Espetos

The espeto is the dish of this coast and above all of Torre del Mar. It is the single most local thing you can eat here, and it is worth understanding before ordering.

What it actually is

Fresh sardines are threaded onto a cane, the espeta, and roasted to one side of an olive wood fire lit inside a beached boat filled with sand. The heat comes from the side, never from below. Coarse salt and the fat dripping off do the rest. The boats are on the sand in front of the chiringuitos, and you can watch it happen.

When they are at their best

The season runs from spring to autumn, when the sardine is at its best. The fishermen's rule of thumb is the months without an R in the Spanish name, from May to August. Outside that, the sardine is leaner and some places stop doing them.

How to eat them

• At midday. This is a lunch dish, cooked while the fire is going. Turning up at eleven at night and asking for espetos usually does not work.
• With your hands. Head off, hold by the tail, eat along the side. Cutlery is not the tradition and nobody will judge you either way.
• An order is several sardines on one cane, not one fish.

Not every beach bar does them

You need the boat, the fire and someone who knows how to run it. The listings for the chiringuitos say which ones do.