One of the best places to eat in Andalusia from Chef Angel Leon

Travelers searching for a three-Michelin-starred meal in Andalusia will inevitably find yourself at Aponiente.

It is the only restaurant within the region with the excellence.  

The restaurant, positioned in the center of the Bahia de Cadiz Natural Park, is helmed by Chef Angel Leon.

Unlike most Michelin-starred restaurants where seasons inform the menu, Leon’s muses are discarded seafood, like fish eyeballs, and never-before-seen harvests from the ocean floor, like seagrass and sea rice.

Despite all of the culinary accolades that Leon has earned, his trips out of Andalusia are surprisingly few and much in between.

He knows the region — and when asked where to eat in southern Spain, he offers the next recommendations.

A restaurant with two Michelin stars in the town of Ronda, Bardal is owned and operated by Catalan native, Benito Gomez.

Gomez was born to Andalusian parents who ran a restaurant in Barcelona. He draws from Andalusian and Catalan cooking to serve what Leon describes as “the region of Ronda on a plate.” Favorites include grilled red snapper with chamomile and chamomile butter in addition to goat cured in seaweed with seaweed juice and sides of the animal’s shoulder, brain and kidney.

With only 16 seats, the one Michelin-starred eatery could also be small, but it surely succeeds in matching minimalist ingredients with innovativeness.

Menu highlights are partridge escabeche (partridge marinated in vinegar and loaded with herbs and spices), quisquilla de Motril (shrimp from the town of Motril served in mushroom broth) and rusty pear and smoked eel skin.

Los Marinos Jose at Fuengirola, a town in Costa del Sol, is what Leon describes as a “temple of seafood.” 

Jose Sanchez and his family have been running this spectacular restaurant for greater than 30 years. Along with the restaurant, they own a ship that they use to fish every day. The seafood goes directly from the boat to the kitchen to make sure it’s fresh.

Positioned on the Bolonia beach in Cardiz, Las Rejas is a “chiringuito” (or beach establishment) that serves traditional fare in a singular setting.

Carlos and his brothers make guests feel at home with comfort food like shrimp omelet, tuna in lard with roasted peppers, boiled white prawns and squid croquetas. The borriquete, a fish from the Atlantic Ocean, is a menu highlight.

Horno Artesa is a bakery within the town of Arcos de la Frontera, a gateway to the “Route of the White Villages,” which winds from the provinces of Cadiz to Malaga.

It is the only bakery within the province listed in “La Ruta del Buen Pan,” an annual number of 100 artisan bakeries in Spain. Operated by Paco Ruiz Salguero, the bakery’s toasted malt bread is known, as are its pastries and specialty breads with sultanas and walnuts.

In response to Leon, Bar Maty is arguably the “best bar on the planet” to eat fried fish washed down with beer or wine.

It is a tiny establishment with only one bar and a number of other high tables outside. The menu has prawn salad, fried choquitos (baby squid) and boqueroncitos (anchovies), frigate tuna and grilled mackerel however the star is the fried fish, which is ready by Antonio Gonzalez. He runs the place but still makes time to speak and joke with customers.

Positioned at the unique site where Leon founded Aponiente, La Taberna del Chef del Mar is an off-the-cuff tavern in El Puerto de Santa Maria with convivial service by Leon himself.

The cuisine is funky and caters to locals and tourists alike with Aponiente signatures like grilled sardines with eggplant, marine charcuterie and plankton risotto.