Private chef in Cadaqués

Dinner in Cadaqués

Cadaqués feels like nowhere else: white houses stacked above a curved bay, the tramuntana wind in the olive trees, and Dalí's house at Portlligat just around the headland. Out here on the Cap de Creus the light is sharp and the silence is real. The villas are simple and beautiful, with terraces over the water, made for the kind of long evening you came all this way for.

An evening with Lara matches that mood. She arrives with the day's seafood, and while she cooks you settle on the terrace as the white houses turn pink in the last light. Each course comes at your pace, paired with a chilled Empordà white, and the conversation runs long into the night while she leaves the kitchen exactly as she found it.

Flavours of Cap de Creus

The far north has its own table. Cadaqués is famous for its anchovies and for the sea urchins gathered along the Cap de Creus in winter, and L'Escala anchovies down the coast are among the finest in Catalonia. Add the gamba de Palamós and white fish from the llotja, Empordà olive oil and the DO Empordà wines made in this windswept terroir, and you have a larder of real character.

Lara cooks to that. Anchovies dressed simply with good oil, sea urchins when the season allows, a suquet de peix or a fideuà from the day's catch, and the gamba de Palamós seared so its sweetness leads. She shops the markets toward Palafrugell, La Bisbal d'Empordà and Palamós on her way north, so every menu reflects what was freshest, never a fixed card.

Beaches and coves

The Cap de Creus natural park is a wild coast of slate coves and crystal water. Just past the village, Portlligat holds Dalí's house above its quiet inlet, while coves like Sa Conca, Es Portitxó and the beaches toward El Port de la Selva and Llançà reward anyone willing to walk. Spend a day on the rocks and the clear water, then come back to a dinner Lara has ready on the terrace.