🇪🇸 Santander Affordable Food & Seafood

1️⃣ Restaurante Bodegas Mazón Rabas | €6.5 (half portion) A classic starter—these fried calamari rings are soft and tender, and even the half portion is generous and delicious! Orejas | €11 Fried pig ears with a smoky, bacon-like flavor, served with crispy potato chips. Surprisingly not greasy at all—highly recommend! When I ordered this, the older waiter praised my good taste 😂 Little did he know, us Chinese just get good food! 2️⃣ Mesón Rampalay Mejillones | €4.25 (half portion) Cold appetizer: mussels in grape vinegar, mixed with onion bits. It’s super fresh and zesty, but if you don’t like sour flavors, this might not be for you. Pulpo A la Gallega | €9.5 (half portion) Galician-style octopus—different from what I imagined! It’s boiled, not grilled, and served with salty potato slices. The octopus legs are totally non-fishy, with just a lovely olive oil aroma. Chipirones A la Plancha | €15.9 Pan-seared squid, cooked to perfection. The freshness of the ingredient really shines through 🥰 This is definitely on my list to revisit when I come back to Santander in summer! 3️⃣ Gomez Fusión Pinchos Regañás de pulpo | €1.7 This pincho has a weirdly hard, black “cracker” base—so unique! Pinchos Ibérico tomato | €1.7 Iberian ham with tomato—super flavorful and tasty 😋 Cocido montañés | €12.5 A famous Cantabrian dish, “mountain stew,” with pork, blood sausage, white beans, black pudding, etc. It’s like a big bowl of “comfort food baby puree”—I polished it off in no time 🤗 4️⃣ Casa Lita We picked two pinchos—they’d just finished making them, one with shrimp and one with fish (probably sea bass). They bring you potato chips when you order drinks. This tapas bar has such a great vibe—super busy at lunchtime! Pinchos | €3.2 More about Santander city in the next post! #EuropeanHiddenGems #SchengenTravel #SantanderSpain #SpainTravel #SchengenRoadTrip #SpanishHiddenGems