O Curro da Parra

O Curro da Parra is a two-floor granite-walled restaurant on a small cross-street in the Old Town, run by chef Diego Fabián and his partner Sergio. It carries a Michelin Bib Gourmand, has done for several years, and is the room most Santiago locals under forty will send a visiting friend to when the two Michelin stars are either booked out or considered too formal.

The menu is modern Galician with a confident mid-length technique. A salmon marinated in its own skin, served with dashi and pickled daikon; an octopus and chickpea stew with smoked paprika and a crispy garlic oil; a slow-cooked Rubia Gallega rib with mustard and caramelised onion; a tarta de Santiago reimagined as an almond ice cream on a compressed biscuit. The kitchen never reaches for a technique it cannot finish with confidence.

The wine list is sharp and Galicia-focused — three Albariño producers are typically on pour by the glass, the Mencía section is interesting, and the natural-wine row is long for the register. Pricing is fair: full tasting menu with a pairing runs well under one hundred euros per person. The house-made bread, baked daily from a Galician granary blend, is unusually good.

The upstairs dining room holds twenty-four in a more formal register; the downstairs bar seats twelve and takes walk-ins at lunch. Service is Spanish-fluent and confident in three languages. The soundtrack is low-volume jazz and Galician contemporary folk; the acoustics are good for a two-top conversation.

O Curro da Parra is a first-date room that threads the needle — good enough that the cooking is a shared interest for the conversation, casual enough that neither guest has to over-dress, priced fairly enough that it is not making a statement. It also works as a business lunch for two to four in the upstairs dining room.