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269-275 High Street, Croydon CR0 1QH Tel: 0208 686 0043

GALICIA is one of the longest established restaurants in the area, and it guarantees diners an authentic taste of Spain. It has a devoted clientele with many compliments about its food to be found on various foodie websites:

“Been here countless time. Always a good atmosphere on the weekends. Portions are large and good Spanish food.”

“The atmosphere is always good for family with kids, for couples, and friends colleagues.”

“This place is BUSY and deservedly so. However, the waiters will ALWAYS try and accommodate you. Been here many times over many years and have never had a bad experience here. A good range of very tasty tapas and always some specials.”

Those remarks are typical of what Galicia’s fans have posted online, and I can echo the frequent comments about the size and quality of the tapas portions.

Someone did comment on the decor, which is typically Spanish with plenty of white and blue tiles to reflect the restaurant’s inspiration of the Spanish coast.

Galicia is known in Spain as the “land of the 1,000 rivers” and since it boasts a long coastline it is famed for a gastronomy blessed with a wide variety of fish and shellfish dishes. Look out for them at this restaurant, where they pride themselves on an authenticity of cuisine with fresh ingredients prepared on the premises. There are all sorts of inviting meat dishes too, of course.

It is a favourite with everyone, from hen parties, groups of business people, families, office outings to romantic couples. And if you haven’t booked a group outing for Christmas yet this could well be the place for you, with a special Christmas menu and a festive tapas offer ready and waiting.

The tapas menu is especially popular with parties of friends as it is an easy way of sampling lots of different dishes and suiting all tastes. Galicia has both hot and cold choices with most dishes around the £5-£6 mark. Among the favourites are raxo (marinated pork fillet with chips), costillas di cerdo picantes (spicy spare ribs in barbecue sauce), hígado encebollado (liver and onions in a wine sauce with chips) and gambas al ajillo, which I can recommend. Plump and juicy prawns in a garlic, parsley and olive oil sauce, which is too good not to mop up with your bread.

And do beware of the portions. We found five was more than enough for two of us. Vegetarian choices are limited but my daughter enjoyed her aubergines baked in a tomato and cheese sauce: a bit like moussaka without the meat.

The festive tapas offer is £16.95 for lunch and £17.95 for dinner and consists of any three dishes from the hot and cold tapas menu.

The main Christmas menu offers three courses plus coffee for £19.95/£21.95 plus ten per cent service charge.

There is a wide choice on this menu, which includes seasonal roast turkey, tempting sirloin steak, chicken breast, popular sea bass and a tempting vegetarian paella.

Diana Fletcher

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