Restaurant in Ourense, Spain
Galician tasting menu, Michelin star, fair price.
Nova holds a 2024 Michelin star in Ourense and runs three daily surprise tasting menus — 8, 10, or 13 courses — anchored in Galician terroir. At €€€, it is competitively priced for credentialled tasting-menu dining in Spain. Book three to four weeks ahead minimum; Sunday lunch, which runs until 5 PM, is the format to prioritise if you are travelling specifically for this meal.
Getting a table at Nova requires planning. This is a small, centrally located contemporary restaurant in Ourense with a Michelin star earned in 2024, three daily tasting menus, and a kitchen that changes what it serves based on what Galicia's producers are delivering that week. The room fills. Book at least three to four weeks ahead for dinner on Thursday through Saturday, and further out still if you want Sunday lunch, which runs an extended service until 5 PM. If you arrive in Ourense without a reservation, your realistic options are a midweek lunch slot or hoping for a last-minute cancellation. The effort is worth it for the right diner.
The setting is contemporary-minimalist with an open-view kitchen, which means you can watch the kitchen work through the meal. The visual experience is deliberate: this is not a room decorated to impress on arrival and forgotten by the second course. The open kitchen keeps the experience grounded in process rather than theatre. For a special occasion dinner or a celebration meal where the quality of attention matters as much as the food, that transparency is a genuine asset.
Chefs Julio Sotomayor and Daniel Guzmán run three surprise tasting menus daily: Raíces (8 courses), Nova (10 courses), and Cima (13 courses). All three menus change according to seasonal product availability. The ingredients are explicitly Galician in provenance — Pan de Cea bread, Ceboleiro chorizo, and the Mos breed of chicken appear in Michelin's own description of the kitchen's approach. The philosophy is to bring local Galician terroir to a broader audience, treating regional produce as the starting point rather than a supporting detail.
Sunday lunch at Nova runs from 1:30 PM to 5 PM, a significantly longer window than the standard weekday lunch service, which closes at 3 PM. For visitors travelling to Ourense specifically for a meal here, Sunday lunch is the format to target. You get more time in the room, less pressure on pace, and the same kitchen operating with full focus. It also sits in a city with thermal baths and a well-preserved old town, so the afternoon after a long Sunday lunch has obvious practical value.
Weekday lunch (Tuesday through Saturday, 1:30 PM to 3 PM) is tighter and better suited to diners already in the city. Dinner service runs Thursday through Saturday, 9 PM to 10:30 PM, which is consistent with Galician dining culture but worth noting if you are travelling from outside Spain and find late dining unfamiliar. The Monday closure is standard for restaurants operating at this level in Spain.
Michelin's own recommendation here is specific: let the team guide your wine choices. The cellar focuses on small-scale local producers, which in Galicia means access to Ribeiro, Ribeira Sacra, and Rías Baixas wines from producers who do not have wide international distribution. For the €€€ price tier, that access to genuinely local wine knowledge is part of what you are paying for. Ask for the wine pairing rather than ordering by the bottle if you want the full picture.
Nova sits at €€€, which places it above a casual meal but below the €€€€ tier of restaurants like Ceibe in Ourense. For a Michelin-starred tasting menu in a Spanish city of this size, the pricing is competitive. Compare it to what a starred tasting menu costs at Arzak in San Sebastián or Azurmendi in Larrabetzu and Nova represents a meaningful price difference for a kitchen operating at a credentialled level. If you are building a Galicia-focused trip and want one serious meal, this is where to spend it. For broader context on Spain's contemporary dining options, see also Quique Dacosta in Dénia, Cocina Hermanos Torres in Barcelona, El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, Martin Berasategui in Lasarte-Oria, Aponiente in El Puerto de Santa María, and DiverXO in Madrid.
The Google rating sits at 4.8 across 1,207 reviews, which is a high-confidence signal for consistency at volume. A single restaurant accumulating that many reviews in Ourense suggests steady demand, not just a spike around the Michelin announcement.
Book Nova if you want a Michelin-starred tasting menu anchored in genuine Galician produce, served in a calm and considered room, at a price that does not require the same budget as the top tier of Spain's starred restaurants. It works for celebrations and date meals where the quality of focus matters. It works for food-focused travellers passing through or staying in Ourense. It is less suited to large groups or anyone wanting a flexible à la carte format — the surprise tasting menu structure means the kitchen sets the pace and the content.
For more options in the city and region, see our full Ourense restaurants guide, our full Ourense hotels guide, our full Ourense bars guide, our full Ourense wineries guide, and our full Ourense experiences guide.
Yes, at €€€ for a Michelin-starred tasting menu, Nova is priced below what comparable starred restaurants in San Sebastián or Barcelona charge. The 2024 Michelin star and a 4.8 Google rating across more than 1,200 reviews confirm the kitchen delivers consistently. If tasting menus are your format and Galician produce interests you, the value is clear.
For most diners, yes , particularly the mid-tier Nova menu (10 courses) or Cima (13 courses) if you want the full picture of the kitchen. The Raíces menu (8 courses) works if you prefer a shorter format. All three menus change daily based on seasonal availability, so the content is determined by the kitchen, not a fixed card. If you want to control what you eat course by course, this is not the right venue.
Sunday lunch is the format to prioritise. The service window extends to 5 PM, giving the meal more breathing room than the tight weekday lunch slot (1:30 PM–3 PM). Dinner runs Thursday through Saturday from 9 PM, which suits the local rhythm but may feel late for international visitors. If you are making a trip specifically for this meal, Sunday lunch is the cleaner choice.
Yes. The Michelin star, the minimalist room with an open kitchen, and the tasting menu format make it a well-suited choice for a celebration or date meal. The surprise menus add a sense of occasion without requiring the diner to make decisions mid-service. Book well ahead , this is not a venue where you can plan a special occasion dinner on short notice.
There is no à la carte menu. The kitchen presents three daily surprise tasting menus: Raíces (8 courses), Nova (10 courses), and Cima (13 courses). All change based on seasonal Galician produce. The only meaningful choice you make in advance is which menu length suits your appetite. On wine, follow the team's guidance rather than selecting independently , the cellar's strength is in small local producers that are hard to navigate without local knowledge.
The database does not confirm seat count or private dining arrangements. Given the small, contemporary format and the tasting-menu-only structure, large group bookings may be restricted. Contact the restaurant directly to confirm capacity before planning a group celebration. For groups of six or more, ask explicitly whether the full room can be reserved or whether adjacent bookings are possible.
The kitchen operates on surprise tasting menus that change daily based on seasonal produce, which means the menu is not adjustable in the way a fixed à la carte card might be. Dietary restrictions should be communicated at the time of booking. Whether specific restrictions can be accommodated is not confirmed in available data , contact the restaurant ahead of your visit to clarify.
For international context, Nova sits alongside contemporary Spanish kitchens like Jungsik in Seoul and César in New York City in terms of format , tasting menu, produce-led, single-kitchen authorship , though at a significantly more accessible price point than either.
| Venue | Cuisine | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nova | Contemporary | In this centrally located restaurant, with a name that showcases its desire to create new and innovative experiences, the emphasis is on “deep-rooted cuisine” that showcases the origins of Galicia cooking and its terroir (artisanal Pan de Cea bread, Ceboleiro chorizo, the Mos breed of chicken etc) with the aim, first and foremost, of bringing what is local to a wider audience. In this impeccable, contemporary-minimalist setting with an open-view kitchen, chefs Julio Sotomayor and Daniel Guzmán (who as well as being business partners are also cousins!) remain faithful to their principles, creating three surprise tasting menus every day (Raíces, Nova and Cima) that change according to product seasonality and vary in the number of courses on offer (8, 10 or 13). We recommend being guided in your choice of wines as the cellar here is home to a plethora of interesting wines from small-scale local producers.; In this centrally located restaurant, with a name that showcases its desire to create new and innovative experiences, the emphasis is on “deep-rooted cuisine” that showcases the origins of Galicia cooking and its terroir (artisanal Pan de Cea bread, Ceboleiro chorizo, the Mos breed of chicken etc) with the aim, first and foremost, of bringing what is local to a wider audience. In this impeccable, contemporary-minimalist setting with an open-view kitchen, chefs Julio Sotomayor and Daniel Guzmán (who as well as being business partners are also cousins!) remain faithful to their principles, creating three surprise tasting menus every day (Raíces, Nova and Cima) that change according to product seasonality and vary in the number of courses on offer (8, 10 or 13). We recommend being guided in your choice of wines as the cellar here is home to a plethora of interesting wines from small-scale local producers.; Michelin 1 Star (2024) | Hard | — |
| Ceibe | Galician | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| Pacífico | Modern Cuisine | Unknown | — | |
| Miguel González | Unknown | — |
Side-by-side comparison to help you decide where to book.
Nova is a small restaurant, so larger groups should contact the team directly before assuming availability. Given the three-tasting-menu format with 8, 13, and 10-course options, the kitchen can pace different group configurations, but the intimate room size limits large party bookings. For groups of 6 or more, plan to book well in advance and confirm capacity. Pairs and small parties of 4 will have the smoothest experience here.
Nova's menus are surprise tasting formats that change daily based on seasonal Galician produce, so dietary restrictions require advance notice. check the venue's official channels before your visit — the format doesn't lend itself to last-minute adjustments when the kitchen is building 8 to 13 courses around specific ingredients like Pan de Cea bread, Ceboleiro chorizo, and Mos chicken. Serious restrictions are manageable with early communication; vague requests on the day are not.
Yes, for the format. Nova runs three surprise tasting menus daily — Raíces (8 courses), Nova (10 courses), and Cima (13 courses) — all built around Galician terroir and changing with the season. For a Michelin-starred kitchen at €€€ pricing, that depth of menu at this price tier is solid value compared to equivalent starred restaurants in Spain's larger cities. If surprise tasting menus aren't your preference, Nova isn't structured to offer alternatives.
Sunday lunch is the format to prioritise: the kitchen runs from 1:30 PM to 5 PM, giving significantly more time than the tight 90-minute weekday lunch window (1:30–3 PM). Dinner runs Thursday through Saturday from 9 PM to 10:30 PM, which suits those who prefer an evening setting and can't make Sunday work. Weekday lunch is possible but feels rushed given how the tasting menus are structured.
All three menus are surprise formats, so there's no ordering in the conventional sense — you choose between the Raíces (8 courses), Nova (10 courses), or Cima (13 courses) menu, and the kitchen decides the rest based on what's seasonal. Michelin specifically flags the wine pairing here: the cellar is built around small-scale local Galician producers, and letting the team guide your wine choice is the stronger move over ordering by the glass independently.
At €€€, Nova sits below Ourense's priciest option (Ceibe, which runs €€€€) and delivers a Michelin-starred tasting menu built on genuine Galician produce from named local sources. For a starred kitchen outside a major Spanish city, the price-to-format ratio is favourable. If you're comparing value against a casual Galician meal, the formats aren't equivalent — Nova is a structured tasting experience, not a à la carte dinner.
Yes, provided the tasting menu format suits the group. The contemporary-minimalist room with an open-view kitchen is calm and considered rather than theatrical, which works well for occasions where the food is the focus. The three-tier menu structure (8, 10, or 13 courses) lets you calibrate the length of the meal. Sunday lunch is the most relaxed time slot and gives the occasion room to breathe without the compressed weekday service window.
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