Jon Clarke (Publisher & Editor)
WITH a Napoli scarf and photos of Maradona on the wall you would hope the pizzas at Tarifa’s Trattoria would be good.
But owner Luciano Fabricio is taking no chances.
The Neopolitan cuts no corners when it comes to offering the best pizzas and pasta in town…and possibly the whole Costa de la Luz.
Having won the Best Independent Pizza award – one of only three in Andalucia – he makes sure to employ the best Italian chefs and doesn’t scrimp and save on ingredients.
“It is a real artform and it takes many years to become the best pizza chef,” explains Fabricio, who can often serve up to 750 pizzas a day and over 20,000 in the summer.
“Trainees start at 14 years old in Italy and they often hardly touch the dough for two years.
“In fact, it is often not until they hit 19 or 20 that they are allowed to make the first pizzas.”
So watching his pizza chef Aldo Dapra go about his business making the dough at 10am for the FOLLOWING day’s menu is a true joy.
“Look, this is a serious business and if you want to make a really good Napolitana pizza, it has to be very hydrated. You use very little yeast and allow the dough to ferment over 24 hours.
“Most people make it in just two hours and so the quality is poor.”
He continues: “You also need the best tomatoes and, of course, mozzarella. The one we buy at Trattoria costs €10 a kilo, some €7 or €8 more than anywhere else. I think most people can taste the difference.”
There is no doubt you can taste the quality here and, best of all, these pizzas are among the most original I’ve eaten in Spain.
Aside from the delicious Black Angus, one of the best is Li Mortazzi Tua which had pistachios, basil, mortadella as well as an entire buffalo mozzarella on top. To say I was full would be an understatement.
And if you happen to be Scottish (and can prove it) you can have the brand new McTominay half price at €8.50. And best of all it doesn’t include haggis.
Tasty Tarifa
Generally Tarifa has much improved its range of restaurants over recent years.
Thanks to new places like Merkado 27, MicMoc and Almacen %, there is a bit of jostling for position, particularly at lunch time when people are getting on or off of boats from Morocco.
It is also exciting that a Basque restaurant, Atxa, won a Bib Gourmand award from the Michelin guide last year.
This hidden spot, based in a 19th century townhouse, is run by chefs Laura Garcia and Arturo Perea, who met while working at three Michelin star Martin Berasategui restaurant in the Basque region.
Things bode well having won a Sol award from the Repsol guide just after opening in 2022 and looks to be heading for a star.
Some of the best places to eat in Tarifa are on the way out of town.
I always like Chringuito Carbones 13, while the Hurricane hotel serves a legendary buffet lunch, popular with the locals and tourists alike.
Also track down Pacha Mama, which is an institution that can feed up to 1000 people a day in the heart of summer.
Linked to the Slow Food Movement it counts on the very best free range meats, from top breeds, including Simental and Galician Blonde and with each cow needing to be at least five years old and having been fed naturally in fields of grass.
“This is the only way to impregnate the fat with that characteristic aroma of grass and milk,” explains its maitre D.
Take note, when it is blowing a gale in Tarifa Pacha Mama really comes into its own as it is brilliantly sheltered with a charming garden counting on a pool for the kids to play in.
Also very much worthy of note is the charming sheltered garden restaurant, El Jardin, at the Punta Sur hotel, near Valdevaqueros beach.
Again, brilliant for windy days, it being so sheltered, what it is best known for is its fresh, original dishes care of head chef Ivan.
He is a huge fan of the coast’s best local ingredients, such as tuna and retinto steak, but he always comes up with loads of specials by the day.
The local tomatoes, with fresh basil and mozzarella are excellent, while the tuna sashimi – in a home-made ponzu sauce is a highly rated starter and very fresh.
Coastal trawl
For foodies moving west out of Tarifa is one of the most exciting culinary journeys in Spain.
It was two decades ago when I first visited the Costa de la Luz for a travel article for the Daily Mail.
I had heard a lot about the beauty and beaches of the coast, but one thing for sure, I was not expecting great restaurants. This was, after all, Cadiz, one of Spain’s true backwaters and – statistically – the poorest province in the country.
But thanks to a series of locals – including the late hotelier James Whaley, who set up the Hurricane hotel and businessman James Stewart in Vejer – I was given the knowledge to help me root out a string of secret spots.
In particular, I was guided to the heart of Barbate and its cathedral of tuna, El Campero, which has since become one of my favourite fish restaurants in Spain.
I was also sent out into the hills, to places like Santa Maria and Patria, where a series of charming places like Patria itself and Castilleria were found.
Next I was nudged into El Palmar and Zahora, where today you will find the brilliant La Traina.
Then I found the most charming hotel, Antonio, in Zahara de los Atunes, and even better it also had a restaurant.
I was soon returning frequently, particularly after launching the Olive Press in 2006, loving the difference from the Costa del Sol or inland around Ronda.
The real success story – indeed, the biggest change over the last two decades – has been the way that Vejer became the definitive Dining Capital of Cadiz and one of the best in Andalucia.
Two places I will always love eating are at Califa and 4 Estaciones.
These two joints typify the quality on offer in Vejer.
The Jardin de Califa has rightly become a genuine foodie pilgrimage with many travelling from abroad and all over Spain to eat here.
You will need to book for this charming palm courtyard reached through the labyrinthine corridors of the 16th century Califa hotel.
Enclosed by ancient walls harking back to the days of al-Andaluz, it is appropriately lit up with Moroccan lamps and counts on the smell of the jasmine, dama de noche and incense to add to the Middle Eastern mystique.
The menu is a wonderful trawl of Spain and north Africa, put together by a very skilled multicultural kitchen. If I had to plump for one dish go for the ‘pastela’ filled with chicken, almonds and cinnamon, baba ganoush and shish taouk.
It’s no surprise that the group has opened a string of other restaurants in town, including the simple, yet charming Fez, which sits in the heart of town.
A step up is the brilliantly sited Califa Tapas, on the famous Calle Corredera, with views to match the food.
Forget the name ‘tapas’ it has a much bigger mix of dishes and the service is always second to none.
Just a stone’s throw away is 4 Estaciones where Alberto Reyes has been cooking up a storm for a decade now.
The food is nothing short of excellent and it is decidedly seasonal, with his ‘sorbete de gazpacho’ the real summer winner. Coming with olive oil ice cream, prawns, ham and free range egg and black pepper it is a surefire way to cool down.
I’ve actually had it three times now at this exact time of year, when the mercury climbs up towards 40 degrees, and I keep forgetting how cool it is.
I also love his Saam with a tail of King Prawn, guacamole, trout roe, spring onion and kimchi, a variation on a dish made famous at three Michelin star Diverxo, in Madrid.
A ravioli dish of wontons filled with crab and lobster is anything but your ordinary dish for these parts and it’s handled well and with panache … rich and delicious!
Much of his new range of dishes is thanks to his new head chef Esperanza Macias, who picked up a range of skills working at nearby Aponiente, which with three Michelin stars is Andalucia’s best restaurant.
Another brand new spot is Hierbas by Patria, which also sits on the Corredura.
I was particularly excited to try it, given that it is the new spot of Ase and Thomas Donso, my favourite restaurateurs on the Costa de la Luz.
This is very much a diffusion place to their brilliant Patria restaurant, some ten minutes away inland from Vejer.
The focus is healthy dishes, explains Dane Thomas, and it is sensibly very different from Patria.
It is a much simpler menu to start with including a salad section, a sandwich section, and a section of sharing dishes including cod croquettes, a so-called ‘Canadian wrinkled potatoes’ with mojo sauce and alioli.
I instead tried the lightly fried aubergine with guacamole and pico de gallo, literally ‘roosters beak’ which is actually a Mexican dish of tomato, red pepper and onion.
It was delicious, as was the ‘bol de burrito’ a highly original and classic Mexican luncheon dish of refried rice, corn, carrot, cheddar, onion , chili beans, lettuce, gherkins, red peppers and more.
“The idea is you mix it all in and, bingo, you’ve got a cracker,” explains Thomas.
“Basically I always wanted to open a sandwich place. I like them as do most Scandinavians and I didn’t just want bread with a bit of ham and cheese… we are trying to do something different – quality bread from a mother doe Italian bakery.”
Another new place is Zano Smash by Kaos, one of the most intriguing names I’ve heard for a restaurant in recent years.
It has been set up by Argentinian dynamo Felipe, alongside his pal, chef Joseph from Cambridge and its USP is very much burgers and quality meat.
It’s a clever niche for this town, which has just about everything else and Joseph grew up in a family of chefs and has been cooking since the age of 16.
“I actually had my own burger van and have done a bit of time at a few Michelin restaurants, so hopefully I know what I’m doing,” he says.
The restaurant has hired two local brothers Antonio and Pablo to run the joint, as they have another in Zahara.
I was sent out a ‘Kaos burger’ chosen by Pablo which came with three patties of retinto steak, Edam cheese and a special sauce which has gochujang pasta, kimchi and black garlic, lime and mayonnaise. Bloody hell. This is one hell of a burger. It won’t disappoint.
Hidden Zahora
Tucked away in the hamlet of Zahora, some ten minutes south of Vejer is one of those places you pass in the blink of an eye, but you miss at your peril.
Set in a leafy garden behind a high wall, La Traina is the genuine dining secret.
The creation of DJ, Antonio, and his brother Alex, a talented chef, their encyclopedic knowledge of fish and seafood is tip top, hence naming the place after a type of trawler.
This is one of the best places to eat the classic blue fin tuna on the coast, it being very near the fishing port of Barbate.
The tartare is unbelievably good although I also love the sashimi of ventresca and, in particular, the tartaki, which comes with no less than 12 generous slices of delicious tuna belly.
But each year they add so many exciting new things! And not just the chairs shaped like fish heads.
The ajo blanco with blue fin was so well handled … the consistency of the almonds with a touch of sweetness and the saltiness of the small chunks of air dried tuna …
Pastel de atun with asparagus and payoyo cheese – real Cadiz – was like a pastel cabracho, very light, subtle although I’m not sure it warranted the strawberries on top
Next I had the Tarantelo bajo with spicy tomato in a sauce of chives and two root vegetables parsnips and kohlrabi pickles (google it and check the photos !)
A pudding of pine nuts with rosemary and juniper berries called appropriately postre La Breña comes from the nearby hills … and you can actually taste what you smell on nearby hikes … even more so when a glass of local moscatel and Pedro Ximenez is proffered by young waiter Christian a local chap who’s fascinated by the food and worked here for 4 years …
It’s from the local vineyard Bodegas Gallardo and has a tiny touch of orange zest … strange but oddly complimentary…
Awesome Antonio
In Zahara de los Atunes itself is easily one of the best fish restaurants in Spain.
Not surprising in a town named after its famous fish, Antonio is its real standout place to eat and stay.
I first found it two decades ago while working for the Sawday’s Special Places to Stay travel guide and listed it in a travel piece for the Mail.
Run by sergeant major Alejandro it is a well oiled machine and it has the swagger of a top class joint you’d find in San Sebastian or Madrid.
The tuna dishes are the best in Spain and they are served with real panache, while the ham from nearby Jabugo is spectacular.
Grab a table and I promise you won’t forget it, but be warned it is not easy to get one and it often helps if you’ve booked a room in the hotel next door.
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