Food & drink · Gijón

Sidra y Fabes: Asturian Cider and Bean Stew

No visit to Gijón is complete without sitting down to a proper fabada asturiana — a slow-cooked stew of giant white beans, morcilla, chorizo and lacón — washed down with a bottle of natural Asturian cider poured in the traditional escanciado style.

Where to Eat Fabada

Casa Zabala on Calle Trinidad in Cimadevilla is one of the most respected traditional restaurants in the city, serving fabada that has been made to the same recipe for decades — the beans are Asturian fabe de la granja, buttery and enormous, and the compango (the cured meats) is sourced from local producers.

Sidrería El Molinón near the Estadio El Molinón is another local favourite, busier and louder, where the fabada arrives in a clay pot and the cider flows freely; book ahead for Friday and Saturday lunch.

The Cider Ritual

Asturian natural cider (sidra natural) is not carbonated — it is flat, tangy and slightly cloudy, and it must be poured from height (escanciado) to aerate it before drinking. The waiter raises the bottle above their head and pours into a wide glass held at hip level without looking; spillage is expected and the floor shows it.

You drink only the bottom two fingers of the glass immediately, before the bubbles die, then hand it back for a refill. The ritual is social, slightly theatrical and completely genuine — locals do not perform it for tourists, they simply do it.

Cider Houses to Visit

The Calle Gascona, known as the Boulevard de la Sidra, is a pedestrian street in the Centro district lined with sidrerías where you can bar-hop and compare producers; look for bottles from El Gaitero, Trabanco and Cortina — all Asturian producers with distinct characters.

Pair your cider with cachopo, a deep-fried Asturian escalope stuffed with jamón and cheese that is roughly the size of a dinner plate — it is the region's unofficial national dish and several Gijón bars compete fiercely for the title of best in the city.

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