A wooden plate of grilled sardines with a slice of lemon (Málaga)

🇪🇸Málaga, Spain

The Sardine Espetos Pilgrimage

Grilled over olive wood. On the beach. With a glass of Málaga wine. You flew for this.

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Why this dish?

An espeto is a skewer of fresh sardines - six or seven at a time, threaded onto a bamboo cane, lightly salted, and grilled over an open fire of olive wood set inside a traditional boat half-buried in sand on the beach. This is how they have been cooked on Málaga's beaches for over a century. The result is a fish that tastes of the sea and of smoke and of absolute simplicity: crisp skin, yielding flesh, the merest suggestion of char.

Málaga's beachfront districts of El Palo and Pedregalejo are where the best espeteros work - away from the tourist centre, in small chiringuitos where the grills are set up each morning and the fish comes straight from the Málaga fish market. This is not a complicated meal. It is a near-perfect one.

Our Picks

Restaurante Hermanos Alba

Address: Av. del Litoral, Málaga (El Palo beachfront)
What to order: Espetos de sardinas. A ración of boquerones fritos. A bottle of chilled Málaga Moscatel white wine.
Book ahead: No reservations at beach chiringuitos. Arrive at 1pm when service begins.
Pro tip: El Palo is a 15-min taxi from the city centre. Worth every minute over the tourist-facing beach bars closer to the centre.

El Balneario

Calle Bolivia 26, Málaga (Pedregalejo seafront)

Poking out from the seafront at Pedregalejo, El Balneario is the bar that Malagueños bring their families to on Sunday. The espetos here are cooked by one of the city's most respected espeteros. Tourists rarely find it.

What to order: Espetos de sardinas, gambas al ajillo (garlic prawns), and a glass of fino sherry.

Good to know

Espetos are a seasonal dish - sardines are at their best from May to October when they are fattest. Outside this window, many chiringuitos switch to anchovies or seabream. The key indicator of quality: the fish should be grilled whole with heads on, the olive wood should be visible and burning, and you should hear the sizzle before you see the plate.

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