Casamar

What to Expect at Casamar

The restaurant sits inside Hotel Casamar on a hillside position above Llafranc's bay, which means the views from the dining room extend across the beach and the coastline beyond. For a first visit, arrive early enough to take in that setting before the room fills. The kitchen under chef Quim Casellas works across a clear range of formats: an à la carte with a dedicated rice section, and two set menus named Punta d'en Blanc and Degustación. The à la carte gives you the most flexibility, and it is the format to choose at lunch when you may want a lighter commitment. The Degustación menu is the move at dinner when you want the kitchen to sequence the meal for you.

The cooking sits at the intersection of traditional Catalan and Mediterranean technique, with Casellas incorporating produce and flavour references from the immediate local area. The menu has included dishes such as white asparagus with hollandaise, aged pork rib, and puffed rice with caviar. These read as accessible reference points rather than test-kitchen challenges, which is important context for first-timers: this is not a conceptually demanding meal. It is precise, regionally grounded cooking that makes sense for where you are. The Michelin Plate recognition in both 2024 and 2025 confirms consistent quality at this level without overstating the ambition. The Opinionated About Dining ranking at #472 in Europe for 2025 places Casamar in a competitive band of restaurants that serious diners track.

Lunch vs Dinner: Where the Value Shifts

For a first-time visitor, the lunch versus dinner question at Casamar is worth thinking through carefully because the two experiences serve different purposes. Lunch here has a practical advantage: you get the kitchen at full capacity during daylight, the views of the bay are at their most readable, and the à la carte format means you can eat for less than a full set-menu commitment. If budget is a consideration within the €€€ price range, lunch à la carte is the more flexible entry point. A focused lunch of two courses plus the rice section is a strong introduction to what Casellas does without locking you into the full sequence.

Dinner at Casamar is where the occasion logic kicks in. The Degustación menu is built for an evening pace, and the hillside setting reads differently after dark with the lights of the bay below. For a birthday, anniversary, or any meal where the event itself matters, book dinner and take the longer menu. The pricing across both menus sits at €€€, which is meaningful in the context of a Costa Brava summer trip where coastal restaurant pricing can escalate quickly. Casamar's position as a hotel restaurant with a loyal returning clientele also means service tends to be measured and attentive rather than rushed, which supports the evening format well.

Practical Notes for First-Timers

Llafranc is a small coastal village in the Baix Empordà region of Girona, well positioned for travellers already exploring the Costa Brava. For context on other places to eat and stay in the area, see our full Llafranc restaurants guide, our full Llafranc hotels guide, and our full Llafranc bars guide. If you are planning a broader itinerary, our Llafranc wineries guide and experiences guide are also worth checking.

The booking difficulty at Casamar is classified as easy relative to the broader Spanish fine dining market. That said, Llafranc is a summer destination and the hotel's dining room has a limited number of covers. Book at least two to three weeks ahead if visiting in July or August. Off-season visits in May, June, or September carry less urgency but confirm in advance regardless. Contact via the hotel directly since no online booking system is listed in current data.

Dress is smart-casual for the €€€ price point in this setting. The room is not formal, but a beachside resort aesthetic does not mean anything goes at dinner. For special-occasion meals on the Degustación menu, err toward smart rather than casual.

For comparison context across Spain's broader fine dining circuit, El Celler de Can Roca in Girona is the region's three-Michelin-star benchmark and sits in a different category entirely. Quique Dacosta in Dénia and Ricard Camarena in València offer useful reference points for what Mediterranean-focused cooking looks like at the next tier. Martin Berasategui, Mugaritz, and Atrio in Cáceres extend the wider Spanish fine dining picture if you are building a longer trip. For global modern cuisine comparisons, Frantzén in Stockholm and FZN by Björn Frantzén in Dubai show how the format translates across markets.