Feature · Class & Villas

Like a sip of the sea

On the Arenal beach, La Perla de Jávea has been cooking rice dishes, chargrilled food and fish from the local fish market since 1984, with the sea on the horizon.

A family story

Dolores Candela and Antonio Box founded La Perla de Jávea in 1984, eager to share the essence of Mediterranean cooking. Their daughter Sonia soon joined them in the kitchen to help her parents at the stove, and today the legacy lives on with María Victoria running the business and Sonia at the stove. Along the way came a Repsol Sun and a new look, fresher and younger.

A larder right by the sea

The cooking is all about produce and proximity. Fish arrives daily from the fish market and is grilled over olive-wood embers, served with garlic, extra virgin olive oil, sautéed vegetables and baby potatoes; the variety changes every day. The rice dishes, dry or creamy, and the fideuàs are served for a minimum of two people, and the wine list rounds off the table.

• Grilled Jávea red prawn260 € per kilo
• Arroz del senyoretAlso available as fideuà
• Rice with blue lobsterDry or creamy
• Fried gambusí from Jávea bayFrom the fried dishes section
• Grilled octopusWith roasted spring onion and romesco sauce
• Valencian orange cremosoWith 23-year-old Matusalem Enigma rum

For any time of year

In Jávea it is the place people choose for a special meal with family, with friends or as a couple, and for business meetings too. A restaurant for watching dusk fall over the beach during an intimate dinner, and for every season, “because the sea is pearly in winter”.

Text by Class & Villas based on information published by La Perla de Jávea.