By The "Guiri" Gourmet
We enjoyed two great hostelry experiences this week. First of all, I popped into Benaoján’s newest bar/restaurant and then the following day we had dinner at one of our favourite restaurants in Ronda.
Something old
Let’s start with the old. By that I mean a restaurant that has just celebrated its 19th anniversary since opening its doors in 2005. We have been regulars for more than 13 years, ever since we moved into our house just up the road.
A former olive and flour mill, dating from the 17th century, Restaurante La Cascada at the Hotel Molino del Puente in Fuente de la Higuera in the campo just outside Ronda, is a cut above many. It boasts 13 unique, stylish and romantic bedrooms and has a swimming pool.
Before and after photos of Hotel Molino del Puente [Ian Love and KAYAK]
Owned and run by English couple Ian and Elaine Love, this is a 3-star boutique hotel with a fine restaurant on the lower ground floor.
Ian, the chef, has recently retired from the kitchen. “Too old,” he says and now concentrates on running his newly established estate agency LOVE VIVIENDAS with middle daughter Carly. He also helps out behind the bar and as a waiter in the evenings.
Tom, Carly, Megan with baby Sofia, Elaine, Ian, Robyn and husband Gianluca
Ian's replacement in the kitchen is Tom O’Connor, Carly’s partner. Tom is a trained chef with experience on the Costa del Sol and in Tenerife. Carly and Tom have a little girl, Sofia.
The hotel and restaurant are about to close for the winter, so we hastily booked for Friday night. As usual we were not disappointed.
Portions are generous at La Cascada, so we shared a salad to start. There was no salad on the menu, but Elaine said they could make us one up. The impromptu salad was delicious with prawns and cashew nuts and a tasty dressing. .
For main courses Rita chose filete de salmon fresco con espinacas, salsa de vino blanco y patatas gratinadas and I went for pechuga de pollo Hindu marinada en especias indias con arroz basmati y raita. I'd not had that before and I was delighted with my choice. So was Rita. We cleared our plates. Postre was a slice of tarta de queso casero which we also shared.
We were both more than full.
To accompany our food Rita had a cava and I had a beer (Estrella Galicia on draught), then we chose a bottle of Verdejo – delicious.
After our meal it was still early so we adjourned to the bar for digestifs. Rita had two more glasses of cava, and I risked a couple of coñacs. I say “risked” because the last time I drank brandy, some three years ago, I ended up in hospital! The less said about that the better. Needless to say, from that day on I’ve never touched spirits again – until last Friday night. I survived unscathed on this occasion.
Something new
A couple of days before, as I was returning from Montejaque, where I had gone after all the rain to check out our two rental houses (Casa Rita and Casa Real), I passed through Benaoján. I noticed that the new restaurant El Escalón was in operation.
I’d been waiting for months for it to open its doors – there was apparently a delay in getting their licencia de apertura (opening permit) from Málaga City.
The owner is Juan Diego who used to rent a bar up in the square. He closed that and went off to German twin-town Knittlingen to work for two years.
Long story short, they bought the three lock-up garages for a good price and turned into what is a very smart and stylish restaurant. Juan Diego’s mum, who is the cocinera, proudly showed me her brand-new spick and span kitchen.
The facade of El Escalón, Juan Diego, the owner and a partial view of the restaurant [photos: Paul Whitelock]
There were a few people in there that I knew, including the former owner of the premises, builder Paco, who had done some work for us some years ago.
They have a great beer on draught, El Águila (Madrid), so I had a couple with a dish of very tasty olives, and I was good to go.
Somewhere to take Rita sometime soon.
© The "Guiri" Gourmet
Links to other articles:
Back to the “Bridge” – St George’s Day
Marcus Myers leads birthday celebrations at Ronda restaurant
BAR EL ESCALÓN, Benaojan - Restaurant Reviews, Photos & Phone Number - Tripadvisor
Contacts:
Restaurante La Cascada
(+34) 952 87 41 64
info@hotelmolinodelpuente.com
https://www.hotelmolinodelpuente.com/
English, French and Spanish spoken
***
El Escalón
(+34) 633 83 68 63
***
Love Viviendas Estate Agency
(+34) 619 056 055
info@loveviviendas.com
https://loveviviendas.com
English and Spanish spoken
***
Casa Real and Casa Rita
(+34) 636 52 75 16
info@a1-holidays.net
CASA REAL, Montejaque (Malaga) - Help me, Ronda
Casa Rita Holiday Rental Montejaque - Secret Serrania de Ronda
Enquiries welcome in English, Deutsch, español, français
Photos:
Ian Love, Karl Smallman, Molino del Puente, Paul Whitelock
Tags:
Benaoján, casero, cava, coñac, Costa del Sol, El Águila, Elaine Love, El Escalón, Estrella Galicia, filete de salmón, Fuente de la Higuera, "Guiri" Gourmet, Hotel Molino del Puente, Ian Love, Juan Diego, Karl Smallman, Knittlingen, La Cascada, licencia de apertura, Love Viviendas, Málaga, Montejaque, opening permit, Paul Whitelock, pechuga de pollo Hindu, swimming pool, postre, raita, Rita, Ronda, something new, something old, tarta de queso, Tenerife, Tom O’Connor, trained chef, twin town, verdejo