Monday, August 31, 2009

Enjoying a good rice place in Denia (Alicante), Spain

I have had the chance to spend a good number in Denia in Alicante, about 4 hours drive from Madrid. I am not a huge beach guy but I like Denia and its sorroundings (specially the Mongo mountain, always changing always different depending on the angle and place you look at it

Apart from that, the food is excellent and there are tons of great places and not very expensive ones to enjoy the fish but specially to enjoy the regional speciality RICE!!! And not just paella which may what many people from outside Spain knows but many other ways to cook it like

- Arroz Negro (Black rice, aka rice with calamari and calamari ink)
- Arroz a banda (First you cook the broth with fish, once you have it you clear the fish and you just cook the rice on the broth with shrimp and calamari and you serve dry and with Ali Ali (let´s say like a garlic mayonaise), hmmmm
- Arroces caldosos (rice with broth, almost soupy)
- Fideuas (cooked similarly with with small noodles instead of rice)

So here you have a couple of recommendations for places, both of them already in the road "carretera de las marinas a denia", both almost by the beach in Las Marinas

Restaurante Jamse

C/ Passarell 3
03700 Denia
965 783 506

Nice and simple outdoor covered terrace, paper cloth and napkins and plastic table and chairs, but you come here for the food. Good service and in 2 years I always see the same waiters, always a good sign. when you reserve over the phone (and you must or you will never eat here and in season it is always full) they ask you for the rice you want and when you want it. So if you reserve for let´s say 15, you go there 1430, order some starters (try the tellinas, really small clams cooked with butter and lemon, or/and sepia or chopitos (different calamari/ squid) and then by 15 the rice comes in a big pan ready to be served. You will left full so take it with time and enjoy,
We love the arroz a banda here and once we try to fideua (which was different than the typical one having the noodles much thicker ones)
You will eat for 25 Eur per peson (maybe 30 if you order dessert)

Restaurant L´Estanyo
Llac Sanabria, 6A.
Tel.: 96 647 42 42 (Denia)

The setting of this restaurant is a bit more scenic as Jamse as it is by the beach and you can see the sea by some of the tables and it has a truly outdoor area. As Jamse, you wont eat here without a reservation. Tables are a bit more set up and less plastic and also good service (although sometimes the noise in the room maybe not allow you waiter to even hear you)

Apart from some of the starters already mentioned, we love here the escombro, which is actually very deep fried calamary, really amazing
Here we usually go for the arroz caldoso (the soupy one). I really like the one with crayfish. Also the arroz a banda here is really good
At night this is also a good spot for a drink and a tapa if you don´t feel like dining

Enjoy and let me know next time you are around Denia

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