Alicante food guide: what to eat, where to try it, and the stories behind the dishes

Alicante food guide: what to eat, where to try it, and the stories behind the dishes 

If you ask me the best way to get to know Alicante, my answer always comes with a fork. Here, food isn’t something you squeeze in between sights: it’s culture, identity and pride.  

After three years showing travellers around (and a whole life eating my way through this city), I’ve put together this Alicante food guide not as your usual list of restaurants, but as what really matters: what to eat, where to try it like a local, and above all, the stories behind each dish. It’s one of the tastiest things to do in Alicante, and I’d argue one of the most revealing. 

Come hungry 🙂 

Rice, our religion 

Let’s start with the serious stuff. In Alicante, rice is almost a religion, and there’s one thing worth knowing up front: not everything here is «paella». In fact, calling any rice dish paella in front of an alicantino is the fastest way to give yourself away as a tourist 😉 

Our star dish is arroz a banda, cooked in an intense rockfish broth and traditionally served «a banda» (separately) from the fish itself. It was born as fishermen’s food: they’d stew the less sellable catch and use that broth for the rice.

Another must is arroz del senyoret, made for the «little gentleman» who didn’t want to get his hands dirty, since all the seafood comes already peeled. And don’t miss arroz con costra, more typical of the Elche area, crowned with a layer of egg baked into a golden crust.

Where to try it? In the city, an institution is Nou Manolín (Calle Castaños), opened by the Castelló family in 1971 and famous for its counter; many locals will argue you eat some of the best rice in the capital right there.

For something more neighbourhood and old-school, Racó del Pla (in Carolinas, open since 1981) is a safe bet.

And if you fancy eating rice with your feet almost in the sand, Avenida de Niza, on San Juan beach, gathers classics like Casa Julio and Casa Domingo. My tip: save rice for lunchtime, that’s when we eat it here, and order it where they cook it to order (it takes a while, and that wait is a good sign). 

The Central Market, the heart that feeds the city 

If you want to understand Alicante’s food, start with its pantry. The Mercado Central is a gorgeous early-20th-century building where locals still do their daily shopping. 

Wandering between its stalls is a show in itself: mountains of vegetables from the huerta, cheeses, cured meats and, above all, a fish and seafood counter that smells of the Mediterranean. It’s the best place to see where everything you’ll later eat actually comes from.  

And here’s a little secret: inside the market itself, Barra Central lets you snack on cured meats, cheeses and ultra-fresh produce bought from the neighbouring stalls, right in the middle of the shopping buzz. I always say a market tells you more about a city than any museum. 

Tapas and flavours from the sea 

Alicante is a place for grazing, and its counter culture is among the best in Spain. Some bites are essential: 

• Salazones. Salt-cured fish, an ancient tradition on this coast. Mojama (cured tuna) with almonds and a drizzle of olive oil is pure Mediterranean. 

• La coca. Our baked flatbread, savoury or sweet. The coca amb tonyina (with tuna) is a tapeo classic. 

• Montaditos and fresh produce. Red prawns, potera squid, or a good ensaladilla (dressed here with pickles) are local weaknesses. 

To live it, Cervecería Sento (Calle Girona) is an essential stop: its «Iván» montadito, beef, foie, turrón and rocket, won the city’s tapas competition and is now a classic.  

If you’re after a top-level counter, Piripi (Avenida Óscar Esplá) and the aforementioned Nou Manolín are pure Mediterranean showcases; and La Taberna del Gourmet (Calle San Fernando), run by chef María José San Román, nails the Alicante salad and the artichokes with cuttlefish and prawns.  

For tapas with real charm, get lost as well through the old town and Barrio de Santa Cruz, where the atmosphere does half the work. 

Turrón (and the ice cream that tastes of it) 

No Alicante food guide would be complete without talking about turrón. This sweet, made of marcona almonds and honey, comes from Jijona (Xixona), a village in the province, and its tradition goes back centuries. 

There are two great classics: turrón de Jijona (soft, from ground almonds) and turrón de Alicante (hard, with whole almonds). Although it’s associated with Christmas, here you’ll find it all year round, and tasting it freshly made is nothing like the supermarket version.  

A very local trick: in summer, that same flavour is enjoyed as ice cream. Parlours like Laneu (Calle de Muñoz)  or Livanti (Rambla de Méndez Núñez) make a turrón ice cream that’s out of this world. 

What to drink: horchata and Fondillón 

Two very local drinks. Horchata, ice-cold and made from tiger nuts (chufa), is your best ally against the heat: pair it with a fartón (a long, soft bun for dipping) and you’ll thank me.  

And on the wine side, Fondillón is an almost secret jewel: a sweet, aged wine from the Monastrell grape, historic to Alicante, once famous in the courts of Europe. Ordering a Fondillón is, quite literally, drinking a piece of this land’s history. 

Eat like a local: my Alicante food guide tips 

I’ll be honest with you: the most authentic places are rarely the ones on the main square with photos of the dishes on the menu. Good Alicante cooking is usually one street further on, in family-run bars and arrocerías where the locals actually eat. 

My best advice is simple: eat where the locals eat, ask for the dish of the day, and let yourself be guided. It helps to understand a little Alicante gastronomy before you go, knowing why arroz a banda is served apart, or why turrón matters here, turns a nice meal into a story.  

And if you’d like to discover those spots and the tales around them, that’s exactly what we do on many of my Alicante experiences, where food is part of the walk. A good flavour route also fits into a wider plan, or we can build a tailor-made route focused entirely on eating. 

Because in the end, getting to know a place’s food is getting to know its people. And in Alicante, I promise you, we eat with our soul. If you’d like me to take you to taste it and tell you all these stories in person, message me and we’ll put it together 🙂