There are at least ten hands working in the kitchens of Sábrego at two in the afternoon. Right at that moment when the mise en place defines the future of the orders. It can only go well here because the staff who bring this restaurant to life are perfectionists, ambitious and tenacious.
What is most striking when opening those two entrance doors to the kitchen is the harmony with which they work and that everyone has a smile drawn on their lips. Although they say that this is the result of dedicate yourself to your passion. Translated to the table, the conclusion is an author’s culinary proposal with two fundamental pillars, the product and creativity.
Sábrego is a restaurant located in the municipality of Ribadavia, the capital of the region of O Ribeiro. It is a rural area of the province of Ourense, deep Galicia, known for the quality of the wines grown on its land and for the beauty of the landscape that defines it, where the freshness of the Avia rivers stands out. and Arnoya.
The chef Marco Varela and his team, led by his second in the kitchen, Alberto Llorentehave been working tirelessly since 2016 to make their project shine brightly.
In 2021 he realized it the michelin guide, by recognizing the emblematic restaurant of the O Ribeiro area with a recommendation in the most demanding guide. Now you just saw it too Repsol Guide and the proposal has achieved its first Sol.
“It is very motivating and exciting that they recognize our work in this way. These are awards that also help to put the interior of Ourense on the map because there is wonderful gastronomy here and, in many aspects, still to be discovered”, comments Varela, who is also president of the gastronomic association Cociña Ourense.
The land and sea of Galicia
The cook never tires of repeating that the main ingredient in his food is Dear. It is true and it is possible to discover it in each dish and in each one of the details, taken care of to the millimeter, that make Sábrego a unique place. From a wood carved by craftsmen from Lugo to present the last sweet bites on the menu, even a small embroidered organic cotton towel to clean your hands after the starters. Here everything is designed so that the experience at their tables is unforgettable.
It is possible to enjoy Sábrego in three ways. Through a closed and personalized repertoire designed for weddings and events. Choosing your letter proposals. Or daring the full experience with one of their two tasting menus, one of nine and another of eleven passes, of 55 and 68 eros respectively.
What is eaten? The land and sea of Galicia. All well combined and in its proper measure. Among the preparations to whet your appetite is a truffle butter and a bite of mussel from the estuary with caviar. Marinated red mullet and Lourenzá bean stew with Norway lobster and black truffle stand out among the starters. And for the main course always their fried eelspecialty of the house, or a low-temperature Iberian pork rib with chestnut purée and grilled vegetables.
One of the great wonders of this place is that it is in the middle of the mountain
“Fried eel is a dish with a long tradition in the area. In the past, it was eaten with potatoes cooked with oil. What we are trying to do is cover that food and make our own proposal,” says Marco Varela. The eel is fried in chickpea flour that ensures that extra crunch. It has a potato cream base and is accompanied by a pressed Celtic pork cacheira, much more subtle than lard. The dish ends with a touch of caramelized apple and sweet corn.
Balance, season and quality define Sábrego’s menu and make it a must and a perfect excuse to dive into Or Ribeiro. And it is that one of the great wonders of this place is that it is in the middle of the mountain, completely surrounded by valleys of vineyards. An incomparable setting dotted with all the greens that draw deep Galicia. Because it is not just a restaurant, it is the culinary part of a much larger project that is completed by the Casal de Armán winery, with whose wines the tasting menus are paired, and the rural house with the same name.
With our feet in the vineyard since 1900
“We are the Fourth generation that we are making wine,” says Jorge González Vázquez, one of the current owners of the entire Casal de Armán project and, also, head of the Sábrego room. “My great-grandfather emigrated to Chile and came back to marry a woman of high nobility coming to less than twenty years. They had eight children and all eight studied university degrees. It was the early years of the 20th century. Two of those children were trained to continue with the wineries, the family business, but they died. So my grandfather and great-aunt had to specialize to take over. She was the first woman to study Oenology, in 1949”,
“My grandfather made wine for the family but he didn’t sell it,” recalls González. “When he died, my father and we continued in his wake. In 1994 we began to make a Sherry blend wine and native varieties. In 1997 we bought this land and two and a half walls of what is now the hotel and Sábrego.”
In 1999 the first harvest of Casal de Armán came out with 5,000 bottles of a wine made with 100% native varieties. Now they have nine different labels from which some 225,000 bottles come out each harvest. They make white, red and even dare with a sweet wine that they obtain by pressing frozen grapes.
It took seven years of restoration to achieve what is now Casal de Armán. Then they invested in a high-quality restaurant project and Sábrego was born in 2016. And now they are preparing to a new betan expansion of the infrastructure with the construction of a new space, in the highest and buried part of the mountain, where a winery and a new place for banquets and ceremonies will be located.
Sábrego and Casal de Armán are the chance to eat and drink O Ribeiro.
What to ask for: the best way to discover this restaurant is to delve into one of its two tasting menu proposals. It is the most complete and fun way to get to know everything that Sábrego can offer. In the menu, the best recommendation is to go for the seasonal product. They get away with the lamprey and the fried eel.
practical data
Where: Place of Camporredondo, 1, 32415, Ribadavia, Ourense.
Half price: €65.
Bookings: 988 49 18 09 and on their website.
Schedules: Closed Monday. Dinners only Friday and Saturday.
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