Alquimia Gourmet - Alicante

This is a class above your average tapas bar and we had a great visit there. From start to finish it oozes class and is beautifully done out inside. We took a seat at the bar and were served by the very pleasant staff. You choose your tapas from the glass cases on the bar and these are served to you either hot or cold. They were absolutely delicious and very inventive indeed. True, it isn’t the cheapest place around but at €11 for a large beer, a glass of wine and two of their delicious small dishes we considered it excellent value.

Called in for lunch whilst visiting Alicante. Great variation of cuisine,we went for the freshly prepared tapas,absolutely outstanding. Try the pulpo,or the smoked salmon or the chorizo or the Murcian sausage....the choice is endless!!The wine list is also good,and considering the restaurants location,it certainly isn’t over priced.

My wife and I wanted a quick snack and the restaurant looked appealing. Sadly, the service was very disappointing. The menu offered a gluten free muffin and it encouraged you to talk to the staff about gluten free options. However, when I mentioned the word gluten free they waiter got rather excited and interrupted my by saying: NO NO NO NO.. Speaking to another of the staff, I asked if I could get something based on ham, vegetable, cheese. The answer was more polite this time, but not very service minded. She kept saying: No Sir, I am sorry. I inquired why, and she said: Because of the ingredients. This did not make any sense, and I felt annoyed like I had stepped into a Seinfeld episode. However, we had a glass of cava and a coffee before leaving. For me, this was not a good experience.

For service, taste, presentation and price, 16 euros , their offering of a standard menu with 3 choices of starter, main, dessert plus coffee, bread, a drink and two little mini welcome raciones , well this place is absolutely first rate. Go! Admittedly the portions are small, but perfectly adequate and we all left feeling well fed but not bloated. Not sure how often the menu changes so with such a small choice you may not wish to go every week. Not sure how vegetarians are catered for either. Ask when you book a table. After the two welcome raciones I had wonderful seafood arroz then carilladas and a pineapple wrapped around pomelo dessert. All yummy. Others were delighted with their choices. We certainly will return. Such an amazing place it deserves to do well. Being fairly small it didn't become too noisy once it filled up after 2pm (we tend to dine early).

So, we have been to Alicante on numerous occasions and had some really good food during our visits. We tend to stay away from those restaurants that try to pressure you to eat there and so we found Alquimia Gourmet after one of our group saw it a day earlier. In we went and sat down to a beer or two whilst deciding what to eat. The tapas that were available looked appetising and freshly made so we chose a number between the 6 of us to try. We were not disappointed and the food which was microwaved to heat it up was surprisingly good. Whilst eating the chef appeared with more food choices and so we decided to engage with him and ask about the food he prepares. He comes up with all sorts of variations throughout the day and those that we had were really good. The restaurant is very pleasant, with good air conditioning which in 35 degree outside temperature was a welcome and to cap it all off the staff were really friendly and attentive. There seems to be a mixture of reviews on here but all I can say is that when we visited everything was fine. It’s a place we will visit again next we are in Alicante.