Alicante had never appealed to me as a travel destination. Despite my researching Europe trips and looking at the more obscure Ryanair destinations, I only decided upon it at the end of my European life more so because it was an exit terminal after a visit to Valencia. After researching more and more, I began to get more excited. Valencia had the remarkable Ciudad de las Artes y Ciencias and paella, there was a lunch time stopover in Denia for the arguable world's best restaurant Quique Dacosta (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/quique-dacosta-denia-09-2013), the possibility of trying the most renowned paella at Paco Gandia (didn't make it though), and finally exceptional award winning tapas in Alicante.
Apparently Ferran Adria regards Nou Manolin as having some of the best tapas in Spain, which therefore means the world. San Sebastian was in my mind the best tapas I've had so it was a challenge to see how they compared.
The setting is warm and lovely. Food surrounds you as do friendly locals. A large jamon leg is expertly sliced and some prawns and breads line the benches.
- boquerones en vinagre €5- tangy slivers of anchovies;
- gambas rojas a la plancha €17pp - prawns from Denia (possibly the best type in the world after this experience and Quique Dacosta) grilled and topped with salt and lemon. Exceptionally sweet and delicious;
- Piripao (6 montaditos) €12 - a collection of little sandwiches with meats and vegetables. After it arrived it seemed like a rash decision with too much carbohydrates. They were quite simple and not overly exciting;
- nuestras fideuas con rape y almejas €14 - after the paella in Valencia, fideua was something different. I had it once back in 2009 and didn't quite recall whether I liked it or not. This dish was tasty with clam meat and vegetables and the noodles resembled thin chewy Chinese type. Overall I prefer paella but this wasn't bad;
- Crema quemada con frutas €8.
I'd be very happy to return back here and would select prawns, just one montadito and an arroz dish with any combination of seafood.