Lonja de Pescado, Cudillero 05-2017

I had read on a blog to eat at the old fish market building which is Lonja de Pescado. As interesting as that sounded, the TA reviews are generally quite average. It's one of the nicest (if not the nicest) looking restaurant in the village. I wasn't really interested in eating there per se, but the menu del dia €17 actually drew me in as it was the most interesting and unique around.

I really wanted to eat the local oricio/erizo/sea urchin and this gave me that opportunity without too much expense (the dish on the a la carte is €17 alone!). One of the signs said menu del dia for a minimum of 2 people, but I asked for 1 and they allowed it (since it was a quiet day for them perhaps).

- Revuelto de merluza y caviar de oricios - a scrambled egg mix with with small chunks of hake and definite segments of sea urchin roe chunks and permeating flavour. The sea urchin had little grainy crunchy bits in it (perhaps a bit of shell or sand?) but not too bothersome. The sea urchin flavour was nice and firm throughout;
- Arroz negro con sepia - this was really strongly flavoured and very salty. After pushing through I asked for lemon which cut threw and balanced it out better (needed to use the equivalent of one whole large lemon for the pan). The rice was nice and very al dente (which I don't mind) but no burnt crust at the bottom (which I prefer). The squid was nice;
- dessert crepe with cream and chocolate sauce - simple, nice chewy crepe.

It wasn't the best menu I've had - the starter was a nice combination of good ingredients but the main was too salty and the dessert very basic (but that's a menu del dia for you!). Nonetheless for the price, it's difficult to complain. I probably wouldn't pick it for a la carte given the prices though. I daresay there would be better value for higher end seafood from El Faro or Opera.