Three generations by the sea

Fanal Racou opened in 1978 when our grandparents took over a fishermen's dining room on the Costa Brava and decided the recipes deserved better than the tourist menu. Three generations later, the family still runs the kitchen: the same sea view, the same insistence on market-day produce, and a cooking style that treats Catalan classics as a living language rather than a museum piece.

The terrace is the heart of the house — candlelit, facing the water, open from spring through the October calmas. Inside, the dining room holds the original stone walls, and below it sits the 1903 wine cave, now the chef's table for up to eight guests.

What we cook

• Reinterpreted Catalan classics: suquet de peix, xató, arròs a banda — built on the day's boat catch and market vegetables.
• A 320-label cellar focused on Empordà and Priorat, curated by head sommelier Joan Casademont (WSET Diploma).
• The seven-course chef's table in the cave: a tasting that travels through the family's recipe archive.

Guests find us through word of mouth and a 9.2/10 rating on TheFork across thousands of dinners — but the table we care most about is the one reserved by a family that has come every August since 1981. Regulars anchor the house; travelers complete it.

How evenings work

Arrive for a vermut on the terrace, let the kitchen pace the meal, and trust Joan if he suggests a bottle you've never heard of — that is what the cellar is for. Reservations open monthly, and the chef's table books furthest ahead. Fanal Racou is coastal Catalan dining as a family practice since 1978: the sea's catch, old recipes reconsidered, and a cave full of wine under the Mediterranean.