Moraira shouldn’t be a food town. At least not one with this many incredible restaurants. It’s a small former fishing village on the Costa Blanca, about an hour’s drive north of Alicante airport and around 25 minutes from it’s much noisier neighbour, Benidorm.
When you visit, it’s like going back 30 years and despite being a hit with tourists, it’s not like some of the other coastal hotspots popular with holiday makers.
Alicante airport is only a two-and-a-half-hour flight from most UK airports, so you can be sitting by the marina with a glass of something cold by mid-afternoon if you take a morning flight.
The first time I came, I braced myself for laminated menus and sangria in plastic jugs. That’s the deal with small Spanish coastal towns, isn’t it?
Except it isn’t here.
Moraira has over 200 restaurants at the last count, which is frankly ridiculous for a town you can walk across in twenty minutes, and an awful lot of them are good. Some are better than good.
In fact, one local told me on our first walk in to the town from our El Portet villa that there were no less than 260 restaurants! So it’s probably somewhere in between, and like I say, ridiculous!
There’s no Michelin star anywhere in town, which baffles me slightly. What you get instead are kitchens where the effort goes into the plate rather than the press release.
One thing I learned the hard way: the best food here is rarely where the best views are. The seafront strip does lovely coffee and passable (slightly overpriced) tapas lunches, but the kitchens doing genuinely serious cooking tend to hide on the outskirts, down side streets, up valleys. Keep that in mind and the whole week takes care of itself.
Luckily, my first trip to Moraira was with someone who had lived there for 3 years, is a serious foodie and wine lover, and someone who’s family still live in Benissa (the next town along) – and he took us to all the spots he knows as being ‘the best in Moraira’ – at least to the locals.
Having spent that first week here, eating out daily and having returned twice since, here’s where I’d send you for the best food spots in Moraira…
1. Meson El Refugio
For Paella Done the Old Way (and an excellent menú del día)
Right in the old town on C. Almacenes, and honestly it feels like time stopped somewhere around 1987 and in the best way. The paella is made to a grandmother’s recipe and you can taste it. No shortcuts, no frozen prawns plonked on top for show.
It was our last day when we visited here and inexplicably we’d failed to have paella all week. So my friend took us to the place he described as having ‘the best paella in town and made the way it was decades ago’. This place has been in the family for decades, and it has a charming decor with service to match.
We had ours as part of the menú del día (menu of the day), and this made for incredible value. It’s just a stones throw from the seafront right in the heart of town although seating is all inside. The deserts here were also top notch and the crema catalana was delicious.
A couple of practical bits. Rice dishes are made to order, so expect a wait – this is not the place for a quick bite before the beach. Go hungry, because portions are generous and you’ll want to scrape the pan. And if you’re travelling in high season, ring ahead. Spanish families book this place out on Sundays, which tells you everything really.
2. Taberna El Porrón
The Tapas Bar Hidden in the Square
No sea view. Doesn’t matter one bit. El Porrón is tucked into one of the little squares off the centre, and it’s where I go when I want tapas without the grease that lets down so many places along this coast.
The grilled artichokes are the thing I order first, every time. Then boquerones, a plate of jamón, and – don’t judge me – the burger with sobrasada sauce, which has no business being as good as it is in a Spanish taberna. Finish with the homemade cheesecake if you have room.
The staff chat without hovering, which is a rarer skill than it sounds. And there’s a small playground right beside the terrace, so if you’ve got children with you, this is your evening sorted.
Two small gripes, because nowhere’s perfect: the tortilla is small for the price, and when the square fills up the service slows a little, but when this happens, take your time, order another glass of their fantastic casa vino, and take it all in. I still haven’t had a bad meal here.
3. Saen Restaurante
When you want something a bit special
This one’s on the Calpe road out of town, and is one for special occasions. You could easily miss it if you didn’t know about it and it’s well a 5 minute cab ride (or 30 minute walk) from the centre of Moraira
We only knew about it thanks to our friend who used to work for the guy who now owns Saen, and we met the owner and head chef Santi who was lovely and clearly very passionate and knowledgable about his food.
There is a pretty varied menu here and you have anything from Spanish classics to some of the very best sharing steaks I have ever seen and tasted. Opting for the latter and you’ll get your steak cooked rare and then a searingly hot rock to continue cooking it on if you like it that way – very impressive stuff.
There is indoor and outdoor seating here and although the experience felt upmarket it was certainly in no way overpriced.
It was one of the best meals I’ve had in Moraira, with impeccable service, sublime food and a wonderful host.
4. Restaurante Ca Pepe
The One in the Pine Valley
About a kilometre and a half out of town, up a side valley surrounded by pines, Ca Pepe is the sort of restaurant that survives on regulars rather than passing trade. Always a good sign, that and probably because you’d never see it unless you knew about it.
This was another one of those rare finds thanks to our host Alex with his local knowledge and the food here was something to behold.
The building is rustic stone, there’s a garden terrace, and the whole thing feels a world away from the seafront bustle. The smoky aubergine tempura is exquisite, as was the aged steak we ordered and shared between our table.
In fact, when ordering here was asked the owner who was serving us to just choose for us. We told him we wanted tapas style starters to share and then steak with sides for main.
He really could have destroyed us with the bill and with the feast we were presented with, plus the few bottles of wine and cava we ordered, I was sure this bill would be couple hundred euros per head, instead it came in at around €100 per person for what was our most decadent meal of the week.
What really sets it apart, though, is the hospitality. It’s the warmest I’ve come across in Spain, and I’ve eaten in a lot of Spain. They welcome dogs inside without blinking, children are looked after just as well and we even saw the owner again a few days later out in town who remembered us and we chatted at length – what a great find this is.
If I lived here, this would be my local for sure.
5. The Olive Tree
Quietly One of the Best Kitchens in Town
The Olive Tree doesn’t shout about itself, which might be why it took me three visits to Moraira before I ate here. My mistake. It’s intimate, softly lit, and the Mediterranean cooking is consistently excellent – the fish especially, generous and cooked with care.
It changed hands not long ago, and if anything it’s better for it. New energy in the room, same standards on the plate.
Oddly, the thing I remember most fondly is the coffee – a smooth Colombian that rounded off the meal so well I ordered a second. It’s a small detail, but small details are usually where restaurants give themselves away.
This is my answer when someone asks where to eat and I can’t face interrogating them about preferences. It just works, for almost everyone, almost every time.
6. Tasca 42
The Gluten-Free Surprise
Tasca 42 is family-run, popular with tourists, and worth ignoring any snobbery you might feel about that second part. The entire menu, all of it, is gluten-free, and you would never guess.
I brought a coeliac friend here and watched her order calamari for the first time in years. She went quiet for a moment when it arrived. It was outstanding: tender rather than rubbery, crisp coating, no compromise anywhere. She talked about it for the rest of the trip.
They handle vegan and lactose-free diets with the same ease, which makes this the obvious pick for groups with mixed requirements – no more scanning menus for the one sad option somebody can actually eat.
Nobody rushes you, either. Order in waves, linger, order more. This is a long-lunch place, and the front porch tables are the ones to ask for.
7. Restaurante Casa Toni
The Dress-Up Dinner
Every holiday needs one night where you make an effort, and in Moraira that night is Casa Toni. White linen, careful service, wine decanted rather than sloshed. It’s on the Calpe road too – you’ll notice a pattern developing, because the serious kitchens sit on the outskirts here.
The set menus are the smart move. Around €24–33 gets you multiple courses with wine included, which for cooking at this level is remarkable value — I’ve paid more for far less at home. The garlic prawns are the best I’ve had anywhere, and I don’t say that lightly.
The slow-roast shoulder of lamb falls apart at the suggestion of a fork. And the crêpes Suzette, made with a little theatre, belong somewhere far grander.
Now, the honest bit. The lighting is bright to the point of clinical – romantic candlelit dinner this is not. And the welcome can feel a touch brusque until you’re actually seated. Book ahead, dress up a little, and note it’s closed on Sundays.
8. Kosta
Fine Dining Without the View
By now you’ll have spotted the theme: Moraira’s best kitchens sit along the Calpe road, and the trade-off is the scenery. Kosta is the clearest example. First-class cooking, nothing remotely traditional about it, and not a glimpse of sea.
The beef tataki to start is the order. I’ve had friends specifically return for it. My steak came with a peppercorn sauce seasoned exactly right, which sounds like faint praise until you think about how often peppercorn sauce is just cream with ambitions.
Service is polished without being stiff, and the whole evening runs at the pace you set rather than the pace the kitchen wants.
If food matters more to you than scenery – and on at least one night of the holiday it should – this is the booking to make. Save the views for lunch.
9. Restaurante El Portet
Lunch With Your Toes Nearly in the Sand
El Portet is the prettiest corner of Moraira, a small horseshoe bay a few minutes from the centre, and it’s where I prefer to base myself when visiting Moraira. This restaurant that shares its name makes the most of the position. Elegant beachfront tables, fresh seafood, and Valencian rice dishes done seriously.
I lost an entire afternoon here. Paella for two with a crisp socarrat base – the caramelised crust at the bottom of the pan that separates the real thing from the tourist version – a cold bottle of local white, and boats swaying in the bay. I couldn’t tell you what time we left. But it was late.
It’s not cheap, and I wouldn’t come every day – nor would my bank balance let me. But for the last night of the holiday, or the first, book a front-row table towards sunset and let the place do its thing. There are worse ways to remember a trip.
If it’s full, the bay has other options, including La Casita just around the corner, no sea view but amazing tapas and often live music, but something that bit special go for Restaurante El Portet.
One Honest Tip Before You Go
If you take one thing from all this, make it the trade-off: in Moraira, the view and the best food rarely live at the same address. Decide which matters more each evening and you’ll eat well all week. Try to have both every night and you’ll end up disappointed at least once.
A few honourable mentions before I go. Maxim’s, further along the Calpe road, is another polished dinner. Katmandu does a surprisingly good curry when you’ve hit your paella limit. And Magia’s pizza is worth the fifteen-minute walk out of town – have a drink at one of the seafront bars first and call it an evening.
Booking reality check: from June to September, reserve everything. The good places fill up days ahead, and standing hungry outside your full restaurant of choice at 9pm is a particular kind of holiday misery. I speak from experience. Out of season it’s a different town entirely – quieter, cheaper, and you can be spontaneous about dinner again, which is half the joy of Spain in the first place.
Save this list for your trip. And if you find somewhere I’ve missed, tell me as I’m back most years, and I’m always hunting for the next table.