Meneghello Food & FishFrom the sea to your plate, the fishmonger Ibiza didn’t know it needed

There are certain jobs you carry in your blood. Julián Saldaña García knows that better than anyone. He grew up in Cudillero, one of Asturias’s prettiest fishing villages with a strong heritage, and the sea has always determined his path through life. Today, as the head of Meneghello Fish, he has transformed what began as a personal commitment into Ibiza’s premium and bespoke fishmonger’s. His own vessel that brings daily catches from the waters around Ibiza and Formentera, state-of-the-art facilities, and an unwavering passion for his product. Welcome to the temple of fresh fish.

Julián was born in 1990 in Cudillero, in the corner of Asturias where, for centuries, fishing boats have set the daily routine. He did not need to seek out a vocation: it was already there, permeating every corner of the village with the smell of saltpetre as the boats arrived and departed. What came next was a period of pure and hard training — over nine years working side by side with Juan Carlos González Ríos, the alma mater of Pescaderías Ríos and an institution in the sector in the region of Asturias. “Rather than a teacher, he is a second father to me”, Julián readily admits. From González Ríos, he learnt that fish are not to be handled without regard: they are to be cared for, respected, and pampered from the moment they are taken from the water.

Ibiza came along, as so often happens with big decisions, almost by accident. On a few days’ holiday, he fell in love with the island at first sight, and knew that he could build something here. His connection with Joan Marí (the head of Meneghello Food & Fish) did the rest, and together they drew up the plan for what is now Meneghello Fish, Ibiza and Formentera’s most selective and local fishmonger.

A vessel built to leave nothing to chance

When Julián and Joan Marí sat down to design their new facility, they had a very clear and specific aim, with no room for compromise. The result is a 450 m2 area designed with pinpoint accuracy to guarantee that the product reaches the chef in perfect condition. Tanks with ionised light and controlled water temperature to ensure that the fish do not suffer stress. A processing facility that self-disinfects every day by means of ozone dispensers. Freezers at a temperature of -60ºC, high-performance blast chillers, their own ice purification machine (to ensure that the fish remains untainted by other flavours), and a digitalised temperature control that operates via an app. Technology is always placed at the service of the product.

But exceptional facilities demand an exceptional team. Joan and Julián know this, and so they have calmly and carefully selected the finest specialists, including a new purchasing manager with a good track record in the sector. They have strengthened the gastronomic management team, brought in area distributors with a thorough knowledge of the island’s catering network and, as a key component of the machinery, a manager with specific responsibility for quality and hygiene who is constantly undertaking tests and analyses. At Meneghello Fish, excellence is more than just a slogan: it is a protocol.

The Cap Vermell: true zero-kilometre produce

While others talk about local sources of supply, Meneghello Fish puts the theory into practice. The introduction into their enterprise of the fishing boat Cap Vermell is the most compelling proof of their commitment. Every day, Julián’s refrigerators are stocked with fresh catches from Ibizan waters: red scorpionfish, John Dory, squid, lobster, sirvia, denton, and more. Some of the lobsters are delivered to customers barely four hours after being caught.

Some of the lobsters are delivered to customers barely four hours after being caught

And when the local seas cannot provide everything, the new purchasing department comes into play with its commitment to direct suppliers, with no middlemen. Fish caught on the high seas, around Norway, France and the Canary Islands arrive in Ibiza just three days later. Julián justifiably boasts that his is the freshest salmon served on the island.

Fishmonger to the best chefs

A reputation is built slowly but is established quickly when the product is good. Today, the island’s best chefs not only trust Meneghello Fish with their orders: many of them come to the fishmonger’s in person to select fish for themselves, and when they arrive Julián is there. He shows them the finest specimens, suggests how to cut them, and talks about their origins: perfect fillets, ready to be salted, to have tartar sauce added, to be made into tiraditos... with the precision of an itamae, the team undertakes whatever process the chef requires. 

At Meneghello Fish, the products are not just sold: they are cared for with the very same devotion to his craft that Julián assimilated in the ports of Cudillero, with the same rigour that his Asturian teacher instilled into him, and with the same firm conviction that if proper attention is paid to origin, everything else falls into place.