Last month, my mother celebrated her birthday. So, while in Calpe,Spain, we decided to eat at a harbor side fish restaurant in Calpe. Eating at a fish and seafood restaurant is a popular thing to do for lunch and dinner in Calpe as, not only is the fish and seafood the freshest you’ll find, it’s dirt cheap too.
With several Calpe fish restaurants to choose from, we came across El Camion, right on the harbor next to several other similar restaurants.
We took advantage of their Menu del Dia (Menu of the Day) as El Camion was deserted and we wanted to give it some business. Little did we know, within minutes, El Camion would be packed full of customers, with more lined up outside the door. Why?
Because El Camion is the best fish and seafood restaurant in Calpe – bar none.
Where is El Camion Restaurante in Calpe? – Located on the side of the small Calpe harbor, you can’t miss El Camion. Walking towards the town’s well-known fish and seafood restaurants, El Camion is the first restaurant you come to on the harbor.
With a large indoor restaurant and a massive outdoor patio, you’ll also know El Camion by the two or three men standing around its entrance, handing out free glasses of sangria (a mix of Spanish wine and fruit juice) and free samples of their fish and seafood dishes.
What Type of Food Does El Camion Serve? – El Camion is one of the famous Calpe restaurants specializing in fresh fish and seafood. With everything from sole, calamari, prawns, shrimp, crab, lobster, octopus and many more seafood items beside, it’s actually difficult to choose your meal as there’s such an enormous variety.
With a mix of a la carte meals or a ‘Menu del Dia’, (the Menu of the Day), most customers choose the Menu del Dia, as the quality and price is incredible.
What is a Menu del Dia? – Menu Del Dia is a set lunch or dinner served in most restaurants in Spain. Each restaurant has a different menu but, typically, it will include an appetizer, a main course, a dessert and an alcoholic beverage. Each Menu del Dia usually has two or three choices per course and with a set price of often less than 10 euros ($14), it’s an amazingly cheap price for a lot of food and some good Spanish wine or beer.
El Camion’s Menu del Dia – When you arrive at El Camion, you’re met at the door by one of the waiters. Here, they show you plates of already-cooked examples of each course on their Menu del Dia, all displayed on ice in a huge glass case or table right outside the restaurant. For each course (appetizer, main course, and dessert) you choose what you want to eat. This is keyed into an electronic hand-held order machine and then you and your party are shown to a table to wait. Meanwhile, your order is sent to El Camion’s kitchen and cooked fresh while you wait.
For our Menu del Dia at El Camion, we chose Fried Calamari for an appetizer, Sole and French Fries for the main course and, for dessert, Creme Caramel for me and strawberry ice cream for the folks. We also ordered our drinks – an entire bottle of wine for my parents and a huge pitcher of Sangria for me.
The price for all this food and alcohol? Only 9 euros – around $12.50 per person. For the freshest seafood and fish imaginable, a lovely dessert and copious amounts of alcohol, you couldn’t beat the price.
Within less than 10 minutes of our arrival, our order was served and, boy, was it delicious. Perfectly fried calamari (eight huge rings of calamari per person), a pan-seared sole that was about a foot and a half long per person, french fries and a salad, a small baguette bread roll each, and a large Creme Caramel with whipped cream for me and a dish of ice cream for each of my parents. Meanwhile, I was happily getting sloshed (semi-drunk) on Sangria, and my parents were merrily enjoying their red wine.
Sitting outside on El Camion’s patio, overlooking the gorgeous harbor, the sun shining down, superb fresh fish and seafood, nice wine and excellent Sangria – all for less than $12.50. There’s absolutely nothing better.
My mother had a lovely birthday lunch at El Camion in Calpe and is now happily telling all of our friends in Spain to make sure they don’t miss eating here. As for me, I have to agree. El Camion serves the best seafood and fresh fish in Calpe, in a delightful atmosphere and with lovely staff. Perfect. Simply perfect.