Fish and seafood at the foot of the Asturian beach of Vega
Product cuisine and a masterful mastery of the coals are the keys to understanding Abel's cuisine, which materializes in a menu focused exclusively on fish and shellfish.
The facade of Gueyu Sea (güeyu means eye in Asturian), crowned by a monumental king, a fish that many Asturians feel practically as much theirs as cider and which is also Abel's fetish fish, it is just a preview of the first thing that awaits when crossing the threshold of the door: a showcase in which the spectacular fish of the day are exhibited – most of them large.
Kings, groupers, turbot, sole, sea bass or monkfish abound, depending on the time of year. “Here fish is the main product, it doesn't have to taste too grilled. Grilling is a way of cooking, it's one more ingredient, but I don't like very smoked fish, there has to be a lot of subtlety” says the Spaniard.
And precisely that raw material of the best quality –from the aristocratic grouper to the humble sardines–, cooked with that subtlety that is so difficult to achieve and that he embroiders in each dish with his mixture of talent, dedication and experience on the grill, has placed Güeyu Mar very deservedly on the map of the best grills in Spain.
Experience is vital to be able to cook fish on the grill at the level that Abel does
An example of Abel's know-how is that his restaurant is recommended, among others, in the Michelin guide and the Repsol guide , as well as in the list of 100 Best Restaurants in Europe 2019 prepared by OAD (Opinionated About Dining) .
The relatively short menu includes starters from the house as well as lobster salad or grilled sardines canned seafood such as barnacles or crabs and fish like the mere, the king –it is essential to try it–, or turbot.
The wine list, with hundreds of references, is to get lost in it. In it we find everything from wines from Cangas, the only wine region in the Principality, to wines from the rest of Spain –from Galicia to the Canary Islands–, as well as international wines.
Remarkable is also the service of varied breads, which includes the classic wheat bread , but also honey, chestnut or corn bread , among others, a delight when bathed in the extra virgin olive oil that is always on the table.
The apparent simplicity of his dishes, which are presented with hardly any dressings, with fish as the absolute protagonist, reveals after the first bite the domain of Abel's embers, pure magic.
shellfish such as barnacles or small crabs and fish such as grouper, king or turbot, impossible to choose!
“A fish that you can put on the grill, mark it caramelized, that does not stick to the grill, is not that simple… you have to know how to do it. You have to know what kind of fish you make, because not all of them are good. And then you have to know how to put it on the grill... once you put it on top you can't manipulate it with your hands because it falls apart. A chop, for example, half a minute more on one side or the other, the customer does not notice it, but in the fish it does," says Abel.
The fish are accompanied with organic and seasonal vegetables , presented on separate plates.
Oak and oak wood, iron grills and steel grills. or in which he carefully places the fish before cooking it are part of the open space in which Abel cooks, which he describes as almost primitive.
"We don't have a thermometer. it is a very primitive kitchen and you have a technique, yes, but there is another part that is intuition. And you do it because experience tells you things like one fish cooks faster than another, some have more fat than others…” he explains.
Fish is accompanied with organic and seasonal vegetables
Experience is vital to being able to grill fish to the level that Abel does. For more than a decade he worked at the La Parrilla restaurant, in nearby Ribadesella, where he acquired a great knowledge of the technique of cooking on griddles.
In 2011, he and his wife, Luisa Cajigal (which currently runs a restaurant located five minutes walk from Güeyu Mar, El Miradoriu de la Playa, with a more affordable menu and options that go beyond the sea), decided to go to the grill and leave the plates with which they had inaugurated their Güeyu Mar restaurant in 2007.
After almost a decade in which, in addition to perfecting his technique, he also managed to get the public to accept a restaurant that only serves fish and shellfish –neither meat nor rice, as it makes clear in its menu–, the Güeyu Mar team is introducing something new: a charcoal oven for large pieces of fish.
“We are already making some pieces, the fish heads, the crabs… testing the technique, which is very complex. It is very interesting because it is different from the grill, it has the flavor of firewood” says Abel with a voice that sounds like he's singing when talking about a new challenge.
Kings, groupers, turbot, sole, sea bass or monkfish abound
In a region with such a deep-rooted cheese tradition as Asturias, the dessert section of the menu has nods to two of his most famous cheeses cake-shaped, Gamoneu , one of the best blue cheeses in the world, and Afuega'l Pitu In addition, the desserts also include options such as rice pudding, nougat ice cream or fig ice cream.
The decoration of the restaurant is in a maritime and rustic style. , with exposed stone walls and details with which you can breathe the sea, from the decorative figurines to the cutlery, which is shaped like a fish. In Güeyu Mar they have three spaces, a terrace located at the entrance, an interior room from where you can best see the action of Abel and his team grilled, and an outer space , acclimatized and that feels like a terrace, despite being covered.
Before leaving the restaurant, do not forget to take one of the best gastronomic souvenirs that money can buy in Asturias: the canned grilled sardines, a marvel of limited production. In them, Abel has managed to capture the essence of his grilled cuisine in a can of sardines.
Product cuisine and a masterful mastery of the coals
Likewise, it is worth arriving a little earlier –or reserving a time at the end–, to walk along the beautiful sandy beach of Vega. Located two minutes on foot from the restaurant, it is an immense and almost virgin beach that does not know the overcrowding and in which the sunsets are a real spectacle
Likewise, you have to let yourself be captured by the landscape during the short route that separates Güeyu Mar from the highway (A-8), barely four kilometers long. the road crosses the gorges of Entrepeñas, sharp rock formations, shaped by the Acebo stream and like the beach, declared a natural monument.
And finally, it runs along small orchards with fruit trees and little houses which in summer are a festival of color thanks to the hydrangeas and bougainvilleas that bring joy to your gardens.
A Norway lobster with sea views?
Address: Playa de Vega, 84, 33560 Ribadesella, Asturias See map
Telephone: 985 860 863