Eating out
If you're thinking of eating out there's no shortage of good restaurants - the area covering Denia, Javea and Moraira contains dozens of great eating places. Many restaurants serve a "Menu del dia" (Menu of the day) - a two, three or four course meal often including a mineral water, beer or wine for as little as €10.
The nearest restaurant is Nuevo Giramondo, a short walk down the hill from the villa by the tennis courts and stables. It is a bistro which serves delicious pizzas and pasta dishes as well as excellent steaks and fish. It now has a Spanish owner who lives close by and has improved enormously since he took over.
Local Spanish Cuisine
On the esplanade by the old marina, opposite the fish market close to Hotel Raset (and in fact owned by it) La Barqueta does really excellent seafood - truly delicious and straight from the sea via the market opposite. The Menu del Dia is extremely good value. Next door, El Port is almost as good. You can watch the catch being landed in the late afternoon most days and look in on the fish auction too. If you want to push the boat out, beside these the El Raset hotel itself and the restaurant beside it are superb but not cheap (Menu del Dia is about €35) but for that special occasion you won’t do better. Further back onthe esplanade, El Mirall offers an excellent menu del dia and a good range of tapas. If you want to try top quality authentic Tapas, the place to go is Tasca Eulalia, situated near the bottom of the Marques de Campo, the tree-lined main street of Denia. If you like offal, try the kidneys in sherry and fried liver. Char grilled artichokes (in season) are superb as are the different variations on scrambled eggs (revueltos). The staff are very friendly and speak good English and the house wine is also fabulous.
Also on Marques de Campo are several other good eateries. Our favourite is El Comercio which is Spanish and does a delicious and very reasonably priced menu del. The Dutch owned No 11 almost next door used to be terrific but has been a little disppointing since changing hands.
International Cuisine
If you turn left out of the La Sella main entrance, you will see a small restaurant just past the roundabout on the right called Taverna Antiqua. Our experiences have been varied but on form it is very good if a bit pricey.
Al Gusto is in the centre of town on Calle Colon, parallel to Marques de Campo (the main street). This is a little difficult to find but persevere. It’s run by Phil & Hazel, an English couple – you can cook your own steak at the table on a hot stone (al gusto, apparently, hence the name) and all their food is simply superb. The menu del dia is especially good but it is essential to book at lunchtime - their phone number is in the visitors book at the villa. They are currently at the top of Trip Advisor's best restaurants in Denia.
Gallego Merendero is in Denia up the hill out of town just past the turning to the Hospital on the left. It’s best to follow signs to the hospital or ask for directions. It specialises in Galician cooking – great for carnivores and all the meat (the T-bone steaks in particular) is fabulous. By the way Spain is now reckoned to have some of the best beef in Europe. The esplanade at Denia leads into a road running north towards Els Poblets and Les Marines. There are loads of restaurants on both sides and many of these are “touristy” and not that good but there are exceptions. On the left, Carreton is good and does an excellent flambéed cherry and ice cream pudding. Café Soles was reckoned to be one of the best restaurants locally although our two experiences there weren't good at all but it has recently changed hands and was much better last time! However if you turn left up the side of Cafe Soles, the last restaurant on the left is a Dutch spare-rib house called E&E Bistro/Ribhouse where you can get nine different types of spare rib – all absolutely delicious. Carry on out of town a little further and just past Carreton you will see a restaurant called Quique Lacosta which is the name of the Heston Blumenthal protege who owns and runs it. Not cheap but spectacularly good we are told! Finally in Denia, there are some new restaurants on the pier at the new marina. We have not yet tried any of these but early reports are good!
Gaucho is on the back road (the road to the village of Jesus Pobre) from Denia to Javea (Xabia) about 2-3 kms past the Marriott Hotel on the right (it used to be Las Brisas de Javea). It only opened in January 2012 but is very good and already attracting a lot of people.
Fifteen minutes drive away, Javea has a terrific range of restaurants on the Arenal which runs alongside the beach. At the top end of the bay, La Boheme is top quality at a very reasonable price. If you haven't tried tapas and want to give it a go, this is the place as for a miserly €5.95 they will give you a selection of six. Their menu del dia is fabulous and very reasonably priced. Just along the promenade, Pizzeria Pepa looks like a pizza house but is really much more. Owned by the same people as Gaucho above, on our last visit the restaurant had only three empty seats left but only one person eating pizza - their food is mostly Spanish and superb too.
Javea is quite Anglicised and right at the other end of the bay is Scallops, a large English run establishment which is unbelievably cheap and passable quality but avoid the free bottle of wine per person unless you really need a pint of vinegar!
Just along the road in Javea port, the Restaurante Bahia is very good value, as is La Bodeguilla next door, which is a little dearer but has a more up market menu including sea bass, lamb shank etc and is excellent quality. Finally, if you really want to push the boat out, you could visit Le Dauphin at El Portet just outside Moraira, a superb 3-star Michelin restaurant but expect to pay up to 250 Euro per head (including wines). Quique Lacosta has already been mentioned and there's also another top class restaurant called Casa Canto in Benissa. Travel on the N332 through Benissa towards Calpe and it is on the left at the very far end of the town. Not tried by us yet but highly recommended by friends. La Seu in Denia has also been mentioned and is well above average, particulatly for fish.
A note on the Menu del Dia.
Like English Table d’hote, the Menu del Dia is a fixed price menu. In Spain it varies very widely. It is normally 3 courses but may be only two and is sometimes even four. There may be several choices of each course or it may be a completely set menu with no choices. There is nearly always a drink included, usually water, mineral water, a glass of wine or glass of beer and occasionally coffee at the end. If you don’t order the drink at the beginning but ask for it during the meal, they will normally charge extra! The menu price varies between about €9.50 and €35 but is typically €10-12. It may or may not include IVA, the Spanish equivalent of VAT. However at only 7% it only adds a few cents to the bill. The Menu del Dia is a terrific way of eating out well without breaking the bank and is highly recommended!
Restaurant Recommendations
Our personal favourites at present are Al Gusto, La Boheme, Peta, Gaucho, El Mistall and La Barqueta but really any of the above should feed you well!
Please let us know if you know somewhere special to eat in the area. If you find somewhere good, please email us and/or leave a card at the villa in the visitor's book!
Villa Prices and Availability
You can call us on 0(044)1484 535830 or 0(044)1225 462581 or use the online enquiry form below for any enquiries about the villa or booking.
