Authentic paella and seafood in Calpe's fishing port
Restaurante Canada is one of the many fresh seafood restaurants packed into the Calpe's lively fishing port and it's a good choice for a fresh, tasty, and affordable lunch after a morning at the beach. To get to the fishing port, just follow the seaside promenade towards Playa Cantal Roig and you'll find it.
At first, the fishing port can be a little overwhelming if you're a visitor. There are dozens of fresh seafood restaurants all jostling for business and all serving more or less the same thing. And while the restaurants are all pretty good, there are definitely those geared more towards tourists and those preferred by the locals. A good rule of thumb is to pick the restaurants with the daily menu written in Spanish on a chalk board out front, not those with the daily menu printed in 20 languages on an unchanging, laminated menu.
Luckily, Restaurante Canada is a locals-oriented joint (though it of course gets its fair share of tourists like us) and it serves an unbeatable daily menu for 15 euros. For starters, you get a choice of salad, fried anchovies, fried squid, fried baby squid, or a fritura (a mixed platter of all of the above) and for seconds you get a selection of rice dishes typical of the Valencian coast: seafood paella, arroz del senyoret (basically paella but with peeled seafood), and arroz a banda, a paella-like rice dish made with fish rather than shellfish. Desert or coffee and bread is also included in the menu but drinks are separate.
We got salad, fritura, and an arroz del senyoret for two, and it was literally the perfect meal for a day at the beach. There's nothing like getting a freshly-made paella while enjoying the view of the palm trees and Calpe's iconic Peñon de Ifach! If you're in Calpe and looking for a relaxed, beachy meal of local cuisine without the typical tourist surcharge, head to the fishing port and check out Restaurante Canada.
