How Tasty is Grilled Spanish Octopus?

An octopus may be one of the strangest creatures in the ocean. Rivaled only by the squid in strangeness, they have multiple tentacles and brains, can camouflage, and are famous for their intelligence. They are also incredibly tasty. This makes grilled Spanish octopus one of the most exotic things on our menu and certainly worth trying out. We promise, no octopus tentacle is going to jump out at you.

Is Grilled Octopus Really from Spain?

The Greeks are actually famous for being one of the oldest cultures to cook octopus. In ancient times, they grilled this peculiar mollusk on charcoal after they fished it out of the same sea Spanish fishermen would eventually fish in as well. But different octopus species live in every ocean and in nearly every major body of water across the world. Many other civilizations have also caught and grilled octopus before anyone in Spain. So why is the recipe we use called grilled Spanish octopus?

It’s named after Spain because our recipe is similar to the one used in pulperías. That’s the name given to restaurants that specialized and learned this dish. This recipe for grilling octopus was so special and popular for a time in Spain that restaurants would be known by it. Learning this, the kitchen behind the menu at Kevin’s Bar & Restaurant knew we had to try it.

What Tastes So Good About Grilled Spanish Octopus?

There are a lot of aspects about grilled Spanish octopus that make it a one-of-a-kind dish, like the way it’s made. Because the meat is naturally briny throughout the tentacles, it allows our chefs to focus on the ingredients we need to make it. That doesn’t make it easy, overcooking octopus can make it rubbery and chewier than we want it to be, but we have to cook it differently than we would other seafoods.

Combine this with an octopus’s tender meat, and the ingredients that go with the recipe work to really bring out how juicy and chewy it is. Other fish meats fall apart, from classic fishes like salmon to shellfish like crab meat, they don’t give you as much time to savor it. Octopus lets you taste the sea, but doesn’t force you to take a long time eating it.

What Goes with Grilled Spanish Octopus?

Green vegetables pair well with octopus, like with other seafood dishes, but we didn’t want to serve our octopus dish like everyone else. We found excellent sides that really bring out the best octopus has to offer your taste buds.

Fried fingerling potatoes contrast with the octopus, with its dryer feel and taste, preparing for the next bite you’ll take out of the main dish. We also add sweet potato puree and paprika to the dish to make everything taste a bit sharper. If you’ve had grilled octopus anywhere else, it won’t taste the same as it does at Kevin’s.

Take a Bite Out of Some Grilled Spanish Octopus at Kevin’s!

Grilled octopus has a nice place on our menu as one of our best exotic entrees that you have to try at least once in your life! You can have it the next time you visit Kevin’s Bar & Restaurant, and you can make an online reservation ahead of time!

Grilled Spanish octopus is also available for anyone eating outside in our igloos, available by reservation only. Eating an octopus while under the night sky is a special dining experience you can only find at Kevin’s Bar & Restaurant.