Alicante is certainly a city with great food. On Friday night we had dinner at El Portal (Calle Bilbao, 2; info@elportaltaberna.com) where the whole experience was fabulous. The decor and friendly staff create a warm and upbeat atmosphere, with a DJ playing great music but not too loud; the chef creates interesting tapas and main courses available in full or half rations, using fresh seasonal produce, and the cocktail waiters see their job as an art. Reservations are essential for a table but you can also eat or drink at the exotic bar. We shared our tapas of sushi, goat cheese croquettes, tempura duck legs, grilled scallops and scrambled eggs with mushrooms and Iberica jamon, but had our own main courses - twice-coked pork fillet served with a goat cheese risotto, sliced beef served with onions braised in Pedro Ximenez sherry and tuna carpaccio served with avocado and topped with crunchy tomato and seaweed (all prepared in special ways but without destroying the natural flavours of the main ingredients). We really liked the regional viognier and one of our favourite reds from Mallorca, AN/2. After our desserts of Creme Brûlée with salted caramel ice cream and chocolate pieces topped with a drizzle of olive oil and salt we did not want to leave so we moved over to the special cocktail bar for entertainment, fun and professionally made cocktails. We had a ball!
During the day I had also found a very interesting food and cosmetics store, Oleoteca Gourmet (Plaza Nueva, 16) with a range of La Chinata products that all have olive oil as one of the ingredients. I bought some garlic aoili, tomato jam, salmon pate, pheasant pate with Pedro Ximenez and strawberry jam with whole strawberries included. I really could have bought lots of other goodies too as they had a huge range.
The other great food experience was our visit to the local market (Mercado Centrale) yesterday morning. At last we had found a real market that I had expected in other cities in Spain and it is extremely large, covering two floors. The quality of fruit and vegetables was exceptional and the prices were amazingly cheap (e.g. perfect figs €1 per kilo, papaya €3 per kilo, peaches €1 per kilo). There were several excellent delis, butchers and fish stalls. Needless to say we returned to the boat loaded up with a ton of fruit and vegetables, jamon, cheeses and best of all, some green prawns and langoustines (cigales) to barbecue for dinner. Our lunch platter deserved a bottle of rose to accompany the food and our dinner of salad with the barbecued shellfish and then berries with strawberry ice cream was perfect for dining in the cockpit while enjoying the sunset and evening sky.
In between those two meals we had a short walk to the beach on the northern side of the marina, for a swim in the salty Med (temperature 28 C) and a rest on the rented lounges. A perfect day and evening in lovely Alicante.
We could have happily enjoyed many more days in Alicante but today is suitable weather for our travel out to the island of Formentera, 80 nautical miles away. So we are currently motoring on a fairly calm sea, hoping for some breeze to sail for the rest of the journey. We will anchor at Formentera for the night.