november-2011

ALICANTE
rowdy market, devoted to the best
produce that the region has to offer.
The city itself is also home to some
of Spain’s best restaurants, such as
Nou Manolin (3 Calle Villegas, +34 965
200 368, noumanolin.com), an Alicante
institution. Built on the site of muchloved
local poet Gabriel Miró’s old house
66 Thomas Cook Travel
Clockwise from top left: a
sample of Paco Torreblanca’s
inspired confectionery
creations; the man himself,
“the Ferran Adrià of
chocolate”; La Taberna del
Gourmet has been named Spain’s
best tapas bar. Opposite page:
The grand Mercado Central,
where you’ll find the
region’s freshest produce,
from fruit to fish
it’s the kind of place where simplicity
is more important than innovation.
However, when Ferran Adrià’s staff was
tasked with drawing up a list of the
city’s most cutting-edge establishments
for him to visit, he immediately
corrected them when they dared to omit
Nou Manolin. “I couldn’t pass through
Alicante without dining there,” he
said. “There are few places that are so
Mediterranean and so modern.”
It’s probably more the case that the
modern world has caught up with
what Nou Manolin has been doing for
more than 30 years. They’ve always
been based on the principle of local
food, lovingly prepared, which is now
the hallmark of many of the world’s
trendiest restaurants. The acorn-fed ham
and the local specialty, mojama (salted
tuna), are both delicious.
The same is true of another local
staple, paella – or simply arroz (rice) as
it’s more commonly known in Alicante –
at the nearby Monastrell restaurant
(7 Rafael Altamira, Alicante, +34 965 146
575, monastrell.com). Chef María José
San Román’s expertise with rice is such
that, when she visited the White House
in 2009, after attending a Washington
paella festival, she was asked to give
a private class to Obama’s chefs. She
showed them how she produces sofrito –
the sumptuous stock, usually made from
tomatoes and onions – which forms the
basis of paella. Her own specialty, made
with local artichokes, is particularly
acclaimed in Alicante.
“The food here has always been good, but
we’ve only recently started to realise that
it’s good,” she says when I visit Monastrell.
In 2009 her tapas bar, La Taberna
del Gourmet (10 Calle San Fernando,
Alicante, +34 965 204 233,
latabernadelgourmet.com), was named
as the best in Spain by Lo Mejor de la
Gastronomía and the freshness and
vitality of the food are the perfect match
for this lively port. San Román says that
the great thing about her city is that
it’s at a crossroads of different cuisines.
There are the famous cocidos (stews) of
the interior, the seafood of the fishing
villages, the soupy paellas of the north