My friend Eduardo is not Spanish, no, hetis not, he is from Valencia! His beautiful wife, Judith, is not Spanish either, she is from Barcelona. So, they are both not Spanish (at all). They are Valencian and Catalan.The Catalan and Valencian language are more or less similar. The characters not…..
Eduardo grew up near Xàbia and owns a house in Xàbia. If I need a restaurant tip, I call Eduardo. His tips are always “the bomb”. If I need a reservation, I call Eduardo. It always works, except when you want to at at Ca Aleix……
Eduardo is, however, Spanish too. That means that he is always late, he loves drinking red wine during lunch (that starts at 15:30 hours), he thinks that white wine, and especially with ice cubes, is typically for tourists, he laughs at you when you eat paella at night, “tourists”, and when he says: “Let’s have a diner together”, it ends up in a lunch and then you learn to know that he forgot to make a reservation. So, for our diner on Wednesday, that finally became a lunch, but, Eduardo forgot to make a reservation.
Restaurant Ca Aleix, a restaurant in the beautiful garden center, was advised to us by my Dutch friend, Ferry, a former chef and pupil of Paul Bocuse, now owning Casa Coline in Xàbia (a wonderful bed & breakfast), advised us to have lunch at Ca Aleix. Eduardo tried to make a reservation, which failed. It was fully booked. So, this is where the Dutch Foodie, a well-connected, handsome and charming man (with great taste), calls his friend Ferry and asks him to make a reservation at Ca Aleix. Ferry is well conected in Xàbia. Within five minutes Ferry sends me a WhatsApp, confirming the reservation, inside with the airco, on the most beautiful table. Eduardo immediately says: “This must be a tourist trap, when a tourist can arrange a table and I cannot arrange a table”. I can tell you one thing, Eduardo had to admit that this was not a tourist trap and probably one of the better lunches he had in Xàbia.
The chef is Alegandro Crespo, and the menu is traditional.
The waiter puts some ailoli and tomatoes at the table. The start is very good, this is the best Ailoli I ever ate.
We start with Cocas de Dacsa, a typical traditional, local dish. It has (the best!) tomatoes from Valencia, with some fresh eggs, onion and tuna on a little pancake. It looks like a pancake, it is not a pancake. And at the first bite Euardo gets tears in his eyes and says: “This is what mama always made for me for breakfast, especially when I was drunk the night before.” When you know Eduardo, you believe him immediately.
The Zamburiñas (scallops) con Foie are delightful. Ferry is texting me, that we have to try the Croquetas Caseras and the fresh tuna tartar.
And then the most important thing, the wine. Eduardo choses a wine from the Canary Islands, called Los Bermegos D.O. Lanzarote for EUR 22.00 a bottle. A wonderful wine. In the meantime, Ferry is Whatsapping me that we have to try the Mara Moura & D.O. Moterrei, made of 100% Godello, costing EUR 19.50 a bottle. The prices of the wines are incredible. That is typical for Spain. Mostly we pay in restaurants less (or more or less the same) than the amount we buy the bottles at the liquor store. We all think that the wine from Lanzarote is better. So, after finishing the Mara Moura, we turn back to the Los Bermegos.
We decide to skip the salads and go immediately to the “Arroces”, but instead of choosing rise, we are eating “Fideuá de Marisco”, a typical local dish that I learned to eat with my Spanish family. Eduardo, of course, accuses us of being tourists again, because we choose the Marisco instead of the one with duck, the most traditional one. Sophie looks at me and in her eyes I can see that she is dying for Marisco instead of duck.
And then, desert. I have never eaten a better desert then at Ca Aleix. The chocolate cake and the running caramel cake are wonderful, and the cheesecake is still a little bit fluid and the best I ever had in my life. I suggest we drink a Hierbas, and again, I’m being offended with the words “fucking tourist”.
Eduardo must be my brother. He has the same humor as the DF, the same taste. There is only one problem, he can’t drink alcohol as good as the DF. Eduardo had to admit (and that is for a Spanish guy very tough), that Ca Aleix was not a tourist trap and probably one of the better restaurants of Xàbia, and so it is (although the Fideuá needed a little bit more salt).
And the Bill? € 220,– including three bottles of wine.
Thank you, Eduardo and Judith, for this wonderful afternoon!
Ca Aleix, I think the best address to have lunch or diner in Xàbia. It is worth a detour!
(5 / 5)