Javier Montero and Tita Iglesias are not newcomers to the world of cooking. He belongs to a hospitality saga, which emerged in the historic Hotel Restaurante Montero de Mondoñedo, with more than half a century of experience in A Mariña, the region that covers the entire coast of the province of Lugo. He later passed through the kitchens of Marcelo Tejedor and Toñi Vicente, complementing his training with stints with Santi Santamaría, Salvador Gallego and Andrés Madrigal.
Tita, for her part, comes from another professional sector and joined the gastronomic sector when she met Javier, beginning a specialization in the field of wine that continues to this day. Together they opened a first location in A Coruña that shortly after gave way to Texturas Galegas, a space that operated for years in the heart of Santiago de Compostela.
Returning to their native region, they opened the Javier Montero Hotel Restaurant in 2018. On the outskirts of Ribadeo, a stone’s throw from the Asturian border and just a 5-minute walk from the coastal cliffs, this old renovated house is home to its restaurant, but also to a small charming hotel and its own home. ; a universe closed in itself, an oasis during the brief but intense tourist season, in which the couple is in charge of the restaurant, but also of managing the accommodation or breakfasts. With the help of only one other person in the kitchen, we are talking about a personal project in the strictest sense of the term.
A Mariña is an area that is not very well known, in gastronomic terms, outside of Galicia; an area with tourism that is not yet, fortunately, massive; a region without large population centers, which traditionally remained somewhat in the shadow of the power of the image of the Rías Baixas or destinations such as A Coruña or Santiago de Compostela. This has meant, however, that it has preserved a marked personality and currently retains signs of gastronomic identity that make it an area worth exploring to see beyond the clichés.
In fact, many people know some of its gastronomic icons, such as the hake from the port of Celeiro, the tuna from Burela or the Mondoñedo pie without linking them to the name of the region, an area with immense fishing potential and which, in a few kilometers , goes from the coastal level to mountain areas, which has given rise to a miniature productive universe, an ecosystem that allows us to jump, in just a few minutes, from the production of barnacles or sea urchins to mountain honey or livestock of native breeds.
This is where this couple has given shape to their particular proposal; there, behind those white walls that barely allow you to guess what’s inside, a kitchen has taken shape that does not try to prove anything and that escapes boasting, a job that, in the words of Javier, the cook and 50% of the project “is looking for another pace and offer what we know how to do, at our scale; a project for the future.”
The restaurant, on the ground floor, is small and cozy, with just half a dozen tables and a booth open to the garden that in the summer hosts a few more tables when the weather permits. Upstairs, four rooms that are the perfect complement for those who want to stay for dinner, without rushing, and enjoy a pleasant breakfast the next day immersed in the absolute tranquility of this house far away, but just a step away, from the hustle and bustle of the town center.
As for the cuisine proposal, some key elements: products from the region, a significant presence of fish and seafood, as could not be otherwise here, a few kilometers from the two main fishing ports in northern Galicia, and a careful selection, by Tita, of wines from small producers, sometimes little-known references that she locates and selects based on the cuisine they propose.
Their winter menus begin with a cup of traditional chicken broth, without any update, so that the aroma of home cooking, of traditional cuisine, tunes in and gets the diner into the situation. The next step continues in the same line of flavors as always, updating the classic Galician cod empanada, now offered in a two-bite panipuri. The appetizers finish with a classic Galician beef steak tartare on a brioche. The fundamental pillars of a cuisine that is born from an academic background and that focuses on local products without losing sight of the usual cuisine presented in three bites that mark the main lines of the menu.
Cockles, one of the chef’s iconic products, huge, barely open. They maintain intact that meaty texture that explodes in the mouth and are accompanied by a light gin and tonic foam that, when combined with the seafood juices, wraps everything in saline, slightly bitter, acidic and aperitif nuances.
Lobster in tempura, cauliflower in textures and crusty bread with allada, the iconic sauce from the Galician recipe book based on garlic, paprika and olive oil; a dish that explores the local pantry by combining one of its products traditionally considered the most noble – the lobster, with an impeccable frying that provides crunch without subtracting an iota of juiciness – with another of the most humble, a cauliflower that accompanies and wraps without subtracting leadership.
Grilled sea bass, spinach and onion soup. The scheme is, once again, the same: a high-quality seafood product, a perfect cooking point and a couple of elements that cover it from the background, in this case some locally produced spinach, which the cook buys at the market. from the town and that come from a garden a few kilometers away, smooth, full of flavor, cooked just enough so that they maintain a certain crunch without being raw and a soft onion soup in the background. The presence of bread is very appreciated here, one of those usual loaves that they bring from a traditional bakery in Mondoñedo, to dip in the soup, once again like in a restaurant.
Grouper, roasted eggplant and kale. Again a fish that is the center and the local garden as a comparsa, in this case an eggplant that provides slightly bitter, almost earthy nuances, and a curly, fried and crunchy kale leaf. On this occasion we dispensed with meat, but there is always some on the menu. like the veal with chestnuts and perogourdine sauce or the beef tail with foie, roasted eggplant and demiglace from previous visits. Once again the product of the area passed through a slight filter of academic cuisine.
A more refreshing first dessert, with ginger, basil, mojito ice cream and to finish, a classic brioche torrija, accompanied by vanilla cream and coffee ice cream. And, above all, the feeling that somehow everything fits here; that you are in Tita and Javier’s house, who propose what they know how to do, what they enjoy cooking, what the market that day is setting, without having to be aware of trends or what others are doing.
That of the Javier Montero restaurant is a product cuisine, in the sense that it is very attentive to the markets and fish markets in the surrounding area, but also because it is the product in which it is at the absolute center of each dish on its menus; It is a seasonal cuisine, without fear of integrating more humble vegetables, such as cauliflower, collard greens or spinach along with noble fish or seafood. And it is a personal kitchen, which reveals the chef’s background and brings it to the area in which they work.
I am increasingly convinced that, at least outside the big cities, the future lies in projects like this, small scale and with a differentiated character; family businesses that are not born burdened by the weight, increasingly difficult to sustain for many, of the permanently rising costs of hypertrophied structures that, in small places, with a very marked seasonality, can be, as in fact they have unfortunately been For many, a slab that is too heavy.
I think that these types of restaurants, small and manageable, in which a couple, a couple of partners, little more, demonstrate everything they have learned and take it to their field, places like so many of those we have talked about in these pages, like Gunea , Tohqa, Lándua, Cuzeo, Monte and a long etcetera, like the extreme case of La Forquilla, in Barcelona, ??each one the result of their circumstances and with their own personality, but with a common thread, that of a more human scale, the of a life project that includes the restaurant, but is not just the restaurant, they are already an essential piece to understand the restaurant scene in Spain, but they will be, even more, those that define its future.
Along these lines, the Javier Montero restaurant must be understood as the result of a solid background that materializes in a present that looks to the future in terms of quality of life; as a proposal that brings different approaches and measured doses of updating to an area that is culinary reclaimed. But also as the perfect excuse for a gastronomic getaway – the restaurant is less than 90 minutes from Oviedo, Gijón, A Coruña or Lugo – to delve into a pantry, that of A Mariña, which is a permanent surprise and to confirm that they are Projects like this, small but unapologetic, are making cuisine increasingly plural and diverse, and this is reflected in territorial dispersion. It is worth visiting A Mariña for many reasons. And one of them is the Javier Montero restaurant