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This November 16 will be announced which city will become the new Spanish Capital of Gastronomy 2024. Among the candidates, four very different localities but all with a great charm and a gastronomic proposal to be taken into account. As any of them could be a worthy capital for its culinary tradition and quality products, we have decided to prepare a list with the best restaurants you can visit in each of them. Where are you going to start?
Alicante
Alicante is the first of the candidates to become the Spanish Capital of Gastronomy 2024. This Levantine city, cradle of rice, has more than 1,700 registered establishments and its gastronomic offer is another tourist attraction. And here we show some of the foodies reasons that corroborate it.
Espacio Montoro
We begin this tour of the capital of Alicante with the brand new Tapas Magazine’s T de Oro in the Valencian Community during this 2023. In Pablo’s space it is as important what happens on the plate as around it, because here you come to travel through four worlds. A bar, a terrace, a chef’s table and a dining room. His menu is a passport to fun and creativity, from solid cocktails to the mushroom garden or the sobrasada bolognese. The diner has the opportunity to finish some dishes, such as the turbot with pilpil, and chat with a good part of the team, with a youthful and casual attitude.
Written by Almudena Ortuño (Guía Para Comerse y Beberse España 2023 – Tapas Magazine)
Alicante. Av. Albufereta, 13
966 04 43 65 / Web
Tasting Menu: 75, 85 y 115 € • Creativa
Owner: Pablo Montoro / Sommelier: Héctor Enrique Esteve
Piripi
Restaurant and bar reference of Alicante. José Juan Castelló started in the group in 1994, coinciding with the opening of Piripi. José Juan emphasizes humility, tenacity, effort and hard work as the main values of the family. A traditional base, with a top quality product and professionals with maximum dedication are the foundations of this restaurant.
Written by Almudena Ortuño (Guía Para Comerse y Beberse España 2023 – Tapas Magazine)
Alicante. Av. Óscar Esplá, 30
965 61 64 25 • Web
Menu: 40-70 € • Mediterránea
Owner: Vicente Castelló
El Portal
We have to surrender to the evidence. The model invented by Carlos Bosch is a success among locals and visitors, willing to enjoy the best of the products – Iberian products, caviar, seafood, salted fish – but also eager to be seen in such an exclusive space. Halfway to the cocktail bar, the cocktail bar is suggestive. The second concept, Manero, deserves its own visit: vermouth, elaborate tapas and equally impeccable décor.
Written by Almudena Ortuño (Guía Para Comerse y Beberse España 2023 – Tapas Magazine)
Alicante. Bilbao, 2
965 14 32 69 • Web
Tasting Menus: 70, 80, 90, 100 y 170 € • De mercado
Owner: Carlos Bosch / Sommelier: Gregorio Antón
Baeza & Rufete
Although the space does not do justice to the kitchen, Esther Castillo kindly distracts from the former and Joaquín Baeza manages to make us forget it with the latter. Both defend the square with a menu that demonstrates the breadth of the Alicante pantry and, no less complicated, remains consistent from start to finish. They have a weakness for quality oils and aromatic herbs from the Sierra de Mariola, in addition to the original salts.
Written by Almudena Ortuño (Guía Para Comerse y Beberse España 2023 – Tapas Magazine)
Alicante. Av. Ansaldo, 31
965 16 22 47 • Web
Tasting Menu: 89 y 159 € • Creativa
Owner: Joaquín Baeza y Esther Castillo / Sommelier: Esther Castillo
Antequera
Antequera is an Andalusian city with a lot of charm: from its prehistoric dolmens and unique natural landscapes to its culinary and confectionery tradition (who has not tried the mollete de Antequera, the bienmesabe or the porra antequerana?) In fact, its mayor, Manuel Jesús Barón, has it clear: “Antequera, how good it tastes! These are some of its obligatory gastro stops.
Arte de Cozina
Charo Carmona does all the honors that the culinary tradition of the fertile vega of Antequera and the rich cuisine of Málaga deserve. And she does it with all normality, homemade and wise instruction that she shows with her recipes to the visitor. His kitchen maintains the canons of yesteryear, improving them amply in product, in execution, in hand of kitchen, in seriousness and in affection. Sublimity in tradition.
Written by Fernando Huidobro (Guía Para Comerse y Beberse España 2023 – Tapas Magazine)
Antequera. Calzada, 27
952 84 00 14 • Web
Menu: 40-50 € • Tradicional/Casera
Owners: familia Martínez • Carmona / Sommelier: Fran Martínez Carmona
Mesón Casa Diego
To enjoy Antequera’s gastronomy in conditions you need to visit a Mesón like Casa Diego, where tradition and Andalusian authenticity can be tasted as if you were in your own home, which is also proven by the hospitality of the service. As for the culinary proposal, here you can taste from succulent stews to the most exquisite tapas, all with local ingredients and the care of their chefs.
Antequera. Merecillas, 14
952 843 707 • Web
Menu: 20-30 € • Tradicional/Casera
Taberna El Rincón de Lola
A tavern antequerana where there are. In this cozy place, you can enjoy a classic and reference gastronomy in the purest Andalusian style, with the barrels as a table, where you can taste in company such typical dishes as scrambled eggs with foie, the hot dog with tomato jam and pear mayonnaise, the oxtail burger, the bloody mary with cockles, the smoked sardine and avocado toast or the scrambled eggs with boletus and foie.
Antequera. Encarnación, 8
625 04 09 97 • Instagram
Menu: 25-35 € • Mediterránea / Tradicional
Mesón Adarve
Este mesón lleva casi 40 años elaborando auténticos platos andaluces en una ubicación privilegiada. Con Juan Antonio Peláez Martín y Carmen Bueno Paradas al mando la esencia andaluza se puede saborear en cada uno de los platos de su carta. Recetas de calidad, sabrosas y variadas para disfrutar en un ambiente acogedor y lleno de tradición andaluza.
Antequera. Calle Merecillas, 12
661 56 36 58 • Web
Menu: 30-40 € • Mediterránea / Asador
Castellón
Another Valencian city among the candidates. This time Castellón, a town fused between sea and mountains, with a privileged nature that gives rise to a gastronomic culture of another level. And these restaurants that we compile below are enough reasons to check the quality of the cuisine of Castellón.
Le Bistrot Gastronómico
If you are looking for simplicity and quality food, this cozy place will be the perfect place. With modern cuisine that fuses flavors and products from different parts of the world, you will find varied options to share. A journey through the palate without leaving Castellón.
Castellón. Temprado, 12
661 50 57 25 • Web
Menus: 66 €, 30 €, 48 €, 86 €. Menu: 35-45 € • Fusión
Tasca del Puerto
For lovers of fish, seafood and any product related to the sea, this restaurant has all the seafaring tradition of Grao de Castellón. Here you will savor a purely seafood cuisine, where rice, fish and seafood have a total protagonism. And all elaborated with much love.
Castellón. Avenida del Puerto, 13
964 28 44 81 • Web
Menus: 42 € y 42,50 €. Menu: 40-50 € • Pescados y Mariscos
Trenkaclosques bar
Quiet and cozy place where you will feel at home, while enjoying a culinary proposal that combines the most traditional and street recipes with other modern and fusion dishes. A gastrobar in capital letters where options such as oxtail ravioli in its juice with a touch of cocoa or shrimp and kimchi croquettes stand out. An obligatory stop on your visit to Castellón.
Castellón. Antonio Maura, 15
603 52 31 92 • Instagram
Menu: 30-40 € • Española
Alessandro Maino
In this restaurant the chef Alessandro Maino gives free rein to all his international gastronomic experience giving rise to a complete and quality proposal based on seasonal and world products, where you can taste from pizzas, pasta or carpaccio, to sirloin, suckling pig and turbot. A must in the capital of Castellón.
Castellón. Rei En Jaume, 5
695 04 68 14 • Web
Menu: 85 €. Menu: 45-55 € • Internacional
Owner: Alessandro Maino
Oviedo
Oviedo is a candidate for the third time and will it make the saying “third time’s the charm” come true? Culinary reasons are not lacking, because here you will find options for all tastes and always with the traditional Asturian touch, where there is no shortage of fabada, cider, cachopo, its incomparable cheeses and excellent seafood. But also creative and avant-garde proposals.
NM
It is the latest opening of Nacho Manzano, in a clear commitment to return to Oviedo a Michelin star. In an almost clandestine space, where you have to knock on the door in a corner of the Gran Bulevar El Vasco, you can glimpse a room with Nordic, avant-garde and very nice decoration. Its first menu was themed, hunting, and it shone at great heights. Now it changes every season including seasonal products, seeking to reach a wider audience.
Written by David Fernández-Prada (Guía Para Comerse y Beberse España 2023 – Tapas Magazine)
Oviedo. Víctor Chávarri, 2 (Gran Bulevar El Vasco)
699 45 51 93 • Web
Tasting menu: 90 y 149 € • Creativa
Owner: Nacho Manzano / Sommelier: Génova Bilbao
Ca’ Suso
Over the years its proposal has become more solid, less permeable to fashions and trends and closer to sustainability and producers. The Feito brothers alternate in kitchen and dining room, with a very good customer service and a coquettish dining room with a variety of well-resolved dishes, from cured salmon or chosco de Tineo to conger eel meatballs or golondro.
Written by David Fernández-Prada (Guía Para Comerse y Beberse España 2023 – Tapas Magazine)
Oviedo. Marqués de Gastañaga, 13
985 22 82 32 • Web
Tasting Menus: 35 y 50 €. Menu: 45 € • Actual
Owners: hermanos Feito / Sommelier: Vicente Fernández Feito
Casa Fermín
It is the great restaurant of the capital, the historic one that maintains the level and is in full generational transition without making noise, but with almost daily fillings and with an updated product cuisine. It was the first Michelin star in the region, in 1974, the same year that Arzak got it, which already gives a clue to its trajectory. He winks to the Riojan vegetable garden, where Luis Alberto comes from, looks to the Bay of Biscay in fish and seafood and respects the seasons. Don’t forget to order their “casadielles” as a finishing touch to the meal.
Por David Fernández-Prada (Guía Para Comerse y Beberse España 2023 – Tapas Magazine)
Oviedo. San Francisco, 8
985 21 64 52 • Web
Tasting Menu: 80 €. Menu: 60 € • Actual
Owner: familia Martínez • Gil / Sommelier: Belén Rodríguez
Pedro Martino
He is one of the great chefs of Asturias, with capital letters, and he is at his best, mature, clear-sighted and with the right creativity to maintain the essence of the flavor. He is practicing a purely Asturian cuisine, recovering recipes, interpreting ancestral ingredients with success and in the environment in which he triumphed in his day, Caces. Now he welcomes you with a glass of cider, to lighten the atmosphere. It should be more valued by the public and guides.
Por David Fernández-Prada (Guía Para Comerse y Beberse España 2023 – Tapas Magazine)
Oviedo. La Rienda, 14 (Caces)
684 60 33 84 • Web
Tasting Menu: 60 y 90 €. Menu: 65 € • Creativa
Owner: Pedro Martino / Sommelier: Silvia Díaz