a food/restaurant blog

 A HIDDEN GEM

Small Spanish restaurant serving traditional food. We had a tomato salad, absolutely huge and delicious. Coqinas small portion and super tasty. Our two starters only slighly spoiled by soggy tasteless bread (at 2 euros each). Our mains were grilled tuna at 15 euros which was nothing special and grilled rosada which was really generous and perfectly cooked. The rosada was 9 euros and the best value dish I have had in Spain for 8 years. We had 3 bottles of water, no coffee and no alcohol. I thought great value at 60 euros. Service was friendly and I Idid not mind sitting in a sort of car park,

A RECOMMEND

 I was excited to go to the brand new Thai Style in Peurto Banus. It had a huge fanfare opening, very grand and much publicised.

I took the precaution of popping in to book personally a few days prior. They were very smartly dressed and took time to tell me that the cook had been employed for many years as personal chef to the King and Queen of Thailand. They told me they had 3 more restaurants in Spain as well as Rome and Paris. SO FAR SO GOOD

Last night we went. The soup starter ordered by my wife came cold, was tiny and although it was brown in colour tasted not much different to hot water. 8 euros. It took a further 20 minutes to come back hot by which time my daughter and I had finished our tiny tiny tastless starters.

I had pad thai as a main 18 euros. A gloopy mess with 2 prawns and 2 small pieces of chicken. My daughter had chicken curry with rice as an accompanyment. No chicken at all and the rice came half an hour after she finished her course My wife had sea bass steamed. Tasty enough but cold and very very small.

There was a cabaret of sorts as about 12 spanish workmen showed up with placards at the entrance to the restaurant. It seems that with all the flash talk, uniforms and general bullshit these men had not been paid by the owner for their hard work. They looked sad, disheartened but were respectfully peacefull. The police allowed them to stay. Some disgruntled customers even helped the workers word their placards in English and French

The management did not care a jot about the customer complaints and suddenly their english deserted them. The staff mainly Thai seemed well used to complaints.

This is without doubt the biggest and most shamefull food con I have ever experienced anywhere. I was so incensed that I made a denouncement at Marbella Police Station this morning. Please pass this reveiw on to prevent others being cheated

 Lunch poolside at Villa Padierna is a very pleasurable experience except for the food. The pool is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen in a setting that is both very pretty and romantic. We had Sunday lunch, eight of us. Three hamburgers were ordered, four prawn salads and a wok fried noodle dish. The dishes took just under an hour to arrive. The Prawn salad was actually two prawns hiding under a small amount of rocket. The wok fried noodles were a cold gloopy mess. The hamburgers were actually quite good although the chips were anemic looking and cold. The bottles of con gas where the cheapest make and had no fizz at all costing 10 euros a bottle. The four ice creams we ordered were more akin to warm soup. 8 main courses, 4 ice creams and 5 bottles of con gas came to 270 euros. Service came with symathetic smiles from the one waiter on duty.

 A Spanish beach restaurant on the beach near Los Monteros. Nice setting bur forget the rest. The rudest waiters you could possibly imagine. Unsmiling and un welcoming. Traditional beah food. Menu looks OK and prices look OK. Food not OK. Half cooked, small portions, tasteless food. Dishes arrive whenever the kitchen fancies. My rosada arrived twent minutes before the cold soggy chips arrived., and my wifes sea bass another ten minutes later. Enough said.........dont waste your money in the place