Eat Like Ushi

I've wanted to go to this seafood festival for many years now, since about 2012 when I first read about it and was planning some food holidays. Unfortunately it never happened, mainly because I like travelling in September and so going in early October can be difficult. But finally, the stars aligned and I managed to get there in 2019.

After flying into Santiago de Compostela and driving down to the lovely seafood town of O Grove, I realised that tourists really don't go there. There was us 2 tourists, and we met one Dutch journalist who was passing through for work. Every single other person was Spanish.

The seafood market in O Grove is small, but has lots of high quality ingredients at reasonable prices. I only had a short lunch to cook some razor clams, percebes and scallops. I would have liked to stay longer and take advantage, but maybe that's for another time.

The town is obsessed by seafood with homages to the crustacean located around the place.

How was the fiesta then? Average unfortunately. Despite all the great local ingredients, only a select few are presented at the fiesta and only cooked in specific ways. There's some impromptu groups of people singing and dancing, and at night there was some reggaeton singers for the underage smokers and drinks (and the older ones at the back) for more entertainment.

Don't get me wrong, the seafood isn't bad, on the contrary it is decent quality, but there was nothing special there that I haven't seen before. The local mussels are large and delicious and the arroz (rice) and fideos (noodles) were full of flavour. Also the bread was excellent, but it's not great if that's a highlight in a seafood place. Razor clams were ok, clams and mussels small but flavoursome (oysters better). The scallops were tiny little things grilled and shrivelled. Considering the quality and breadth of the market, couldn't they have expanded the dishes a bit more? There was also a lobster tank and another crustacean I've never seen before (can't remember the name) but they weren't being served. The tease.

There's also commerative earthern ware and cups to take home for the memories.

I'm glad I've tried it, but I won't be back for the fiesta. Maybe just Galicia again for the seafood markets to enjoy.

Apparently D'Berto was rated the Top Seafood Restaurant in Spain 2014. That's a huge accolade considering the seafood quality in Spain generally, particularly in Madrid and Galicia. I had been somewhat underwhelmed by the seafood fiesta in O Grove, and although part of me wanted to buy seafood to cook at home, part of me also wanted to go to a restaurant to see what they could do (in what would be probably the last night in O Grove for my lifetime).

Then there was the choice between restaurants, the more standard ones with standard prices, or D'Berto with its reputation and premium prices. I managed to get a Saturday night booking by calling on Friday. Considering it was the seafood fiesta opening weekend, there's a few interpretations - it really isn't that busy a town anyway, or people are happy eating locally rather than paying premium. Maybe a bit of both.

After finding a street carparking spot (not realising until a few minutes later they have their own private carpark), we walked past the front and were immediately confronted by very large crustaceans. The lobsters and langoustines in the tank were enormous, almost certainly the biggest I've ever seen. Once walking inside, some huge clams and percebes were in the display also.

The wait staff spoke English and were very friendly. Essentially they have no limits - order as little as you want of each dish and they will do it for you. Flexibility is always appreciated.

- Galcian broth €6;
- Oysters €4 each and Warty venus clams (carneiro) €2.5 each - both were good with nice flavour. The clams weren't as big (they seemed to not give us the giant ones) or as strong as those I have in London. It was one of the few places where I've preferred the oysters over the clams. I thought the clams were the spiky shelled ones (but I was clearly wrong);
- Percebes grande from Cedeira €19.8 for 100g - quite large, but not the biggest they had there. The largest one served was about thumb sized. It was definitely more satisfying than the thin types I got from the seafood fiesta. They were also cooked in very salty water, maybe just a little too much;
- Crab (necora) €27 - this tiny crab was coated in salt and had crystals on the shell. It made it difficult to eat and stung our lips. I mentioned it to them and they didn't really say anything. I probably should have been more insistent;
- Clams to the Frying Pan €15 for half portion - standard. Didn't need both these and the raw clams;
- Scallops "The Original" €6 for 2 - these were actually very nice grilled (with butter I think) scallops that retained their thickness through the grilling. Very good;
- Fried lobster (bogavante) €44 for 500g - the smallest lobster they had, which was fried in butter. Very nice too. Oddly served with freshly fried chips, that weren't cooked properly such that several were stuck together and therefore soft;
- Cheesecake (tarta de queso) €7 - unusual in that it had a very strong milk flavour to it.

For €159.3 for 2 people, there was good variety but it just didn't seem worth the money. I suppose it feels like they are priding themselves on the size rather than the cooking quality. In fact most things are raw, boiled in very salty water, and the few extras are fried (which is a bit better). For comparison, I'd have to say Ramiro in Lisbon is better (https://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/cervejaria-ramiro-lisbon-10-2013).

I was disappointed to find they also had charged €1.5pp for the bread and €2 for tap water. That is not a standard in the region and probably should have limited my tip. Oh well. I won't be back.

I actually wanted to go to the gelato place across the road (Heladeria Encantadas y Dulces), but for some reason it wasn't going to be open for another 30mins (and this was 4.30pm). There didn't seem to be much point waiting and the quality at Ravello looked adequate.

Forest fruits (frutas del bosque) and hazelnut (avellana) were alright and filled the need. Just as we finished, the other one opened.

In Galicia, empanadas are not the same as what the rest of the world thinks. Here they are large pies essentially, and filled with local ingredients like seafood.

There aren't many bakeries in O Grove, but Castro's seems to have the nod with also all the locals queuing there for their morning bread each day. They probably don't get a lot of tourists, because even the locals seemed amused/surprised to find me there (and speaking some Spanish).

I tried the cockles (berberechos) empanada €12 - a thick buttery pastry with lots of cockles filling the inside. It had good flavour. My only small gripe was it was quite gritty too.

Upon leaving at the end of the trip, I had a mussels (mejillones) €7 to go. Although the local mussels are great, these were slightly less in terms of quality and flavour (obviously used for this purpose) but still good. And not gritty either.

If I'm ever in the area (which is quite unlikely to be honest), I will be back at that bakery.