‘Alicante cuisine epitomises the Mediterranean’: a gastronomic journey in south-east Spain
The Alicante region is renowned for its rice and seafood dishes,Less well known is that its restaurant scene has a wealth of talented female chefs, a rarity in SpainI’m on a quest in buzzy, beachy Alicante on the Costa Blanca to investigate the rice dishes the Valencian province is famed for, as well as explore the vast palm grove of nearby Elche,I start with a pilgrimage to a restaurant featured in my book on tapas, New Tapas, a mere 25 years ago,Mesón de Labradores in the pedestrianised old town is now engulfed by Italian eateries (so more pizza and pasta than paella) but it remains a comforting outpost of tradition and honest food,Here I catch up with Timothy Denny, a British chef who relocated to Spain, gained an alicantina girlfriend and became a master of dishes from the region.
Over a fideuá de mariscos (seafood noodles, €20), we chew over local gastronomy.“For me, Alicante epitomises the Mediterranean – for rice, seafood and artichokes,” he says.“But there are curiosities, too, like pavo borracho.” Tim explains that so-called “drunken turkeys” are cooked in vast amounts of cognac plus a shot of red wine and eventually emerge as a hefty stew, perfect in winter.This passion for experimentation has been endorsed by the Catalan master chef, Ferran Adrià, who once stated “[the Costa Blanca] … has a magical elf that takes hold of the products and sneaks into the kitchens to offer diners unique dishes with unique flavours”.
Tim emphasises the preponderance of female chefs in the area, quite a rarity in Spain’s male-dominated world of gastronomy,“Because in this historically poor region, the choice was often between cooking and cleaning,” he says,As proof we greet the exuberant owner of Labradores, Raquel Sabater, among the vintage plates, tiles and furniture that have barely changed after all these years,But I soon discover another reason when I meet the much-garlanded María José San Román at Monastrell, her high-end restaurant beside the marina,Here, as we embark on a refined six-course tasting menu (€79), she tells me about the association Mujeres en Gastronomía (MEG) that she founded in 2018 to unite Alicante’s many talented female chefs.
Nicknamed the Queen of Alicante gastronomy, this tornado of energy now heads four restaurants, including the heaving Taberna del Gourmet, with another in the pipeline.Next day, I lunch at another member of MEG, La Sastrería, whose owner, María Luisa Rivera, changed tack 20 years ago from landscape gardener to chef.Her restaurant, a small modernista beauty, overlooks a lush square of towering centennial ficus trees, their tangled trunks echoed inside by a curvaceous staircase.Here I opt for an arroz del senyoret (€19) named for the little lord (or in my case lady) who doesn’t like handling shellfish, so it all comes peeled.The sénia rice from Valencia’s Albufera (a freshwater lagoon) is perfect, each tiny grain separate despite 20 minutes or so cooking in María Luisa’s complex broth.
Now the island of Tabarca, south of Alicante, beckons.An elongated sandstone slab washed by transparent waters teeming with fish, it is a marine reserve and its coves are a snorkeller’s heaven.After a 25-minute ferry crossing from Santa Pola, I disembark with my guide, Felipe, who fills me in on Tabarca’s rich history.Despite being the smallest inhabited island in Spain, it has seen Greeks, Romans, Berber pirates, smugglers and shipwrecked Genoese sailors who settled there when a military garrison was created in 1760.Quite a history for an islet.
Although the garrison later decamped, stone gateways remain leading to quaint streets, a striking church and leafy squares,It’s a dreamy place if you get there before the lunchtime crowds,I am in search of a unique fisherman’s stew combined with rice,This caldero is, like paella, named after its cooking dish – in this case a cast iron hotpot,At La Almadraba, the owner, a woman called Nines, explains the technique: two courses (€30) start with a succulent dish of potatoes and fish simmered in a broth of alioli, garlic, saffron and parsley so good that I spoon out the remains; it is followed by the rice cooked in the same concoction.
The upshot is a fabulous feed overlooking bobbing boats in the harbour and a glittering Med beyond.Another day, another quest, this time in Elche, inland from Santa Pola and 15 miles from Alicante.The city is famed not only for the exquisite Dama de Elche (a fourth-century BC sculpture of a bejewelled Iberian woman) but also for its vast palm grove.About 200,000 date palms in the largest palmeral in Europe and the northernmost in the world have earned the city Unesco world heritage status.Most of the palms are divided into a grid of rectangular huertos (orchards) fed by irrigation channels that also nourish fruit trees such as pomegranate, citrus and olives.
Miguel Ángel Sánchez, owner of Elche’s largest date company, TodoPalmera, leads me around the Museo del Palmeral, where an enlightening display covers every aspect of the palm tree, whether the plant structure, the use of palm wood and fibre and, extraordinarily, intricate “sculptures” made with white palms for Elche’s Easter processions.For Miguel Ángel, “the palm has so much value: cultural, religious, environmental, nutritional, agricultural, ornamental, functional and spiritual”.He says that Elche’s date production of about 80 tonnes restricts availability in Spain, so it remains a gourmet product.Five varieties include the widely known Medjoul as well as the local Confitera, which I sample at Miguel Ángel’s farm – freshly harvested, yellow, velvety and utterly delicious.Despite my addiction to Palestinian Medjoul dates, this is an epiphany.
When I later spot them at Alicante’s cornucopian Mercado Central, into my bag they go.My last arroz lunch looms.Instead of indulging at highly rated Mesón el Granaíno, we head south of town to 90-year-old El Cachito, an unpretentious family restaurant.Here I watch another woman, Noelia, orchestrate the flames of grapevine branches in a cavernous, blackened fireplace.The result? A perfect paella of rabbit and wild snails (€18), its glistening grains as flawless as the artichokes grown in her vegetable garden, and as luscious as Elche’s dates.
The trip was provided by spain,info, costablanca,org and visitelche,com,Fiona stayed at Hotel Serawa Alicante, which has doubles from £97, room only
Diaries, artworks and more to be auctioned from Marianne Faithfull’s personal belongings
Diaries and a gift from actor Carrie Fisher are among the personal items from Marianne Faithfull that are going up for auction in London.The musician died in January aged 78, leaving behind a cache of fascinating portraits, photographs and ephemera from a glamorous, sometimes troubled life. “Each piece tells a story and reflects her spirit and inimitable taste,” her son Nicholas Dunbar said. “It is time now for these belongings to find new homes and I hope that they will bring as much joy to their new owners as they did Marianne.”The diaries include one from 1959 when Faithfull was in her early teens, and a 1989 journal entitled Goals
Donald Glover reveals he had a stroke on Childish Gambino tour in 2024
Donald Glover, who performs under the name Childish Gambino, has revealed he had a stroke last year which forced him to cancel world tour dates.At the time the 42-year-old said he was dealing with an “ailment” after performing in New Orleans and had gone to a hospital in Houston, where he discovered he needed surgery. He subsequently postponed, then entirely cancelled the remainder of his US tour, as well as all of his UK, European and Australian dates, writing: “Unfortunately, my path to recovery is taking longer than expected.”While performing at Tyler, the Creator’s Camp Flog Gnaw festival in Los Angeles on Saturday night, Glover told the audience that he’d had a stroke.“I was doing this world tour,” he said
‘He was just trying to earn a few kopecks’: how newly translated stories reveal Chekhov’s silly side
Few writers are as universally admired as Chekhov. As Booker winner George Saunders puts it, “Chekhov – shall I be blunt? – is the greatest short story writer who ever lived.” Novelists from Ann Patchett to Zadie Smith cite him as an inspiration. His plays The Seagull, Three Sisters, Uncle Vanya and The Cherry Orchard still pack out theatres internationally. In the past year alone, Andrew Scott wowed audiences in his one-man Vanya for London’s National Theatre and Cate Blanchett took on the role of Arkadina in The Seagull at the Barbican
From Wicked: For Good to Stranger Things: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead
Ariana Grande sparkles in the concluding part of the Wicked Witch tale, and the first batch of final episodes of the retro sci-fi juggernaut are unleashedWicked: For GoodOut nowWas the decision to split this Broadway musical big-screen adaptation into two parts motivated by art or money? Part two is here, so you can judge for yourself. The Wizard of Oz-inspired story picks up with defiant “Wicked Witch” Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) living in exile, while Glinda (Ariana Grande) relishes her own popularity.The Thing With FeathersOut nowMax Porter’s novel Grief Is the Thing With Feathers gets the big-screen treatment, with Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead role as the dad who must raise his two young children alone after his wife dies unexpectedly. With David Thewlis as the voice of the crow who appears to him.The Ice TowerOut nowMarion Cotillard stars as a star: an actor called Cristina, who is playing the beautiful Snow Queen in a 1960s adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen classic that also inspired Frozen
Kristen Bell and Brian Cox among actors shocked they’re attached to Fox News podcast
The Fox News announcement of a new podcast series on Jesus Christ has turned into a bizarre holiday tale in Hollywood, as several actors attached to massive, 52-episode project claim their recordings date back 15 years and are being released without their prior knowledge.The new audiobook titled The Life of Jesus Christ Podcast, announced on Wednesday as part of a splashy rollout for the network’s new Christian vertical called Fox Faith, purports to guide listeners “through the life, teachings, and miracles of Jesus Christ”, with each episode introduced by Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt.The announcement boasted that more than 100 actors had signed on to participate in the project, with a voice cast including Kristen Bell as Mary Magdalene, Sean Astin as Matthew, Neal McDonough as Jesus, Brian Cox as the Voice of God, Malcolm McDowell as Caiaphas, John Rhys-Davies as the narrator and Julia Ormond as Mary.But reps for Bell claim that the actor was blindsided by the announcement, as she had recorded the audio 15 years ago. She only learned that Fox planned to release a podcast with her name attached the day before the announcement, when her team received an invitation to appear on Fox & Friends the following day, her reps told Rolling Stone
The Guide #218: For gen Zers like me, YouTube isn’t an app or a website – it’s the backdrop to our waking lives
Barely a month goes by without more news of streaming sites overtaking traditional, terrestrial TV. Predominant among those sits YouTube, with more than 2.5 billion monthly viewers. For people my age – a sprightly 28 – and younger, YouTube is less of an app or website than our answer to radio: the ever-present background hum of modern life. While my mum might leave Radio 4 wittering or BBC News flickering in the corner as she potters about the house, I’ve got a video essay about Japan’s unique approach to urban planning playing on my phone
‘Alicante cuisine epitomises the Mediterranean’: a gastronomic journey in south-east Spain
Rukmini Iyer’s quick and easy recipe for spiced paneer puffs with quick-pickled carrot raita | Quick and easy
Chef Skye Gyngell, who pioneered the slow food movement, dies aged 62
How to make the perfect butter paneer – recipe | Felicity Cloake's How to make the perfect …
Fluffy and fabulous! 17 ways with marshmallows – from cheesecake to salad to an espresso martini
The Shaston Arms, London W1: ‘Just because you can do things doesn’t mean you should do them’ – restaurant review | Grace Dent on restaurants