Sidra y Fabada at El Congreso
El Congreso is a classic Asturian sidrería-restaurant on Villaviciosa's Calle Agua that has been pouring cider the old way — escanciado, held aloft to oxygenate the glass — for decades. It is the kind of place where fishermen and office workers share long wooden tables over steaming bowls of fabada.
The Art of Escanciado Cider
Natural Asturian cider (sidra natural) must be poured from height to create the brief, frothy bloom called the culete. At El Congreso the waiters do this with practised nonchalance, bottle raised above the head, glass tilted at the hip — it is as much performance as service.
Villaviciosa calls itself the 'Villa de la Manzana' (Apple Town) and the surrounding comarca contains some of Asturias's most celebrated apple orchards. The cider on tap here is hyper-local, tart, and bone dry.
What to Order
Start with a cachopo — two thin veal escalopes sandwiched around Asturian cheese and jamón, then breaded and fried to a crackling crust. It is absurdly large and absolutely worth it.
Follow with fabada asturiana, the region's canonical white-bean stew with morcilla, chorizo, and lacón. Finish with arroz con leche dusted in burnt caramel — a dessert Asturias does better than almost anywhere in Spain.
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