Where to eat Arroz a banda in Benidorm: 3 editor picks
Ranked by TableJourney editorial score.
Photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/risager/ · CC BY-SA 2.0
Arroz a banda is the Alicante fishermen's rice cooked in a strong stock of rockfish and ñora, served on its own with allioli, and found on seafront menus all over Benidorm.
Arroz a banda is a rice dish of Alicante province: fishermen boiled cheap, bony rockfish (morralla) with ñora peppers for stock, cooked the rice in that stock separately, a banda, and ate the fish another day. Like other Alicante rices it starts from a salmorreta of ñora, garlic and tomato. On Benidorm's beaches it is a standing order: Ongi Etorri Manolo 1 on Poniente names it among its specialities, Ducado lists it beside its lobster rice, and El Barranco cooks it for two or more.
Ongi Etorri Manolo 1 has fed Poniente beach in Benidorm since 1968, a family house cooking arroz a banda, paella, bay fish and Basque-style hake by the sea.
OrderArroz a banda for two, or the merluza a la vasca the house calls its signature.
TipThe kitchen runs straight through from noon, so a late lunch after the beach is easy; rice dishes are for a minimum of two.
El Barranco is a seafront rice and fish house on Poniente beach in Benidorm, cooking arroz a banda, arroz del senyoret and rice with anchovies and spinach.
OrderArroz con boquerones y espinacas, Benidorm's own rice, for at least two.
TipRice dishes are made for at least two; a local quoted by Guía Repsol picks the salt-baked fish and the grilled baby squid.
Ducado has cooked traditional Mediterranean food in Benidorm since 1980: sea bream, sea bass and other fish, lobster rice, milk-fed lamb and Iberian ham.
OrderArroz con bogavante, or whichever whole fish is on the day's list.
TipRoast suckling pig is cooked to order, so call ahead; Monday is lunch only and the restaurant closes all day Tuesday.
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