San Vicente de la Barquera still has a working small-boat fishing fleet and a daily fish market that supplies the harbour restaurants directly. That turns any meal in the town into a lesson in the seasons: what you eat is what came in that morning.
The standout is the Cantabrian anchovy, caught here from March to June and salt-cured in the local canneries (some with the Cantabria PDO). Other things worth ordering: horse mackerel, sardine, mackerel, octopus, monkfish, wild sea bass, clams and, in season, goose barnacles and spider crab.
The harbour restaurants work with the day’s catch — always ask what came in that morning before reaching for the menu. Book a table ahead at weekends. Forty minutes from Alles.
