped restaurants, wine snobs, long menus, mediocrity. Check out my food tours at www.devourtours.com.
Lauren Aloise
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Asturias, Best Bites

Comments

  1. Linda says

    August 24, 2015 at 10:11 pm

    I had the HUGE privilege of visiting one of those caves where the cheeses are matured. I couldn’t believe it. It was an honor! We can never get Cabrales here in the Canary Islands. …. but that just makes another reason to go back to Asturias!

    Reply
    • Lauren Aloise says

      August 24, 2015 at 10:28 pm

      Yes, we will also be posting about the incredible experience! The caves are amazing– so much bigger than I thought! I can’t believe you can’t find Cabrales in the Canaries– I figured someone would import it! Then again, any excuse to return to Asturias is a good one!

      Reply
  2. Trevor Huxham says

    August 25, 2015 at 2:16 am

    So many good dishes in Asturias!! You guys will have to go back in the winter to warm up with a comforting bowl of fabada 😉

    Reply
    • Lauren Aloise says

      August 26, 2015 at 2:57 pm

      Yes– definitely! We had one fabada while there, and while good, it wasn’t GREAT! And I know it can be… 🙂

      Reply
  3. Jose says

    June 10, 2016 at 12:26 pm

    The fabas came from America, the Carbayones were invented by “Camilo Blas” bakery from Oviedo

    Reply

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  1. What to Eat in Spain in March - Spanish Sabores says:
    March 2, 2016 at 9:20 pm

    […] opening of the first sidra barrels of the year is celebration with a weekend-long festival to all things Asturias: Cabrales cheese, chorizo and plenty of folk dancing all accompanied by glass after glass (or […]

    Reply

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