Chef, restaurateur, and philanthropist José Andrés has a new travel show, and it’s all about his homeland. Across José Andrés and Family in Spain’s six-episode run, the food magnate and El Bulli alum takes his American-born daughters Carlota, Inés, and Lucía to explore the cuisines of Spain, the country where he was born and received his culinary education.
Like any good travel show, Andrés’s new program—streaming December 27 on Discovery+—doesn’t just entertain. Instead, it offers a series of great dining itineraries for many of the Iberian country’s most beloved food destinations, including Barcelona, Madrid, and Andalusia, for a delicious survey of the world’s tapas capital.
If you want to eat and travel like Andrés, this list of every restaurant, bar, and food destination from the show is the place to start.
Barcelona
José Andrés arrived in Barcelona at just six years old, spending most of his childhood and attending culinary school in the Catalonian city. “This is where I became who I am,” he tells his two eldest daughters in the episode intro, before the trio begin on a reverent tour of the city’s many tapas spots.
Run by Michelin-star chef Carles Abellan—a former classmate of Andrés in culinary school. Andrés and Abellan prepare a medley of fresh seafood in the episode, starring shrimp, lemon, and fresh Spanish olive oil.
At a café bar named after Pinnochio, the Andrés family stop for cafe con leche, xuxos (flaky, fried pastries, dusted with sugar and filled with crema Catalana), and a glass of Cava.
Run by three fellow El Bulli alums, Disfrutar’s name is the Spanish word for “to enjoy.” Andrés brings his daughters to Disfrutar for a tasting menu at the exclusive chef’s table, where they savor a variety of elaborate deconstructed dishes keeping the spirit of El Bulli alive today.
This pastry shop is run by Christian Escribà, a fourth generation pastry chef Andrés describes as the “Willy Wonka of Barcelona.” Escribà offers a huge swath of whimsically designed cakes and confections, including hyperrealistic edible high heels, “cheeseburger” macarons, and crema Catalanas, Catalan puddings similar to crème brûlée.
Andalusia
The family’s road trip through Spain continues in Andalusia, Spain’s southernmost region. Known as Al-Andalus in Moorish times, Andalusian food is highly influenced by Arabic and African flavors brought to the Iberian peninsula during an era of Islamic rule.
Casa Pepe staff serve up a breakfast of fried eggplant bites and plates of ham and fried eggs atop a bed of artichokes. The vegetable is one of many common Spanish ingredients introduced to the cuisine by the Moors.
Andrés describes ventas as the Andalusian equivalent to American roadside diners—cozy spots with predictable menus focused on home-cooked flavors. Venta El Toro, run by Maruja Gallardo, serves up a gazpacho made with tomatoes, cucumbers, garlic, and mint. While similar cold soups have existed for millenia, Gazpacho as it exists now has its roots in Andalusia, and is perhaps the region’s most iconic dish.
Located right on the coast, this restaurant serves what Andrés calls “some of the best bluefin tuna money can buy.” The restaurant has 15 tuna dishes on the menu, showcasing every part of the fish in a variety of ways.
Another tapas bar, the specialty at Casa Balbino is the tortilla de camarones—shrimp fritters fried in olive oil. A tour of the kitchen shows five frying stations dedicated to churning out the dish for hungry customers.
Madrid
Episode three finds the family in Madrid, Spain’s capital, where they sample classics like jamón Iberico, patatas bravas, and tostas—Spanish open-faced sandwiches. Their tour of the city jumps between more tapas bars and some of the country’s ritziest spots.
Pastry chef Roberto Martín’s patisserie was originally gifted to the Spanish queen’s pastry chef in 1855, and it still supplies baked goods to the royal palace to this day. Andrés recommends the pastas del consejo—council pastries—small lemon cookies that resemble palmiers.
Asador César Rubio runs this historic restaurant, which serves whole legs of crispy-skinned lamb roasted in wood-fired oven.
Nuns in this monastery sell cookies from a venta de las dulces, a sweets window. Filled with Catholic imagery, cookies in this monastery are sold by the half kilo. Don’t expect to see the bakers though—the nuns remain cloistered and sell their wares from behind a rotating door.
Famous for its sardinas a la plancha, this tapas spot is renowned for its grilled sardines and fried peppers. Next door is the olive shop Aceitunas Jimenez, opened in 1935, which sells a variety of pickled olives.
This spot for tostas has a consistent line around the block, with distinct crowds for locals—who arrive around nine in the morning—and tourists who flock for the lunch rush.
Pastry chef Juan Alfonso Boada serves the Andrés family fresh churros and chocolate sauce before teaching Andrés’s daughter Inés to fry the desserts herself.
José Andrés calls this his favorite spot for patatas bravas, thanks to their bravas sauce. Made with paprika, olive oil, and a few more ingredients the chef refuses to share, it’s the ideal balance of brightness and heat.
At this open market, Andrés and company sample jamón Iberico and purchase a full leg to share at a potluck with friends at the end of the day.
Valencia
Homeland to Spain’s iconic paella, Valencia is the Mediterranean’s busiest port. In their time in the city, Andrés’s daughters use what they’ve learned while traveling to compete in a paella competition alongside some of Valencia’s best chefs. Taking time to train for the tournament means they make slightly fewer stops on this leg of the journey.
The first stop on their paella tour is Casa Carmela, a restaurant with over 10 wide paella pans operating at a time. They sample a seafood paella with shrimp and the trademark coating of crispy rice.
Ca Cent Duros serves a variety of esmorzaret, which are like long baguette sandwiches stacked with eggs, veggies, and meats. The dish’s name literally translates to “a small meal.”
This bustling shop serves up cocas, Catalan flatbreads that are similar to Italian pizzas with the notable absence of cheese. Instead, they’re topped up with zucchini, tomatoes, and more.
Asturias
José Andrés was born in this mountainous region in Spain’s northwest, home to miles of farmland and some of Spain’s most famous cheeses.
The family’s first stop is Casa Marcial, a restaurant that holds two Michelin stars, where they receive an overview of Asturian cuisine from chefs Nacho Manzano, Dulce Martínez, and Marcos Morán.
More than a single restaurant, this walkable street in Asturias’s capital city Oviedo is bustling with bars and cafés specializing in the region’s signature drink—hard cider. They also sample another specialty of the region called cachopo, a fried snack made of thin-sliced veal, ham, and cheese.
This bakery is one of Spain’s oldest, founded in 1914. The family sample a number of pastries, but the stars are the casadielles, a long flaky treat rolled in sugar, and carbayones, Asturias’s regional dessert. Carbayones are similar to eclairs, filled with an almond-and-egg-based pastry cream.
To taste Asturias’s wide array of wild mushrooms, we stop at Xune Andrade’s restaurant Monte, which is run out of his grandmother’s old house. Everything served at Monte is foraged or grown within a mile of the restaurant. Andrade prepares a fungus-themed menu to show off the forest’s many indigenous wild mushrooms.
Lanzarote
The final episode follows José Andrés and family off the coast of Africa to the Canary Islands. This warm vacation destination is home to delicious seafood like moray eel and wines grown in Lanzarote’s mineral-rich volcanic soils.
Joined by food writer Javier Suárez, the family stops at a restaurant for barnacles, octopus, and huge Atlantic shrimp, served with a variety of bright tropical sauces like mojo verde and mojo rojo.
Wrestling manager Aduén Morales brings the family for a pre-match meal in the village of Haría, where they order puchero Canario, a stew of green beans, potatoes, pumpkins, and meat. They then go to watch Lucha Canaria, the island’s traditional team wrestling sport.
Andrés meets his longtime friend Fermín Otamendi, a fifth generation winemaker at the Bodega El Grifo, founded in 1775. He and his children sample the island’s wines, which have a high mineral content and low sweetness, courtesy of the island’s mild climate and ashy volcanic soil.