El Ancla Restaurante & Beach Club

There are two kinds of lunch in San Pedro de Alcántara: the everyday sort, and the sort you dress for. El Ancla Restaurante & Beach Club handles the second kind. Planted on the sand at Linda Vista beach, on Avenida Carmen Sevilla, it is the town's occasion restaurant, the one locals book for birthdays, anniversaries and visiting in-laws who need impressing. Shellfish arrives on ice, rice dishes come out for the whole table, and the Mediterranean does most of the decorating.

People compare it to a beach club in the south of France, and the comparison holds up: crisp service, a long sea-view terrace, that pleasant sense of the afternoon stretching out in front of you. What you will not get is the velvet-rope silliness of some clubs closer to Marbella. El Ancla is smart without being smug. You pay €€€ prices, certainly. But you leave feeling you have had an afternoon, not just a meal.

What to Order at El Ancla

Start with the shellfish. It is the reason the place exists, and the kitchen treats it with the seriousness it deserves: fresh, simply handled, served without fuss. Ask what came in that day and follow the advice. This is not a menu to fight against. The people at the next table who look like they know what they are doing almost certainly ordered the shellfish first, and you should copy them without shame.

Then there are the rice dishes, which is where El Ancla earns its occasion status. Rice here is made to order, so it takes time, and it is meant to be shared, so bring people you actually like. Order it for the table, open something cold, and settle in. Rushing a rice dish is a small crime on this coast. The wait is part of the meal, and with this view, waiting is hardly a punishment.

The Terrace on Linda Vista Beach

The terrace is the main event. You are on Linda Vista, one of the calmer stretches of San Pedro's seafront, with the water close enough that you can hear it between courses. Most seats get a sea view, which sounds like a small thing until you have been to restaurants that promise one and deliver a car park. Here the promise is kept. Lunch slides into late afternoon with alarming ease.

The beach club setting means nobody is hurrying you out. This is somewhere to arrive for lunch and still be there when the light goes soft, which on this coast is a legitimate way to spend a day. Book a late lunch and you may find the question of dinner quietly answering itself. The paseo marítimo runs flat along the shore, so a slow walk afterwards is practically compulsory. Consider it the digestif.

Know Before You Go

Book. In summer, book well ahead, because terrace tables in San Pedro de Alcántara are a contact sport from June to September and El Ancla's are among the most wanted in town. Lunch runs on Spanish time, so the terrace is at its liveliest from around two o'clock; dinner starts late by northern European standards. Arriving at half past noon expecting a full dining room will get you a lovely quiet table and a slightly puzzled waiter.

Prices sit at the €€€ mark, which is fair warning rather than a complaint. Shellfish and made-to-order rice were never going to be cheap, and this is the town's occasion option, not its Tuesday standby. Getting there is easy: the seafront is flat and walkable, so you can stroll from town, eat far too well, and walk at least some of it off on the way back.