10 Things To Eat In Cadiz, Spain marts 26, 2022 – Posted in: Spain, Travel – Tags: Andalusia, Cadiz, Food, Holiday, Restaurants, Reviews, Spain, Tapas, Vacation
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What dishes should you try in Cadiz?
In Cadiz you can indulge in fish and seafood – and at prices that are completely unheard of! If you’re only in town for only a single day or two, just skip the fine restaurants in Cadiz and go for tapas shopping at the taverns. You can read more about them here: Best restaurants in Cadiz, Spain.
In Cadiz, people like to eat tapas for both lunch and dinner, ordering several dishes to share. The fried shrimp in the dish tortillita de camarones is always a popular choice here, just as the slightly odd “tuna and other canned fish” is also a hit. No mather what you order, it of course has to be washed down with a glass of sherry from the nearby Jerez de la Frontera – the world famous sherry town.
10 things to eat in Cadiz
Of course, you can also have the Andalusian classics like jamon, croquetas and salmojero here in Cadiz. But please know, that in this city you’ll get seafood like you haven’t tried it anywhere else. And then it’s fresh! Everything you are served is collected every morning in the market, except on Mondays – because noone is going fishing on Sundays in Spain.
But among all the delicious dishes, in Cadiz you should definitely taste:
1. Tortillita de Camarones
Tortillita de Camarones, as you can see in the photo above, is probably the most popular dish in Cadiz. In fact, it’s more of a deep-fried omelette than what we know as a tortilla. Camarón are small prawns that, complete with head, antennae and shell turn into the most delicious shrimp fritters, served in a cone.
2. Chicharrones (Traditional)
A quick and delicious snack are the salty pork cubes, chicharrones. They are similar to our pork scraps, except that they are spicy and made from a good piece of the pork belly, and more like bacon in texture. These chicharrones can easily be confused with another popular dish on the menu, chicharrones especial. The latter look like sliced pork roast, just without rind and with a spicy red mojo sauce.
3. Atún rojo de Cadiz
The Atlantic Atún Rojo is also called bluefin tuna, but regardless of the name, you can look forward to tasting it as fresh as you ever get it. Try ordering it as tartar – or sushi! Although we don’t associate Spain with sushi, Cadiz in particular is making Spain the world’s second largest producer of tuna, and 80% of it is shipped to Japan.
4. Ensaladillas
Ensaladilla just means salad, but not like a green salad. It’s more of a mayonnaise salad, and always with potatoes and mayonnaise as the main ingredients. The most popular is ensaladilla rusa, a salad with a Russian heritage that also contains peas and carrots, tuna, shrimp and eggs. However, ensaladillas are available in different versions, where one of our favorites was ensaladilla de gambas with shrimp.
5. Cazón en Adobo
On the English menu, the dish is called dogfish, but is in fact a small shark that this small, tasty bite is made of. Fried in a batter with lime and cilantro, the small cubes are served hot and we could eat it every single day.
6. The bakeries
The restaurants have very fixed opening hours in Cadiz, and when closed, they are indeed closed! For North Europeans who get hungry in the late afternoon, this can be a challenge. At this hour, the locals meet up at cafés and patisseries and eat a piece of cake with a cup of coffee, while they wait for the time to turn half past eight and thus meal time.
We tried a few different cafes and their lovely croissants and giant donuts. The best, however, were the bakeries Casa Hidalgo and their empenadas and Pastelería Alameda and their Turrón de Cádiz. Pan de Cadiz, as it is also called, is not a bread but a square lump of marzipan with candied fruit.
7. Carrillada de Cerdo
We haven’t yet found the time to mention it, but Cadiz also offers a wealth of delicious stews – which you also have to find room for. One of them is carrillada de cerdo, tender pork jaws that swim around in a ridiculously delicious dark sauce.
8. Fish and seafood
In Cadiz, its’ all about the seafood. Start gently with a little oysters and mussels. If you feel a little more adventurous, order some ortiguillas fritas, which are fried sea anemones, or a plate of huevas. The latter is fresh roe, boiled or fried and served as a topping on a green salad – or just as it is. The less courageous can start with baked prawns or squid rings, which also taste heavenly, but which unfortunately are overlooked a bit in the middle of the many new and exciting temptations.
Finally, you can also get everything mentioned here – in tins and cans. The shelves on the back walls of the taverns are covered with equal parts sherry barrels and colorful metal cans, and it is quite standard to order a can of fish as tapas.
9. Churros
Outside lunch hours, head straight to the market hall for the delicious churros. The crispy, sweet dough sticks are sold all over the city, but here outside the northern end of the market hall, people stand in long queues at the small brown churros shop, Churrería la Guapa. The opening hours are not completely obvious, but it is always open in the morning and sometimes even a few hours in the afternoon. Churros are dipped in the liquid chocolate you buy to go with it.
10. Sherry
Most people outside Spain associate sherry with something sweet and liqueur-like, which is only drunk by grandmothers and in English sitcoms. But nothing could be further from the truth! Sherry is produced only in the Andalusian sherry triangle, in the cities of Jerez de la Frontera, El Puerto de Santa María and Sanlúcar de Barrameda, all located near Cadiz.
A glass of sherry along with your food is a must! The scale from dry to sweet looks like this within the most popular types of sherry:
- Fino: very dry and pale – and also the most popular
- Manzanilla: dry and pale yellowish – as fino good for fish
- Oloroso: dry – but with the dark color from Cream
- Cream: sweet and dark – the sherry that we associate with the name. A dessert in itself
- Pedro Ximenez: very sweet – especially good for blue cheese
The different types of sherry suit certain dishes, so ask the waiter what goes well together. If you’re not into sherry, order a beer that is drunk in copas, small glasses of water – so that the beer doesn’t get too hot in the baking sun.
More tips for your holiday in Cadiz
Find a great hotel in Cadiz
Cadiz is right on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, and no matter where you live in the city, it is not far to the nearest beach. The neighborhood of La Vina in the old town right on the beach of La Caleta is especially popular with the tourists. But further south, you’ll find miles and milis of lovely sandy beaches at Playa Santa María Del Mar and Playa La Victoria – so where do you stay?
On Booking.com you can see the large selection of hotels in Cadiz, and below you can also read our recommendation for the best place to stay in Cadiz. You can also perform your own search on Booking.com for a great hotel in Cadiz right here:
A apartment in the Old Town in Cadiz
Being a group of two adults and a teenager on vacation, it required an extra room. We ended up finding a really nice apartment right in the middle of La Vina in the Old Town. There was not one but two extra rooms as well as a sofa bed. In addition, two toilets, a large living room with a dining area and a kitchen.
Precioso piso en La Caleta – Our lovely apartment in The Old City in Cadiz
Back home, we had planned all the food we would buy at the food market, which is only a five minute walk from the apartment. That didn’t happen! The Old Town is packed with cheap tapas bars and restaurants and we ended up eating out every single night.
The apartment is also located right on the local beach La Caleta, loved by families and large groups. Still, the best thing about the apartment was the key box. With all the times we had to with for the owner to show up and let us in, is was excellent to be able to get into the apartment at our arrival. A bottle of wine and a box of chocolates stood waiting for us as we locked ourselves in. We will be back!
Read more about the apartment here: Precioso piso en La Caleta
How do you get to Cadiz?
If you can’t fly out to Jerez, the easiest way to get to Cadiz is by landing at Seville Airport. From Seville Airport, first take the airport bus to Santa Justa Train Station. In March 2022, the airport bus cost €4.
From Santa Justa Train Station in Seville, you can drive on to Cadiz. From Seville and to Cadiz it takes one hour and forty-five minutes by train. At the station you have to buy your tickets at the ticket office (Renfe), where you also have to show a passport before you can board the train. In March 2022, it was €17 from Seville to Cadiz, and the price includes a mandatory seat ticket.
If you want to save time, you can also buy tickets on the Omio app. Note that you still need to enter your passport information in the app.