Cádiz/Spain: Sea urchin in the lighthouse

April 13th, 2018 | Landgänge

The restaurant El Faro (lighthouse) in the southern Spanish city of Cádiz again was such a pilot’s recommendation. As a local expert pilots do not only know the waters of their hometown, but also the culinary world. The recommendation for El Faro came from a true gourmet.

The restaurant can be easily reached from the berth in a half an hour walk. Combine this walk with a small tour through the old town and on your way back you can take the beach promenade along the old fortifications. The botanical garden also is close and ideal for a siesta after dinner.

A reservation is recommendable at El Faro. When we arrived, we were more or less the only guests. But then the restaurant with really many seats filled in no time and many guests did not get a table or only after a long wait. So, just make a reservation over the internet.

El Faro has a bar where, as is customary for the region, tapas are served. There life was seething. The bar is definitely worth a visit. We opted for the restaurant. Several rooms of different sizes, partly with old oil paintings, partly decorated with framed photos close to each other. The typical half-height wall tiles rounded off the whole thing. Waiters in white jackets, all very dignified.

The food was extremely good, we put together this menu:

Octopus salad with potatoes and tomatoes “concassée” (Ensalada de Pulpo a la Mostaza Antigua, Aceite de Pimentón, Patatas y Tomato “concasse”)

Sea urchin stuffed with shrimp tartare (Erizo del Mar relleno de Tartar de Gambón con sus Huevas)

Scallop tartare with algae and lime foam (Tartar de Vieira alinada con Limon encurtido, Alga Codium and Yema cremosa)

Fish and seafood Rice in the style of Cádiz (Arroz Caldoso de Pescado and Marisco al estilo de Cádiz)

Sous vide cooked hake on aubergine cream with confit vegetables (Merluza cocinada a baja temperatura, sobre verduritas confitadas y una crema suave de Berenjenas asadas)

You order a portion to share, which is absolutely normal and welcome there. The food was excellent, especially the sea urchin was a dream. So much sea in a dish – incredible. The atmosphere is wonderfully antiquated and consistent. Oddly, it is in stark contrast to the impression conveyed by the website. Here is nothing blue-white and flooded with light, but rather dark-cozy and playful. There is no doubt that we are in a traditional restaurant with 50 years of experience in the third generation with excellent cuisine. Here people know what they are doing.

At the next table sits a delightful elderly couple, probably married as long as the restaurant already exists. Among other things, they dined with pleasure a specialty of the house: “Las insuperables Tortillitas de Camerones”, as it is called in the introduction to the menu. The unsurpassable crab tortillas – how much we would have liked to try these crunchy things …

As the pilot said: “Not very cheap, but just right for a meal with your wife!” You are right, Mr. Pilot!