Most of the crowd that crowds Castaños Street and adjacent streets ignores it, but the Alicante afternoon was born in the Central Market. The afternoon seduces more and more foreigners, and starting on Thursday many arrive from other municipalities in the province, so few practice the secular rite that consists of meeting at aperitif time in Plaza 25 de Mayo, more commonly known as Market Square, and there snack on something, in the adjacent bars or inside the premises, and then descend towards the sea, from bar to bar.
But it can't be all about drinking, if you don't want to return home patheticly stumbling around the time the kids come home from basketball, what a sad thing. So in the pedestrian streets of the Traditional Center, like Castaños, restaurants multiply like gremlins under water. And as happens in other cities in Spain, the Central Market has seen the hospitality industry as a perfect ally to recover part of the clientele lost in the comfort of the supermarket. And that success story, to use the business jargon of our days, has been imitated by the most modest markets of Benalúa, Babel and Carolinas.
Today, in the centenary building of the Central Market, which distributes on its two floors an unbeatable offer of fresh produce, a diverse public competes for space with the lifelong local buyer: cruise passengers, exotic couples staying in the dozens of apartments that have emerged like mushrooms in the neighborhood, and a local pijerío always eager for new places to add to their list of trendy feeders.
And there are diverse ones: La Kazurra in position 31, the Central Bar, the cured meat croquettes and the artisanal smoked products from 'El Palé' which opened in the middle of the pandemic, or the chistorra with honey and the octopus salpicón from Aitana's Corner Bar.
There is even room for exoticism, such as that of Japanese Ukiyo, a concept that we are told means 'living in the moment and enjoying life without worries'... but with funds that allow you to taste the specialties of a place unexpected for its elegance, of which fans of the Japanese genre speak wonders. And there is more Asian offering on this ground floor vegetable store: 'Katana', with its Japanese tuna and anchovy seafood, to whet your appetite.
The vermouth fashion of the 70s has also been resurrected in Alicante - everything returns, nothing remains - and La Guapa Vermuteria takes advantage of it. Being a market, there is no shortage of seafood, most of which comes here from the port of Santa Pola to the stall in front of El Loco del Mar. And the first tapas bar that opened in Central, Mil921 (year in which the building was inaugurated), and the Anamar cafeteria, a traditional bar, continue. In cosmopolitan Alicante, Los Poblanos offers tequila and spice and the small pub Dubliners offers dark beer.
But the native bourgeoisie, always eager to get on the latest boat, has found, far from the tourist circuit - in which the Central is already a key piece - its penultimate gastronomic adventure: JD Gourmet, a fashionable corner in the small and popular market of Benalúa, whose bar boasts of crayfish, red shrimp, cockles, scallops, crabs, razor clams, clams... and very fresh Santapolero fish: turbot, dentex, mullets...
It has only sixteen bar services and six high tables. Without a reservation, the most likely thing is that one will have to look for another place to have lunch, since it has been open since the summer of the 22nd and its fame spread quickly through the nearby courts; Lawyers are good clients and excellent prescribers. As a result of its success, a bar has been installed in front to taste meats.
Even further away from the urban center - here you have to bring tourists specifically, and better by bus or taxi, because finding parking is a nightmare - the Rincón de la Tortilla of the charming Carolinas market also allows you to enjoy its terrace in the busy San Mateo Street, and visit its street market on Thursday and Saturday mornings.
And the immersion in the real Alicante does not stop here. Write down this recommendation: a rice or a Manchego gazpacho at the Babel Market, the second largest in the city, at the Mercacentro bar. The freetours don't tell you this.
