With onions or without? Runny or well done? These are the questions that continue to divide Spanish society when it comes to Spain’s unofficial national dish – tortilla.
But however you like your tortilla, a recent competition has determined which are the ten best tortillas served in bars and restaurants across Spain.
The 14th edition of Spain’s Tortilla de Patata championship took place in Alicante on September 24 where judges determined the rankings and this year the top prize was awarded jointly to chefs who used onion in their recipes.
The top prize was scooped by tortilla served in La Encina Bar Restaurant in Palencia (Castilla y Leon) and in Cañadío restaurant in the northern Spanish city of Santander (Cantabria). Here’s the list of the ten best.
Bar Restaurante La Encina, Palencia
The tortilla served in this Castilla y Leon restaurant has scooped the top prize at the Tortilla Championships four times! Chef Ciri González creates it from a family recipe using potatoes from La Ojeda Palentina, a touch of Palenzuela onion, extra virgin olive oil, abundant eggs, a flavour of salt, all cooked up in grandmother’s frying pan.
This 36-year-old restaurant in Cantabria offers more than just an award winning tortilla, it is also known for its sumptuous cheesecakes and mouth watering mains. The restaurant has two branches, one in Madrid and the other in Santander and customers can enjoy delicious pintxos or a full meal in their main dining room. Cañadio has also been praised for its melange of traditional gastronomy with modern techniques.
This welcoming inn whilst in the province of La Coruña is a relaxed place to enjoy an amazing meal. Headed by Alberto García Get, the restaurant prides itself on its use of high quality ingredients, believing that quality of ingredients is integral to good food. This translates to their juicy tortilla in which they use poultry eggs, kennebec potatoes and olive oil. This is traditional Galician cuisine but with a modern culinary take.
Alfredo García and his wife Maria opened up this cafeteria 50 years ago. Pop in for a morning coffee and one of the capital’s best creamy potato tortillas. For those looking for something more, Sylkar offers seasonal specials which is currently a hearty Madrid stew served on Wednesdays.
Tortillería La Concordia, Logroño
With its speciality being the tortilla itself it comes as no surprise that this restaurant in La Rioja has participated in the Potato Tortilla Championship with Román Marugal Árias as head chef. What sets La Concordia apart is its use of more yolks in their tortillas and their many interesting variations on the traditional tortilla recipe including a lasagne omelette and a squid omelette. However for those that are less adventurous you can still get an equally delicious traditional slice.
Javier Cadario and Antonio Reyes are always producing innovative and quality tortillas at this gastrobar in Murcia. They use local and quality sourced ingredients in order to create their delicious offerings. Some of the more adventurous tortilla options include Galician Octopus or the Truffle and Brie, they are also inclusive offering a vegan tortilla as well. If you’re not completely stuffed after, be sure to try their traditional sweet treats too.
Since 1982, Lorea has been serving up Basque pintxos, sandwiches and tortilla on the Playa de San Juan. This small family establishment with Nerea Sesma Elurbe and Ángela Yohana Landazuri at the helm rustles up the best tortilla in Alicante and is constantly innovating new Basque inspired dishes for its guests.
Cafeteria Pizcueta 14, Valencia
Stepping into this small restaurant one feels immediately welcome due to the kind staff headed by Paz Corral and the fresh and tasty morsels on offer. It serves up a top notch tortilla and guests are immediately reminded of home when they take a bite of something on the daily changing menu. Make sure to save room for one of their homemade desserts as well!
Inspired by traditional Irish pubs, this cosy Basque tavern in Biscay is the perfect place to enjoy a cold beer with a slice of tortilla. With José Luis Valerio Bugallo at the helm, the secret to their tortilla is due to the quality of ingredients and care put into each dish. For those wanting to sample even more, have a try of one of their scrumptious pintxos also on offer.
In Aragon, José Antonio Izanzo Bazco and Pol Ballester offer up juicy tortillas and a clever personalised menu. Achieving the perfect balance of sweet and savoury in each golden slice, it’s obvious why many critics have dubbed it the best in the city. Customers can also enjoy a completely personalisable egg dish where you can choose the type of egg (free-range, truffled, chicken, duck, goose or ostrich), the way to cook it, the type of potatoes (fried, baked or puree), and the accompaniment (ham, mussels, foie gras, wild sausages, cockles,eels, etc.)
READ MORE: