Restaurant Types In Asturias
Spain plays fast and loose with language, much to the chagrin of those of us who need spec-i-fic-i-ty to understand and use our own native language, much less an adopted one. Nowhere is this more in evidence than in how it names (or refuses to name) its eating and drinking establishments. Fortunately, Spain loves to eat and drink, so you are never more than a few meters from something on this list.
For all the confused foreigners just trying to find something to eat and/or drink, I present the complete guide to places to get your grub on in Asturias. Once you've picked your place to eat from here, then check out my guide to Ordering Food and Drinks in Asturias.
Define Your Terms
First, some basic terminology. I am breaking up places to eat and drink into two main categories based on their primary object of consumption.
A restaurant is a place where you as the customer are expected to order food. Certainly you could occupy a table and only order drinks, but everyone (including you) would know that was a bit odd, and definitely rude.
A bar is a place where you as the customer are expected to drink alcohol. Sure, you could go to a bar and have a soft drink or a coffee, but you would be a bit out of place, and everyone (including you) would know that was a bit odd.
Restaurant Group
Here are all of the various types of places you will find in Asturias that are primarily about eating food (as opposed to primarily about drinking alcohol)
Restaurante
This is an actual restaurant. With linen tablecloths, not paper off a roll. Reservations are taken, if not required. Wine lists are offered. Restaurants in Spain do not "turn tables" and usually only have on seating for lunch and one for dinner. This means two things: places fill up faster than in the States, and you are welcome to take your time during and after your meal. Essentially every restaurant in Spain operates the way a very high end one does in the States - multiple courses, dessert(s), coffee, after dinner drinks, and tren maybe the bill.
Parilla
If the Sidrería is halfway between a bar and a restaurant, then a parilla is halfway between a sidrería and a restaurant. There really isn't such a thing as a steakhouse in Spain, but the parilla is a great stand-in. Focused on grilling meat, the portions are generous even by American standards, and most things are served family style and meant for sharing. Strangely enough, these are also the best places to go for proper composed salads. Most salads in Spanish restaurants are desultory affairs; some watery iceberg lettuce, a couple wedges of thick skinned tomato, and a few slivers of raw white onion with bottom of the barrel industrial olive oil and vinegar to dress it. Not so at a Parilla. Here you find salade composée; beds of mixed greens topped with Bonito, white asparagus, hard boiled eggs, sliced marinated piquillo peppers, or other garden vegetables. The star of the show though is the parrillada: the mixed grill that owes quite a bit to Argentinian cooking. Commonly made of beef ribs, perhaps a steak, marinated chicken, sausages (chorizo criollo and morcilla are almost required in Asturias) and presented on a platter that crowds the table by itself, this is a meal meant for a family. A very hungry family.
Marisquería
This is a restaurant that focuses almost entirely on seafood. If you took everything from the Parilla above and swapped in seafood for pork and fishing tat for farming tat, you'd have a marisquería. The best of these are located in fishing towns, sometimes on the docks themselves, and a rare few own their own fishing boats. In these last, the composition of the mariscada (the seafood equivalent of the parrillada, not the Portuguese stew also known as Caldo de Siete Mares) depends entirely on the catch of the day.
Bar
A bar is not a bar, not in Spain. In order to claim that Spain has more bars per capita than anywhere else in the world, you have to stretch the definition of bar to the breaking point. And that is how you get this: A common place to go for a quick breakfast, cheap meal, or a snack before dinner (or the night clubs). Honestly, for the average bar in Spain, serving alcohol is secondary at best. This is the spiritual home of the menu del día. It is, for all intents and purposes, the Spanish version of a diner: There's food that's usually cheap and good. There's coffee. You can sit around for hours and hours. There's beer if you want, and a counter to sit at to drink it.
Bar - Restaurante
Confusingly, this is not a combination of a bar (either Spanish or Anglophone meaning) with a Restaurant. It is instead the most common way to signal that it is a particular type of restaurant meant for the working classes, and often located in or around industrial areas of town. These industrial zones or estates are called in Spain poligonos and all of the businesses useful to the homeowner congregate there.
Cafetería
Also known as a bar-cafetería, this is sort of halfway between a Spanish "bar" (see below) and a coffee shop. I think of it as a Snack Bar for Adults. There is almost never a proper meal available, though there are a lot of easy to make tapas and raciones. Pastries are common, and there might even be some tea bags somewhere. Small sandwiches are usually available. The signature of a cafetería is potato chips. In bags for sale behind the bar, as a free tapa with your beer, on the plate with your tapa regardless of what that tapa is, with every sandwich. Like I said, a snack bar for adults.
The Sidrería
A sidrería is not a restaurant, and not a bar. It is a completely unique experience, and must be experienced to truly understand. The rule of thumb is that it is a place primarily to drink cider, but without a bar to lean on. A full menu is available, but eating a meal is not expected.
Bar Group
Here are all of the various types of places you will find in Asturias that are primarily about drinking alcohol (as opposed to primarily about eating food)
Cervecería
Because the word bar has been so abused, it was necessary to come up with a new word that meant "come here to drink beer". So, the cervecería was born. This is mostly what an American thinks of of when they hear the word "bar" and almost what a Brit thinks of when they hear the word "pub". Expect more than one beer tap, with probably a rotation of local and regional beers. There will almost certainly be a cooler full of Belgian beers, and plenty of places to sit. Sometimes there will be food. Some will be surprisingly good. A sure way to tell is if it looks like the bartenders mom is in the kitchen. Those places are gold. Otherwise, just stick to enjoying the beers.
There is a growing number of cervecerías in Asturias that have passed over into proper Brew Pub territory. Whether it be excellent burgers and fries or artisan pizzas, the number is growing! Not yet enough to warrant its own category, but maybe soon...
Chigre
Think ye olde tavern. But with no beer. Only cider. The chigre is an Asturian institution, a truly local creation, and the closest thing I have found to a British or Irish pub in all of Spain. A chigre is a neighborhood or village social center with alcohol.
Bar de Copas
This is, pure and simple, a cocktail bar. Focused on mixed drinks, not beer, the offerings of the later will tend towards the macro-brewery standards. Ambiance and decor can be as varied as in the States, with the full gamut from "gimlets on the terrace" to "jack and coke under the loudspeakers". It is however, exceedingly hard to find a version that is not populated entirely by under-25s. The concept of a "grown folks club" simply doesn't exist here, as far as I can tell. There is no food to be found except maybe some bar nuts or olives.
Chiringuito
The Spanish beach bar. Somewhat equivalent to a Mexican changarro but without the fresh fruit and grocery rack. Chiringuitos are found at almost all the beaches of the area, the prices are at a premium, but how can you go wrong with cold beer and fried sardines on the sand? Well worth paying the "scenery tax" for. The best chiringuitos serve some variation on fried or grilled seafood, but they all have standard snack bar types of things.
Discoteca
This is what an English speaker would call a club or a nightclub. But please don't use the word "club" in Spain. It always refers not to a discoteca, but to a strip bar / brothel.
