Fiesta del Boquerón Victoriano 2026: Rincón de la Victoria prepares for six-day anchovy festival featuring 1,100kg of free tastings

Announced by Mayor Francisco Salado, the six-day festival combines live show-cooking sessions, free public tastings, and cultural events highlighting the area's maritime heritage and hospitality sector.

Salado, said: "We are celebrating the tenth edition of an event that has made the Rincón de la Victoria anchovy the central theme of a whole week of live cooking, maritime heritage and the promotion of Rincón de la Victoria. It is an everyday, deeply local product that fosters knowledge, culinary creativity and consumption in our bars and restaurants."

The live cooking demonstrations will kick off on Tuesday 8 September at 8.30pm at La Calma Playa, with an opening session led by Enrique Sánchez, presenter of the programme 'Cómetelo' on Canal Sur. La Calma Playa will also host the events on Wednesday 9 and Thursday 10 at the same time, while the cooking demonstrations on Friday 11 will move to Plaza Al Ándalus, as part of the Sabor a Málaga fair, with free entry subject to capacity.

The programme for Wednesday 9 September will bring together chefs who have taken part in previous festivals: Juan Antonio Aguilar (5-star Hotel Cabogata Beach, Paradores Chefs’ association) alongside Guadalupe Montejo (Amuco); Abilio Arteaga (Casa Abilio, Álora) alongside José Andrés Jiménez (Almijara, Eurotoques); and Reyna Traverso (Niña Bonita) alongside Pepo Frade (Aire Gastrobar).

On Thursday 10 September Fran Rascado (Alaparte), cocktail mixologist Hugo Boscovich (359 Cocktail Concept) and the duo of Ana Rollán Serrano and Guadalupe Peñalver Ramírez (Juana Paloma) will be cooking.

The programme of cooking demonstrations concludes on Friday 11 September in Plaza Al-Ándalus with ‘De Rincón, el boquerón’, featuring two restaurants from the town: Cristina Vargas Pérez (La Quisquillosa) and Gonzalo Roldán (La Finca).

In total, eleven chefs, a mixologist, a sommelier and an expert in extra virgin olive oil will be taking part over the four days. The cooking demonstrations will be presented by journalist Juan Carlos González (Andalucía Directo), with wine pairings by María de los Ángeles Henares and extra virgin olive oil pairings by Paco Lorenzo. Tickets for the cooking demonstrations at La Calma Playa can be booked via the Zibarit website or at the town's tourist office.

The ‘Sabor a Málaga’ Fair, organised by the provincial authority, the Diputación de Málaga, will take place in Plaza Al Ándalus on Friday 11 and Saturday 12 September, from 11am to 10pm and on Sunday 13 from 11am to 9pm. 32 producers from across the province, alongside a charity marquee in aid of the Rincón Contigo association, organised in partnership with Cervezas Victoria, will be involved with the foodie fair.

There have also been tastings of wine, cheese, olive oil, chocolate and other local produce, live cookery demonstrations and children’s cookery workshops, food and drink pairings and presentations, as well as the popular 'boquerones en vinagre' (anchovies in vinegar) competition, for which entries are open until the 7th.

Over the course of that weekend, free tastings of fried anchovies and anchovies in vinegar will see more than 1,100 kilos of anchovies handed out.

The free anchovy tastings will begin in restaurants on Friday 4 September. In addition to the charity marquee in the square, 66 restaurants in Rincón de la Victoria will be offering these free tastings. The full list of these restaurants can be found on the website .

The Boquerón Victoriano 2026 restaurant network now comprises 57 bars and restaurants, fifteen more than last year. Of these, 20 are in Rincón de la Victoria and its surrounding areas, 28 in Malaga city and two in Madrid, plus six more across Malaga province in Antequera, Archidona, Estepona, La Cala de Mijas, Marbella and Vélez-Málaga. In a new development, the network is expanding to Almería for the first time this year, thanks to the Bacus restaurant in Aguadulce.

Each participating restaurant creates a signature dish featuring the Victorian anchovy, with options ranging from traditional Andalusian cuisine to Asian or Mexican influences and even haute cuisine: the René restaurant, which recently opened in Malaga city, has included the anchovy in its tasting menu. Prices for the dishes range from two to 24 euros, while René’s full tasting menu is priced at 160 euros.

The festival is organised by Rincón de la Victoria town hall's tourism department, with the participation of the department of commerce and with technical advice from GastronÓmico. It is sponsored by the provincial authority, the Diputación de Málaga through its ‘Sabor a Málaga’ brand, and by Cervezas Victoria. Other collaborating organisations include the University of Malaga's faculty of tourism and the GastroCampus for Innovation—, ARTCUA, the Malaga gastronomic academy, AMUCO, Gastroarte, Euro-Toques, La Carta Malacitana, MAHOS, ACERV, the Paradores chefs’ association, Tecnyhostel and AOVE Spain, together with the La Cala del Moral rowing club as a local partner.

Following the festival, the town hall will publish a new edition of the ‘Boquerón Victoriano’ recipe book, with contributions from restaurants belonging to the network. This will be the ninth edition, with a print run of 500 copies, available on the tourism website and it will be presented in Malaga and Madrid to representatives of the tourism and hospitality sectors.

All the information on the 2026 Fiesta del Boquerón Victoriano including the full programme, the network of restaurants and ticket bookings for the cooking demonstrations is available on the website turismoenrincon.es .