Restaurant in Benissa, Spain
Regional cooking that justifies the detour.
Casa Cantó holds a Michelin Plate for 2024 and 2025, making it the most credentialled regional restaurant in Benissa at the €€ price point. It is the practical choice for food-focused travellers who want honest Costa Blanca cooking without the booking difficulty of Spain's destination restaurants. Book ahead in summer; shoulder season offers the most flexibility and the best produce.
If you are weighing up regional dining options along the Costa Blanca and wondering whether to drive to Quique Dacosta in Dénia or stay closer to Benissa, Casa Cantó makes a strong case for staying local. It sits at the €€ price point against Quique Dacosta's €€€€, and it has held a Michelin Plate in both 2024 and 2025 — a consistent signal that the kitchen is cooking at a standard above most of its immediate neighbours. For food-focused travellers who want regional cooking done with care, without the three-month booking window of Spain's headline restaurants, this is the more practical and often more satisfying choice for a weekday lunch or a low-key dinner.
Benissa sits in the hills of the Marina Alta comarca, between the coast and the inland vineyards of the Alicante DO. Casa Cantó, on Avinguda del País Valencià, sits at the edge of the town's everyday fabric — not a resort destination, not a tourist trap, but a working restaurant drawing on the produce and culinary logic of the region. The Michelin Plate recognition it has carried for two consecutive years tells you the food is consistent and technically honest. At the €€ price band, it competes on value in a way that the region's destination restaurants simply cannot.
The cuisine is classified as regional, which on the Costa Blanca means rice dishes, fresh fish, vegetable-forward preparations rooted in the huerta tradition, and the slower braised proteins that define inland Alicante cooking. This is not the avant-garde tasting menu territory of Ricard Camarena in València or the boundary-testing creativity of Cocina Hermanos Torres in Barcelona. What Casa Cantó offers is kitchen discipline applied to an honest regional repertoire , the kind of cooking that rewards diners who want to eat like they belong here rather than like tourists passing through.
For context on how regional cuisine restaurants at this level operate, it is worth noting that Michelin Plate recognition in Spain's €€ category is not handed out generously. Venues in a similar register , such as Trattoria al Cacciatore - La Subida in Cormons and Thaller Gasthaus in Sankt Veit am Vogau , show that this tier of recognition in regional European cooking consistently signals a kitchen that takes its local identity seriously and executes it with accuracy.
The optimal time to visit Casa Cantó is late spring or early autumn: April through June, or September into October. Benissa's summers are hot and busy with coastal tourism, which puts pressure on every restaurant in the Marina Alta. Booking in the shoulder season means you are more likely to get a table without a long wait, the produce is at its leading from the surrounding markets, and the town itself is quieter. If you are visiting in July or August, book as far ahead as possible , this level of Michelin recognition pulls in visitors from across the Costa Blanca during peak season.
For group visits or private dining, the shoulder season advantage is even more pronounced. A larger group requiring a reserved room or extended table will find more flexibility in May, June, or October than in the height of summer. If a special occasion dinner is the goal, aim for a Friday or Saturday evening outside the August peak , you get the energy of a full room without the logistical strain of midsummer service.
No specific private dining room data is available for Casa Cantó in our current records, so we will not speculate on capacity or configuration. What the venue profile does suggest is that a Michelin Plate restaurant at the €€ level in a town the size of Benissa is operating as a proper sit-down dining room rather than a tapas bar or informal cantina. That format tends to suit groups of four to eight who want a structured meal with table service, as opposed to the standing or sharing-plate model of more casual venues. For larger groups planning a celebration meal in the area, it is worth contacting the restaurant directly to confirm whether a reserved section or full room hire is possible , regional Spanish restaurants at this standard often accommodate group bookings with advance notice, even when a dedicated private room is not formally advertised. See our full Benissa restaurants guide for alternatives if group capacity is a deciding factor.
Casa Cantó is at Av. del País Valencià, 223, 03720 Benissa, Alicante. The price range is €€, which for a Michelin Plate restaurant in this part of Spain represents strong value , expect to spend in line with a solid mid-range restaurant rather than a destination fine dining room. Booking difficulty is rated easy, which means walk-ins may be possible outside peak season, but calling ahead is the sensible approach. No online booking platform or phone number is currently listed in our records, so checking Google Maps or local directories for current contact details is recommended. For context on the broader area, see our Benissa hotels guide, bars guide, wineries guide, and experiences guide to plan around the meal. If Italian contemporary is part of your Benissa itinerary, Casa Bernardi is the other name worth having on the list.
| Venue | Cuisine | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Casa Cantó | Regional Cuisine | Michelin Plate (2025); Michelin Plate (2024) | Easy | — |
| Quique Dacosta | Creative | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| El Celler de Can Roca | Progressive Spanish, Creative | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Arzak | Modern Basque, Creative | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Azurmendi | Progressive, Creative | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Aponiente | Progressive - Seafood, Creative | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
Side-by-side comparison to help you decide where to book.
Bar seating details are not confirmed in available records for Casa Cantó. Given its €€ price point and regional dining format, the experience is likely structured around table service rather than counter dining. Call ahead if bar seating is a priority — walk-in flexibility at Michelin Plate restaurants in smaller towns like Benissa varies seasonally.
A €€ Michelin Plate restaurant in a town the size of Benissa is a solid solo choice — lower spend per head, no pressure to share, and regional cuisine formats tend to work well for single covers. Whether the room accommodates solo diners comfortably at a full table or offers smaller seating options is worth confirming when booking.
Within the Marina Alta area, Quique Dacosta in Dénia is the obvious upgrade — three Michelin stars, significantly higher price, and a very different register. For closer mid-range regional cooking without driving to Dénia, options in Altea or Calpe are worth checking. Casa Cantó holds its own at €€ for quality-to-price in this corridor.
At €€, Casa Cantó is among the more affordable Michelin Plate addresses on the Costa Blanca, and has held that recognition in both 2024 and 2025. For the price bracket, it delivers a credible regional cooking proposition without the outlay of a starred restaurant. If you're comparing against a casual beachfront lunch, it costs more; against Quique Dacosta, it costs considerably less.
Yes, with caveats. The Michelin Plate recognition in 2024 and 2025 gives it credibility for a meaningful meal, and the €€ pricing means it won't strain the evening financially. It suits a low-key celebration or an anniversary dinner where quality matters more than ceremony. For a milestone occasion where atmosphere and formality are as important as the food, a starred restaurant in Dénia would set a higher stage.
Casa Cantó is a regional cuisine restaurant in Benissa, a small inland town in the Marina Alta comarca of Alicante province — not a coastal resort venue. It has earned a Michelin Plate in consecutive years, which signals consistent kitchen quality rather than star-level ambition. At €€, it is accessible, but booking ahead is advisable; smaller restaurants in towns like Benissa fill quickly, particularly in the spring and autumn shoulder seasons.
Menu format details are not confirmed in current records, so whether a tasting menu is offered cannot be stated with certainty. At a €€ Michelin Plate venue focused on regional cuisine, the format may lean toward à la carte or a set menu rather than a full tasting progression. Confirm the current menu structure directly with the restaurant before booking around a specific format.
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