Fish and seafood cuisine linked to the port and the fish market

Fishing and the fish market as the basis of the seafood cuisine of La Vila Joiosa.

Every afternoon, fishing boats return home surrounded by seagulls searching for food. It's a scene repeated daily in La Vila Joiosa, but its familiarity makes it all the more exceptional and spectacular. This ritual, the return home after a hard day's work at sea, is the prelude to the fish auction, "Peix de La Vila," which has taken place every afternoon at the fish market in the port for decades. This auction attracts not only curious onlookers and tourists but also wholesalers and restaurateurs in search of the finest fish and seafood from the Mediterranean. It's a true spectacle of color, freshness, and flavor.

These fresh fish that arrive at the port every afternoon are the main ingredient in traditional seafood cuisine. This cuisine of the sea forms the majority of the town's gastronomic heritage, not only because fishing is one of La Vila's most important traditional economic activities, but also because this repertoire of recipes finds its roots in the "ranchos" (meal meals) that fishermen cooked "on board": stews, rice dishes, "calderos" (a type of seafood stew), fideuà (a noodle paella)...

Talking about typical seafood dishes, the kind you absolutely can't miss if you visit La Vila Joiosa, is impossible because there are so many; it would be an endless list. But to whet your appetite, for example: "calamarets en ceba" (squid with onions), sauteed langoustines with spring onions, fried baby squid, "llampuga" (mahi) with peppers, tuna with tomato or pickled, "fritura vilera" (whiting, sand eel, and red mullet), creamy rice with anchovies and spinach or dry rice with monkfish and vegetables, "suquet de peix" (fish stew), "caldero vilero" (fish stew), "arroz a banda" (seafood rice)... These are just a few suggestions to savor the "Peix de La Vila" (fish of La Vila), but there are countless possibilities, both traditional and modern, to enjoy the taste of the Mediterranean at your table.

Savoring “Peix de La Vila” is like eating the sea in bites.

Image gallery

Fish and seafood cuisine linked to the port and the fish market in images

Practical Information

There is no contact information
Share: