Restaurant in Ulldecona, Spain
Slow Food tasting menus worth the rural drive.
A Michelin-starred tasting menu restaurant in a restored flour mill outside Ulldecona, L'Antic Molí runs a 7,000 m² regenerative farm and holds a 4-Radish We're Smart rating. Book three to four weeks ahead minimum, and prioritise February or March for the seasonal mantis shrimp menu. At €€€, it delivers more sourcing integrity than most restaurants at this tier in southern Spain.
Getting a table here takes planning. L'Antic Molí sits on a rural road between Ulldecona and La Sénia in southern Tarragona, and its Michelin star (awarded 2024) plus We're Smart Green Guide leading score of 4 Radishes have put it firmly on the radar of food-focused travellers willing to make the detour. Book at least three to four weeks ahead, more if you are targeting the February-to-March mantis shrimp season, when a dedicated themed menu draws visitors specifically for the occasion. This is not a casual drop-in restaurant, and the drive from the nearest large town makes spontaneity impractical. If you are prepared to plan, the effort is justified.
The setting is a restored flour mill with a 7,000 m² regenerative agriculture garden on site. The kitchen draws almost exclusively from that garden and from producers within close reach of the Ebro Delta and the Terra Alta mountains. Chef Vicent Guimerà is a committed Slow Food practitioner, and that shapes everything: the menu structure, the sourcing, and the pace at which the restaurant operates. The equidistant position between the coast and the inland ranges is not incidental — it is the logic behind the menu.
Two tasting menus are currently offered: Tast del Xef and NU. Confirmed dishes on the NU menu include crispy corn, eel with garlic and pepper sauce, roasted aubergine with squid and vegetable sobrasada, and veal tongue with Cor de Bosc tartare and veal fricassee. A fully plant-based menu is also available — not as a concession to dietary restrictions but as a genuine expression of the kitchen's direction. For a restaurant at this price tier, having a 100% vegetable tasting menu that stands on its own terms is notable. The Google rating sits at 4.6 across 2,539 reviews, which, for a restaurant this remote and this format-specific, reflects sustained performance rather than novelty traffic.
At the €€€ price point, L'Antic Molí occupies a tier below Spain's four-star tasting menu circuit , think less than Aponiente or Azurmendi in headline spend , but the service philosophy here is built around the farm-to-table commitment rather than luxury theatre. What you are paying for is coherence: a menu, a garden, a sourcing philosophy, and a kitchen that are all pointing in the same direction. That integration is harder to find than it sounds, and it is what the We're Smart evaluation specifically cited when awarding 4 Radishes and nominating the restaurant as Discovery of the Year 2023.
The venue also runs Espacio Amunt, a bistro-style sibling in Ulldecona itself. If you want to assess the kitchen's sensibility before committing to the full tasting menu format, Espacio Amunt is a lower-stakes entry point. The gastronomic menu at L'Antic Molí is the more considered experience, but Espacio Amunt gives context.
The service model at a restaurant this connected to its own land and seasonal rhythm tends toward education rather than formality. Expect staff to explain the sourcing of specific ingredients, the role of the on-site garden, and the reasoning behind each tasting menu's structure. Whether that suits you depends on how much you value the narrative alongside the food. For food-focused travellers who want depth , who want to understand where their eel came from and why the aubergine appears with squid rather than on its own , this is exactly the right register. For those who simply want excellent food without the context, it may feel like homework.
February and March are the highest-value window if mantis shrimp is the draw: the seasonal themed menu runs during this period and showcases one of the most distinctive local crustaceans in the Mediterranean. Outside that window, the tasting menus rotate with the garden's output, so the experience will differ meaningfully by season. Summer visits will reflect the coastal and garden produce of the Ebro Delta summer; autumn shifts toward earthy, inland ingredients. There is no single wrong time to visit, but February and March offer the sharpest expression of the restaurant's geographic identity.
For the day itself, this is a lunch-or-dinner destination rather than a late-evening one , the rural location and the tasting menu format both favour an unhurried midday booking if you are driving from Barcelona (approximately two and a half hours) or Valencia (approximately two hours). A lunch booking also gives you time to explore Ulldecona's broader restaurant options and the surrounding Terra Alta wine country. See our Ulldecona wineries guide for producers worth visiting on the same trip.
| Detail | L'Antic Molí | Les Moles | Quique Dacosta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price tier | €€€ | €€€ | €€€€ |
| Michelin recognition | 1 Star (2024) | 1 Star | 3 Stars |
| Format | Tasting menus | Tasting menus | Tasting menus |
| Plant-based menu | Yes | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Booking difficulty | Hard | Moderate | Very hard |
| Location type | Rural road, car required | Ulldecona town | Dénia town |
| Seasonal highlight | Feb–Mar (mantis shrimp) | Year-round | Year-round |
A car is required. There is no practical public transport connection to the KM 10 address on the Ulldecona-La Sénia road. Plan accommodation in advance , see our Ulldecona hotels guide for options nearby. The restaurant has no website or phone number in our current database; booking should be attempted via direct email or through third-party reservation platforms. Check availability early.
Book L'Antic Molí if you are a food or travel enthusiast who wants to understand a region through its cooking rather than simply eat well. The combination of a Michelin star, a functioning regenerative farm, a committed Slow Food philosophy, and a 4-Radish We're Smart rating at a price point below Spain's top-tier tasting menu circuit makes this a strong-value proposition for what it is. It is not the right choice if you want urban convenience, a la carte flexibility, or a shorter format. For a broader look at what the area offers, our Ulldecona experiences guide and bars guide are worth consulting before you plan the trip.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| L'Antic Molí | Modern Cuisine | €€€ | Still haven't tried mantis shrimp? Well, look no further, because these Mediterranean crustaceans are all the rage, and here, during the season (February and March), they usually offer a themed menu. The restaurant is in an old restored flour mill and is now dedicated to the culture of locally sourced produce. It is no surprise that chef Vicent Guimerà is one of the bastions of Slow Food, which is based exclusively on local products and promotes both the circular economy and conscious cooking. The chef, who is quick to highlight the equidistant location between the sea and the mountains, rounds off the menu of his gastronomic space (there is another, bistro-style venue called Espacio Amunt) with two tasting menus: Tast del Xef and NU, which offers dishes such as crispy corn, eel with garlic and pepper sauce and roasted aubergine, squid with vegetable sobrasada, and veal tongue with Cor de Bosc tartare and veal fricassee. They have a 7,000 m² regenerative agriculture garden!; Chef Vincent Guimera wants to move forward, forward with plant-based cuisine! So the 100% vegetable menu is something to be proud of! And everyone should know it. We are really impressed, a true discovery. The values are also in line with the We're Smart DNA, respect for the staff, sustainable work, the seasons as a guide, ... L'Antic Moli gets the top score of 4 Radishes. L'Antic Moli was nominated as Discovery of the Year 2023.; Still haven't tried mantis shrimp? Well, look no further, because these Mediterranean crustaceans are all the rage, and here, during the season (February and March), they usually offer a themed menu. The restaurant is in an old restored flour mill and is now dedicated to the culture of locally sourced produce. It is no surprise that chef Vicent Guimerà is one of the bastions of Slow Food, which is based exclusively on local products and promotes both the circular economy and conscious cooking. The chef, who is quick to highlight the equidistant location between the sea and the mountains, rounds off the menu of his gastronomic space (there is another, bistro-style venue called Espacio Amunt) with several tasting menus (Tast de la Setmana, Tast del Xef and Mans: El món que torna). Our recommendation? On our last visit, we loved two of his dishes: Beans, red prawns and agripicante (sour and spicy) sauce with different preparations, and courgette, gatet and canana, an original reinterpretation of seafood rice.; Michelin 1 Star (2024) | Hard | — |
| Aponiente | Progressive - Seafood, 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 | — |
| Cocina Hermanos Torres | Creative | €€€€ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| DiverXO | Progressive - Asian, Creative | €€€€ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
How L'Antic Molí stacks up against the competition.
Go with one of the tasting menus rather than trying to pick individual dishes. The NU menu features dishes built around local produce — eel with garlic and pepper sauce, squid with vegetable sobrasada, and veal tongue with Cor de Bosc tartare. If you visit in February or March, the seasonal mantis shrimp menu is the clearest reason to time your trip for that window.
At €€€, yes — with the right expectations. This is not a headline-price destination like Aponiente or DiverXO, and the setting is rural Tarragona rather than a city showcase. What you are paying for is a Michelin-starred kitchen with serious We're Smart credentials (4 Radishes, Discovery of the Year 2023 nomination) built almost entirely on hyper-local, regenerative sourcing. If that philosophy matters to you, the price-to-conviction ratio is strong.
Yes, particularly if the occasion suits an intimate, countryside setting in a restored flour mill. The tasting menu format and Michelin star make it a credible special-occasion choice, and the 7,000 m² garden gives the meal a sense of place that a city restaurant cannot replicate. It works better for couples or small groups than for parties expecting urban energy.
Nothing in the venue data confirms private dining or large group capacity. Given the rural, mill-converted setting and tasting menu format, this is most likely a venue geared toward small parties rather than large celebrations. check the venue's official channels before planning a group of six or more — the structure of the menus and the space may not flex easily.
The tasting menu format at €€€ is more financially comfortable for solo diners than a lengthy à la carte, and the Slow Food ethos tends to attract an engaged, food-focused crowd that makes counter or small-table solo dining feel natural. That said, confirm seating arrangements when booking — the venue data does not specify counter seating.
There are no documented Michelin-starred or We're Smart-rated alternatives within Ulldecona itself. The closest credible comparison within the Slow Food and hyper-local sourcing space in Spain would be other regional producers-first kitchens in Catalonia or Valencia. For a fuller tasting menu experience in the same price bracket but in a city setting, Cocina Hermanos Torres in Barcelona is a reasonable alternative, though the rural identity of L'Antic Molí is not easily replicated.
Location
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