Pulpería Ezequiel, O Carballiño
Every August, the inland Ourense town of O Carballiño hosts the Festa do Pulpo, the most famous octopus festival in Spain — but Pulpería Ezequiel serves the real thing year-round, and food writers from Madrid make the detour. The recipe has not changed in decades: copper cauldron, paprika, coarse salt, olive oil, wooden board.
The Dish and the Method
Galician pulpo á feira is deceptively simple: whole octopus is boiled in a copper pot (pulpeiras insist the copper matters), sliced with scissors onto a wooden board, dressed with sweet and smoked pimentón de la Vera, coarse sea salt and a generous pour of Galician olive oil. The texture should be tender with the faintest resistance — never rubbery, never mushy.
Ezequiel's version has a smokiness and depth that comes from decades of seasoning in the same copper pots. Order a full ración (around €14–16) with a tumbler of Ribeiro white wine served in the traditional ceramic cunca cup. This is non-negotiable.
O Carballiño and the Festival
The town itself is an unpretentious Ourense provincial market town, which is precisely why the food is so good — it cooks for locals, not tourists. The central market square fills with pulpeiras on Sundays throughout the year, making it a worthwhile weekend excursion from Santiago (1 h 20 min by car) or Ourense (30 min).
If you visit in the second Sunday of August, the Festa do Pulpo draws 50,000 people and 20,000 kg of octopus are cooked in a single day. Book accommodation months in advance and arrive by 11:00 to secure a table under the chestnut trees.
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