Meals in Galicia
Meals in Santiago are a little different.
Breakfast
For starters, breakfast is light.
A cup of coffee and a plain pastry, like a croissant or plain muffin, are the go-to. You will find toast and warm milk plus chocolate powder (“un Cola Cao, por favor”) is another popular drink. Many cafés have fresh-squeezed orange juice too.
What you won’t find is a big American breakfast or anything like what you typically order at your local diner.
Lunch
Galicians take lunch seriously.
Lunch is the mainstay. After working up an appetite for what we might consider a late lunch, around 2 to 3pm, you can enjoy the big, elaborate meal of the day. Most people head home from work to prepare lunch at home. Seafood and meat with salad and vegetables and even soup and dessert are coffee all common for lunch. Plus, as with every meal bread is always served with lunch, so you can stop counting carbs.
Restaurants in Santiago offer substantial daily menus (“menú del día”) for 8 to 10 €. Money well spent for the huge portions! Typically include an appetizer, main dish and a choice between dessert or coffee. I still don’t know why they criticize American XL plates with these kinda portions that are enough to feed two people.
Café
Need a little coffee break?
If you didn’t grab one after lunch, you might want to grab coffee or tea in the afternoon. When we say coffee, this is not your typical tall, grande or venti Starbucks coffee to-go. It’s not your big cup o’ Joe either. Oh no. We're talkin' a small, potent puppy.
It is also common to go have a drink (“tomar algo”), chat and relax at a café. Try it. Stop by a café terrace and enjoy juice, soda, beer or wine and enjoy a free tapa or two. (Check out: Best Cafés)
Dinner
Late.
The typical dinner in Santiago is much smaller than lunch and super late compared to what you’re used to. 9pm to 10pm is when Galicians eat something light before bedtime. For dinner, one alternative is tapas bar hopping; that would suffice. Order a drink and try the variety of tapas while taking in the local color. (Check out: What's a "Tapa"?)
You can also go out to dinner and sample some more traditional Galician dishes!
(Check out: Cream of the Crop)