Wined, dined and rested.

We were in Marbella again, and a friend suggested visiting this recently-opened informal eatery on the edge of Marbella old town because it looked interesting.

OK, so the rude name; “Olé mis huevos” is a little risqué in Spanish because of “huevos”, which actually means “eggs” but is also a synonym for “testicles”. It made me smile broadly when I heard it and again when I saw their wonderful sign at the entrance, which is funny even if you don’t understand the double entendre:

And isn’t it a great way to walk into a restaurant, with a broad grin on your face?

 

The lights are decorated with chicken wire and eggshells…..

… and the mirrors have straw or eggboxes or more shells round them.

Oh, and barely had the initial smiles left our faces when we saw the wine list, which left us chuckling again:

In the end we chose a very nice Verdejo from Rueda; none of the wines was that expensive, and this one worked perfectly well with our meal.

 

We were welcomed cheerfully by Diego with his trademark flat cap and poultry-keeper’s apron (!) who ushered us to what I suddenly realised was a yolk-coloured table with white chairs around it – someone had had great fun designing this place.

 

The menu is small and simple with – no great surprise there – several different versions of “huevos rotos” which is usually given the translation “scrambled eggs” but is literally just “broken eggs”. You can have them with Spanish ham, octopus in garlic, prawns, confit of duck and probably anything else that you would like, what’s more the portion comes with diced friend potatoes and is easily big enough for 3 as part of a collection of dishes.  Diego brings it to the table brandishing a spoon and fork, silver service style, and with tongue clearly firmly in cheek makes a big show of “breaking” the eggs in the dish in front of you.  Again, that really made me chortle.

Spanish food is best when shared, so we chose some dishes to go in the middle of the table to share. In most Spanish restaurants I like to try the croquetas as a ‘measure’ of the cooking. If the croquetas are good then I feel reassured that other things will be; these croquetas were good, although I think there should be some kind of sauce to dip them in, preferably one with a bit of punch. Diego kindly brought us a chill-infused mayonnaise to help us, and made the justifiable point that Spanish customers do not usually like anything remotely ‘picante’ so it wasn’t offered. They could prepare 2 or 3 different sauces, perhaps presented one of those ceramic egg-holders that look like egg boxes if they want to maintain the theme, then customers could choose.

 

Anyway, their presentation was superb – I know the presentation is less important than the taste of the food, but really this was a genius idea. Following in the theme of EGGS, this is how they were presented:

And this is what they looked like:

We also had one of my other ‘measures’ of a Spanish eatery, an ensaladilla rusa (Russian salad); once again this was superbly presented, with fried spiralised potato garnish and moreover it had real taste, smooth but full of flavour.

Things were looking good, we were all feeling mellow and really rather pink and fluffy about this place when Diego approached the table to give us some bad news – the calamares that we had ordered, with great insistence from us on the fact that he had to promise they would be cooked properly and not have the texture of last week’s chewing gum, had run out. In all three of our pink and fluffy heads ran the same thought at the same time – someone in the kitchen had heard our unreasonable demands, rushed to the fridge / freezer and gone NO NO NO, we cannot possibly offer this sub-standard squid to these discerning people, we must offer them something else……

 

He suggested we have the pulpo (octopus) instead. Now, unreasonable I know but if a kitchen cannot be trusted to produce decent squid, what are the chances of the octopus being anything other than a rubber rope with sink plungers attached?  Well, sink is what our hearts did, and as a result Diego’s happy face took on the downcast look of one who has fallen short of his own high moral code. That did it; as one person we sighed and said, with as much good grace as we could muster, “yes, of course, do bring us the octopus”.  Alea jacta est, we communicated telepathically with each other.

 

It arrived, stunningly presented on a kind of wooden Lazy Susan platter, surrounded by what turned out to be tempura vegetable strips of courgette and squash.

We all took a slice of the pulpo and suddenly our conversation stopped. This octopus was perfectly cooked; it was tender, delicious and thoroughly moreish. I think I can probably say that it is the best octopus I’ve ever tasted – what a revelation. And the tempura vegetables, really just the garnish to the main event, were done beautifully. I’ve been given tempura vegetables before and seldom has the tempura really been that disappearingly light batter that it should be.

 

The chef, and I think owner, Alvaro Morales, came out to chat as we were finishing and we told him how impressed we were. He told us that he was just off to cook for the visiting Saudi royal family for a week but that he would be back after that, and our friend who is a Marbella resident said she would be recommending this place to all her friends here.

 

We really had a great time; both the food and the atmosphere were delightful, we laughed and ate and drank and left knowing that we would like to return.  If you’re in Marbella, do go – sadly, Marbella restaurants tend to have a short life and I wouldn’t want you to miss out!

Olé mis huevos, calle Calvario 4, Marbella.      00 34 951 769 505