The gastonomy of Guardamar represents the finest of Mediterranean cuisine – based on fresh daily produce from the sea and from the surrounding market garden areas. We get Guardamar’s finest prawns from the sea – as well as bream, grouper, sea bass, red mullet and sole etc. All delicious and some cooked in salt which adds to their flavour and maintains their aroma.
The market garden area, irrigated by the River Segura offers fresh fruit and vegetables, all grown locally with patience and care
Special mention must be made of the ‘ñoras’ – a small sweet red pepper dried in the sun along the dunes in Guardamar. They provide a unique and delicious addition to local cuisine – and to that of the surrounding areas.
All of these wonderful natural ingredients come together to produce some excellent traditional Valencian rice dishes such as ‘arròs a banda’, ‘a la marinera’ or ‘caldero’, a traditional recipe still made today and enjoyed by the local fishermen. Another typical dish is ‘arròs amb conill’ or rice with rabbit Rice is also an accompaniment to many of the local vegetable products e.g broad beans, artichokes, garlic etc. and goes well with meat and with cod.
A typical Christmas dish is ‘putxero amb pilotes’ which is a type of meatball stew. It is also worth highlighting the delicious salted fish, an ancient method of food preservation introduced to these shores by the Phoenicians. Of particular note are the salted fish roe, dried salted tuna and bonito – all excellent ‘starters’
