ALMERÍA - MOJÁCAR PLAYA

CASA EGEA

If you are looking for well-made, traditional Spanish food on the long, winding beach road that runs along Mojácar Playa, Casa Egea is the place to go. The Restaurant is a little setback from the beach and has a glass terrace.

Since 1995, you will find real Spanish food from authentic recipes lovingly prepared by this family-run Restaurant of three generations.

They serve excellent seafood and fish and an ever-changing menu of local specialities, from rabbit, octopus and snails. Suitable for a sit-down meal, lunchtime or evening or for truly authentic Spanish tapas, go to the bar at the back of the Restaurant for an excellent selection of tapas, where you rub shoulders with the many locals eating there.

You will see all the fish displayed in a cooler cabinet.

We tried a few tapas at the bar, which opens at 1 pm. This is a good time to get there, as the tapas are fresh out of the kitchen. Then, we sat down for a long lunch.

Tapas

Ensalada de marisco (seafood salad)

Patatas con ajo (potatoes with garlic mayonnaise)

Cazuela de conejo y pollo (rabbit/chicken casserole)

Cazuela de calamari (squid casserole)

Riñón de cordero (lambs kidney)

Patatas de pobre (poor-mans potatoes)

Lunch

Ensalada mixta

Anchoas de Santoña

Coquinas (small flat shell clams)

Calamaritos a la plancha (baby squid)

Galanes (also known as raor and lorito) fritos temporada (an exquisite little fish only available for a few weeks in summer, fried in a light batter)

The service is fast, friendly, and professional, and the staff is knowledgeable. The seafood and fish are expensive, so check the price before buying, but the quality is excellent. We only drank beer at lunch.

The menu del dia is good at €12 excluding drinks but with dessert or coffee.

Open all year except on closed on Mondays.

Weekends, especially Sunday lunchtime, when all the local families are out, are the most popular. If you're looking for pizza, burgers, fish and chips, and karaoke (of which there are many in Mojácar Playa), this is probably not for you!