Churromania-best seafood in town.

So it's Saturday and I still can't get over the fantastic lunch I had Thursday, as THAT'S how good it was.

I stumbled upon this little gem of a place by accident, which only proves that this happenstance was in fact divine intervention. A friend and I were walking through the farmer's market when we see a sign for CHURROMANIA!

On a quest to find the best churros in town we ventured in and asked for some.

The man behind the counter gave us a suspicious stare, and so my friend and I both exchanged a look, wondering, had we committed some sort of cultural faux-pas?

"It is not Churro hour," said the man, "and we don't serve Churros either."

Befuddled, my friend and I ordered a hot chocolate, which is the usual accompaniment for churros here in Spain. As we slowly spooned the thick chocolate into our mouths, we looked around and took in the crowd. All the local vendors, fish, meat, dairy, produce, were piled into this tiny place eating what smelled and looked to be the most delectable seafood. Noticing my salivating mouth, the man across the bar held up a shrimp and asked if I would like one.

"No, no!" I insisted, though a part of me wanted to take him up on the offer.
"This is the best seafood in town," he assured my friend and I.
"You buy fish from the market and then they cook it for you."
Little did this fish vendor know, he had just uttered the magic words to my foodie heart and consequently, changed my life.

Corralling a few of our friends, we returned to the market, to see first-hand, what a place so grossly misnamed, could offer to eat. For the four of us, we bought a half kg of shrimp (camarones), an entire Hake fish (Merluza) which is long and has white meat, and finally, the coup de gras, a half kg of razor clams (navajes). In total, the seafood cost around 20 euro.

After purchasing our goodies we took them to Churromania and handed it to a woman who in turn, handed it to an older woman, the sole person in charge of cooking all the food. The mastermind behind the whole operation. Judging by her apron, hefty arms, and wrinkled face, she was experienced in preparing good meals. Momentarily, I imagined what it would be like to sit at her table, every Sunday, and partake in a meal prepared by her for her family. Heaven, most likely. Anyhow, I'll refer to this woman as, Mama Seafood. After giving it a careful inspection, Mama Seafood shook her head in agreement, and we were told by the younger woman to have a seat, the food would be ready shortly.

One glass of wine later, we were presented with the razor clams. Cooked to perfection, drenched in olive oil, garlic, and salt. It sounds simple, but honestly, it was nothing short of spectacular
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Once our tray was cleaned, we were given our shrimp, which were coated in paprika, making the flesh taste spicy, salty, oily, and sweet.















For the finale, we had Hake.
It's filets pan fried to perfection. The meat, flavorful and tender. It was exactly what Spanish cooking is known for, an understated masterpiece. While, the ingredients couldn't have been more than 4 things, the food was, executed flawlessly. Mama Seafood proved-
ALL Spanish Grandmas CAN cook.




Should you ever find yourself in Santiago, or at least, in a place where a local Grandma is offering to cook you a meal, heed my story, it'll be one of the best meals you'll ever have.