Updated November 2025 for mid-range eateries

Galician food makes my heart flutter – the piping hot pimientos del padrón, raxo smothered in roquefort sauce, fresh-caught shellfish displayed  in every window of every bar on every street.

There are two reasons I used to spend my summers in Coruña, crossing my fingers that there will be little rain: one is because it’s way cooler, and the other because the food is incredible.

Even though I spend the majority of time eating in the camp cafeteria, the other teachers and I get the chance to actually go out and get some good food in our bellies. Before I tell you where, you need a primer in typical coruñés fare:

What is typical comida gallega?

Galician fare is rustic, somewhat basic but hearty and fresh. Think seafood, grass-fed meats and sweet pastries.

• polbo a la feira – boiled octopus served over boiled potatoes with olive oil and paprika
• navajas – razor clams that are pan seared and often served with lemon
• pimientos del padrón – flash-fried green peppers. As the saying goes, some are spicy, others are not
• empanada gallega – a pasty, most often stuffed with tuna or ground beef with peppers and onions
• percebes – goose barnacles. I didn’t like them on my first run and now love them!
• raxo – marinated pork loin, typically served with potatoes
• zorza – spicy ground pork, treated with paprika and marinated in other spices
• queso tetilla con membrillo – creamy ‘tit cheese’ served with a quince paste for dessert.

While I worked at the summer camp for five summers running, I made a list of my favorite places that were the 3Bs: bueno, bonito y barato. Essentially, where can I get a decent meal on a summer camp salary? Below are my faves that will cost you 10-30€ per person, updated for 2025:

Best for cheap eats (but plenty of ambience): La Bombilla (Calle de la Galera, 7)

Javi picked us up from the airport high above Coruña’s city center and promised us a surprise. We elbowed our way up to the counter, toasted to new friendships and chose tapas of off the short menu – tortilla, milanesa and croquetas the size of a baseball. La Bombilla, with its turn-of-the-century-esque bar and cheap thrills (aka tapas for just a 1,60€ apiece), is a staple in Coruña and one of my favorites. Locals sidle up to the bar at seemingly all hours of the day, so be sure to arrive early for lunch or dinner, or you’ll be forced to grab a plastic plate and find a place to sit on the ground outside.

I took my kids here for a quick bite a few summers ago, and they loved the huge ball of croqueta! 

Best menú del día: Casa Rincón de Alejandro (P.º Marítimo Alcalde Francisco Vázquez, 6, located inside the Club Naútico)

Oftentimes, a menú del día, the Spanish equivalent of a three-course meal, is too much for me to eat. But everytime I’m in Coruña, I’ll skip breakfast in favor of the views of the port and across the bay to Santa Cristina beach from the yacht club. While the food is often billed as generic (think caldo gallego or a mixed salad for firsts), it’s served fresh and in heaping portions. What really makes the meal is the atmosphere, with the sea breeze ruffling your napkin and the sun peeking around the enormous glass building.

A weekday menú will run you about 16,50€.

Best Galician meats: Parillada Alcume (Calle Galera, 44)

After all those rounds of pulpo and empanada, I need meat. When it comes down to it, I am a corn- and beef-fed Midwesterner, so I can’t pass up on a parrillada, or a restaurant where meats are grilled over open coals. I’d passed Alcume loads of times, as it’s just off the shopping district, but it wasn’t until a camp vegetarian suggested its mixed plate of meaty good that we decided to try it.

You know it’s good when even the veggie-lover wants to go. We often have to wait to sit down, particularly at the wooden tables outside, but filling ourselves to the brim with sausages and flank steaks makes it worth it. And it’s a lot easier to identify the parts than it is in the camp cafeteria.

Best breakfast: Pan0delino Rúa Rosalía de Castro, 7

Pan de Lino’s inviting bakery counter, beautifully mismatched furniture and organic menu is a nice change from the old man bars I usually frequent. The service is iffy, but as long as you’re accompanied with friends and something delicious, you can let it go. They also prepare gourmet gift baskets and can deliver to you on a lazy weekend.

Open daily from 8:30 a.m., 9:00 a.m. on weekends.

Best seafood: A Mudiña (Rúa Real 77)

The cream of Galicia’s crop is, without a doubt, its shellfish. As has become tradition, we take our camp cash to the nearest marisquería for a mariscada, or a seafood smorgasboard. I’m sure there are places that are much better (and thus more expensive!), but we group into three and split a 60€ heap of shellfish with a bottle of crisp albariño wine. The kitchen is open, and you can watch the robust cook hack away at crab legs. If you’re on a budget, state your price and ask what you can get for that price.

Open Monday-Saturday for lunch and dinner. Closed Sundays.

There are loads of other places I’ve tried – a hidden Mexican joint with great margaritas, an Indian place with an affordable menú, nondescript holes-in-the-wall whose names I’ve long forgotten. Then there are the places I’d love to try, like Spoom’s creative cuisine. But, somehow, the appeal of one euro tapas, a sushi conveyer belt and the tried and true always win out. But really, I’ll go anywhere I see an upturned octopus in the window.

Have you ever been to La Coruña and have any places to recommend? If you liked this post, you can download an offline version of the article with the GPSMyCity app!