The house
Thirty-five years on the same square
What Jocavi is, in more detail than the front page had room for.
Where it is
Plaza Don Rafael Alcoba is the middle of Sayalonga — a white village in the Axarquía, up in the hills behind the coast, about fifteen minutes from Algarrobo and twenty-five from Torre del Mar.
Jocavi has the corner of it. The terrace runs out under the trees, and on a warm evening the tables reach most of the way across the plaza.
Two services, two different places
In the morning it is the village bar. Pitufos, tostadas with tomato, coffee, people coming and going. Through lunch it turns into somewhere you sit for two hours over tapas and a bottle of white.
At half four the doors shut for an hour. What opens again at half five is the restaurant: upstairs room, tablecloths, the fireplace going if it's cold, and a kitchen doing plated cooking rather than plates to share.
The upstairs room
The salón on the first floor has the fireplace and the windows over the square. It works as ordinary dining most nights, and gets taken over whole for celebrations and company lunches.
It is also the quieter option in August, when the terrace is full and loud.
How the kitchen buys
Fish comes in from the market and the card follows it rather than the other way round. If the red mullet was good that morning, the red mullet is what you should order.
The rest is steady: Iberian ham and cheese to start, meat over coals, rice to order, and desserts made in the house.
Good to know
The practical bits
- Terrace on the square, shaded through the afternoon
- Upstairs dining room with a fireplace
- Private room for celebrations and company lunches
- Kids' menu at any hour
- Full bar, Spanish wine list, beer on tap
- Takeaway and local delivery
- Cards accepted — Visa, Mastercard, Amex
- Free WiFi
- Step-free access
- Street parking around the square
- Vegetarian options on the card
Reservations
Come and eat
Call for a table, or just turn up on the terrace and see if there's room. For rice dishes, ring ahead — they're made to order and take the better part of an hour.
633 95 82 86