Ninety years of sea, "suquets" and memory

The chronicles say, and quite rightly so, that there are restaurants you visit simply to enjoy a good meal, and then there are others whose tablecloths tell you the story of an entire country. La Taverna del Mar is one of them. Now, as it blows out the candles on its 90th anniversary, coinciding with its selection in the beach category of the 100 mejores restaurantes guide, it is worth looking back to understand this haven in S’Agaró. We must go back to that fateful 19 July 1936, when the restaurant’s opening was cut short just forty-eight hours later by the sound of war. Fortunately, as recounted in the documentary Un estiu per sempre (broadcast by 3Cat), the Ensesa family knew how to wait, and in 1939 they reopened their doors to the sea.

Today, sitting on its terrace remains an act of living memory. While the outside world insists on impersonal franchises and frantic rhythms, the family’s third generation continues firmly at the helm, becoming one of the last bastions of a nostalgic bourgeoisie that knew how to spend its summers and respect time, rituals and the landscape. The director of L’Hostal de la Gavina, Joan Carles Casanovas, puts it very well: “Here we have customers who have become friends and who, every summer, for the past 40 years, have joined us with the same rituals and way of life.” For them, it seems, this little corner of the Costa Brava is a refuge from the decay brought by the passage of time. Perhaps that is why the complaints from those calling on Sant Feliu de Guíxols Town Council to take better care of the access routes to this place ring so true. A setting so emblematic of our collective memory deserves not the slightest hint of neglect.

At the tables, time stands still and gives way to a beautiful paradox: the guardian of this culinary tradition, almost a century old, is a chef who is not yet 30, the reserved Sergio Artica. He began as a kitchen assistant and, within just a few years, has found himself at the helm of one of the great symbols of traditional Costa Brava cuisine. For this 90th anniversary, Artica has created a celebratory menu that avoids unnecessary flourishes and instead respects tradition and the produce of the sea.

"The guardian of this almost centenary culinary tradition is a chef who is not even 30 years old"

In a time when everyone talks about respect for product and tradition, at La Taverna del Mar they remind you that the soul of a suquet lies in the simplest things. History tried to close La Taverna del Mar just after it was born, but ninety summers later, it is still there. Impassive. Remembering the history of a time and a country, which we no longer know if it is a little ours or if it is true that we are making it. But, fortunately, there are still places that remind us who we are, where we come from and that summers, if you set your mind to it, can be forever.

You can see it clearly when they serve you Palamós prawns (although they can sometimes be difficult to find), cooked in water from the very same Sant Pol beach; the superb oyster with tuna tartare; or the cocotxes in pil-pil sauce. But above all, it is reaffirmed by the restaurant’s great totem: the fishermen’s-style suquet made with rockfish and mantis shrimp.

“The guardian of this culinary tradition, almost a century old, is a chef who is not yet 30.”

At a time when everyone talks about respecting ingredients and tradition, La Taverna del Mar reminds you that the soul of a suquet lies in the simplest things.

History tried to close La Taverna del Mar almost as soon as it was born, but ninety summers later, it is still there. Unwavering. Reminding us of the history of a time and a country, one we no longer know whether we truly belong to, or whether it is even true that we are still shaping it. But fortunately, there are still places that remind us who we are, where we come from, and that summers, if you choose to make them so, can last forever.