The Best Pan-Asian Food in Spain

The front sake bar takes walk-ins; the U-shaped counter around the open kitchen does not, and that's the one you want a reservation for. Dos Palillos holds a Michelin star for its fusion of Asian technique and Iberian ingredients, a combination that sounds like a concept pitch but eats like a genuine point of view. Tasting menus only at the counter, tapas philosophy throughout, and tables packed close enough to feel like Tokyo.

Dabiz Muñoz calls this place "the luxury of eating time," which sounds like fortune-cookie wisdom until you taste what goes into each dumpling. RavioXO is a creative restaurant built around stuffed dough in all its Asian and Spanish permutations, dressed up in a sleek Lázaro Rosa-Violán room and backed by a Michelin star. The sharing menu roams from Spanish cocido to Korean tempura without ever feeling lost.

A chalet surrounded by Asturian farmland is not where you'd expect to find tandoor-baked naan and green mango curry, but that tension is the whole point. This Michelin-starred tasting-menu restaurant, run by a chef whose cooking leans Indian, Mexican, and Southeast Asian, steps deliberately away from the region around it. Three menus of different lengths let you choose your own depth of commitment to the journey.

Sitting inside the Royal Hideaway Corales Beach, San-Hô holds a Michelin star for its fusion of Japanese, Peruvian, and Canarian cooking, which sounds like a mood board but arrives as a coherent plate. Two tasting menus anchor the room; a short à la carte exists for the commitment-averse. The counter seats watch the chefs work in real time, while the terrace looks out over the garden and sea, which softens most difficult decisions considerably.

A corner bistro in Santander with bare marble tables, green-and-white walls, and candles that make the room feel more romantic than its casual price point suggests. The kitchen runs on traditional Cantabrian instincts but keeps wandering toward Asia and Latin America, sometimes within the same plate. The Michelin Guide gave it a Bib Gourmand, which tracks. Half-portions are available throughout, so ordering widely is basically encouraged.

Pilgrims trudging the last stretch of the Camino Francés pass right by this ground-floor spot on Rúa de San Pedro, though the menu suggests the chef has been looking further east than Santiago. It's a casual fusion restaurant in a stone building with a rustic-contemporary feel, where traditional Galician cooking folds in Asian technique. A patio terrace handles the overflow, and the sparkling wine list is longer than you'd expect.

A bistro steps from the Atarazanas Central Market, Alaparte keeps the kitchen open behind the bar so you can watch the team translate local produce into food that drifts between Andalusian, French, and Asian without losing its footing. The name is a nod to the chef's grandfather, who sorted discarded fish for a living, which is a better origin story than most restaurants manage. Casual, market-driven, and worth the detour off the tourist drag.

Two bar counters divide the dining room, one cold, one hot, both leaning east. Mantis is a casual restaurant in L'Antiga Esquerra de l'Eixample with an industrial fit-out and a menu that drifts freely between Asian technique and Catalan instinct. The team keeps things concise, with a midday formula and a longer tasting menu for when you're in no hurry. A Michelin Selected Restaurant, and very much the neighbourhood's open secret.

A gastro-bar in Zahara de los Atunes where the décor tells its own story: recycled furniture, fashion-world odds and ends, and surf culture artifacts scattered around a casual room. The kitchen leans into Asian and Latin American flavors built on local Andalusian produce, a combination that sounds unlikely until it lands. The crowd tends to come in sandy and leave happy. À la carte only, and very much a drop-in kind of place.