BEST SEAFOOD ON THE COSTA

 I rarely post about restaurant meals. That´s because I don´t eat out very often. Over the years, my eating-out gang has pretty much dispersed. Besides, I don´t like paying for just ordinary food that I could probably prepare at home for half the cost. Although I enjoy dining out at Indian, Japanese, Middle Eastern or other restaurants—and, believe me, there are plenty of restaurants in my area—I stick to mostly Spanish food for the blog posts.

This week, my friend Lars Kronmark, a chef-instructor at the Culinary Institute of America, Greystone (St. Helena, California) was visiting. Although he´s been to the Costa del Sol many times before, he had never eaten at the restaurant with the best seafood on the Málaga coast, Los Marinos José in Carvajal-Fuengirola. Chef Lars recently did a workshop on seafood, so he was keen to sample Málaga techniques.

Display of fresh seafood. In the front are turbot.

What´s amazing about Los Marinos is that the kitchen doesn´t use any radical techniques or avant-garde creations. Málaga is justly famous for its fried fish, seafood grilled on a plancha and fish baked in salt. What distinguishes Los Marinos José is the absolute obsessive dedication to product—the best and freshest fish and shellfish sourced directly from fishing vessels. The menu changes daily. The variety is astonishing. On the day we lunched at Los Marinos, there were ten different big fish listed on the menu.

Los Marinos José began as a chiringuito, a beach shack, serving local fish and shellfish. (There is nearby a Los Marinos Paco, run by another branch of the family.) A number of years ago it moved across the street to a brick and mortar restaurant with a terrace facing the sea. While you would never turn up for lunch in a bathing suit, as you can on the beach, still it´s relaxed and casual dining.

Cigalas are sea crayfish also known as scampi, Dublin Bay prawn or Norway lobster.

These are a delicacy--huevas de calamar, the roe from squid. 

Does this borriquete (a kind of bream) have our name on it?

Even the tomatoes are of highest quality. These are served chopped with tuna belly for the only salad on the day's menu. Fried artichokes was the only "vegetable" offered. The day we lunched at Los Marinos, there was no meat on the menu.

Carabineros are Jumbo shrimp.

Los Marinos was where, years ago, I first tried carabineros, enormous bright red, shrimp. Grilled in their shells over coals, they were messy to peel and extract, but exquisite in flavor. Carabineros are still on the menu at Los Marinos—priced at €14 per 100 grams (almost $16 for 3 ½ ounces). Three of them at lunch would have cost us more than €60. Los Marinos is expensive, but worth it. 

There were three of us at table. We began with five shared starters and a main dish of a whole borriquete, a kind of sea bream. 

Concha fina clam, served raw.

A Málaga specialty—conchas finas also called “bolos” (venus-shell clam). They are served raw on the half-shell with only lemon to accompany. Sweet and chewy, filled with essence of sea. 

Croquettes with a filling of shrimp and octopus. Piping hot, these were crunchy on the outside, creamy on the inside.

Morsels of squid roe, lightly floured and fried. Like a puff of sea-flavored cloud.

Gambas de cristal or "glass" shrimp.

Two dishes served at the same time, small white “glass” shrimp (gambas de cristal) and small squid grilled on a plancha. The glass shrimp (Pasiphaea sivado, a deep-sea species, not the same as the freshwater glass shrimp sometimes used in acquariums) were dusted with flour and crisply fried. The whole shrimp is edible—head and shells give a slight crunch. Very sweet. 

Barely coated in flour, the glass shrimp can be eaten with shells and heads.

Perfectly-grilled squid were tender but al dente, with a slight resistance.

Fish in parts-- filleted chunks are heaped on the fried skeleton with the whole head on the side. (Photo by Ben Searl.)

The platter of bream included the fish spine, fried shatteringly crisp; the head with nuggets of flesh in the neck and cheeks, and chunks of fillets, lightly floured and fried. A mayonnaise with smoked pimentón was the accompanying sauce. Borriquete (my favorite fish guide, The Tio Pepe Guide to the Seafood of Spain & Portugal, by Alan Davidson, gives the English name as “rubber-lip grunt”) is not one of the more esteemed bream, such as dorada (gilt-head). But, treated with expertise in the kitchen, it is terrific. 

“Mayonnaise” at Los Marinos is confected by pressing head and gills of a grilled fish to extract all the juices, then whisking them with extra virgin olive oil. The natural gelatins in the fish emusify the oil. That´s it. No salt or lemon juice is added.

And, there in front of us, on a glorious day in February, was the beach and the blue Mediterranean. What a treat. 

Los Marinos José is in Fuengirola (Málaga). See the web site for contact information. http://www.losmarinosjose.com/

More seaside meals:

Fish Baked in Salt.

Borriquete and Clams, Fishermen´s Style.

Lunch at a Chiringuito.

Seaside Lunch.

Los Marinos.