El Chaleco — Restaurant in Almuñécar

A menu that charges 50 euro for 5 dishes cannot consist of such humble ingredients, i was expecting a lot more. The chef's entrants were plain and tasteless: a so called "seaweed salad" with a spoonful of plain white cold boiled rice and a few strains of seaweed on top, some orzo pasta with a bit of curry flavor, and a tiny couliflower drink (quite tasty). The second dish, a sole fish terrine was just some very cold boiled potato, no trace of fish, with a tiny layer of tomato sauce and some green leaves on top. Zero flavour. Then we got some nice fish/mussel soup with raw mushroom, tasty. The main course was a very humble chicken pot au feu with lots of cream and some vegetables and potatoes, taste was nice, but it was far from spectacular. The dessert was some berry sorbet and chocolate icecream that tasted of powders. I am sure they can do a lot better than that, but for that price, I expect and deserve something way more sophisticated, all the ingredients for that meal would cost less than 4 or 5 euro in any supermarket. I was far from impressed, that menu would have been ok for 20 euro, maybe. Not a place...

Our visit to El Chaleco was one of surprise. Its a little French restaurant very close to our holiday house in Almunecar. For a few years we didn't eat there as it is labeled as a €€€€ on TripAdvisor and so we were waiting for a special occasion. On our last night of the holiday we finally decided to give it a go.

Food was outstanding, the service was professional and overall definitely a 5 star experience. They use a set menu and have a new special every month of the year. The August special was a 5 course meal for around €32 (very reasonable) with each course being better than the last. Every bite was a flavour explosion and the chef has paired contrasting flavours with each dish and our waitress recommended an excellent local white wine from a nearby mountain village. My highlight was the gambas ravioli with the garlic flower.

We left the restaurant feeling very content and we are looking forward to our next meal when we come back to Almunecar. Maybe we can time it to arrive during the October...

When i asked for gluten-free, they told me to reserve in advance so that they could prepare for it properly. They take food very seriously!

Service is wonderful and the lady of the restaurant is welcoming and funny as well as excellently observant to the needs of her guests. The red wine of the house was one of the best we've had, and it was a special treat brewed for only 3000 bottles so it felt a little special as well.

I felt like i ate for twice the money we paid. It's relatively expensive to the area, but relatively to the value it's more than fitting. They don't hand you a menu, they design the meal for you and then you just sit back and let yourself be amazed by the creativity of each dish. It was a truly pleasant experience and i wish i had come with an emptier stomach than i did; the meals looked small on some review pictures so i imagined it to be one of those places where you can eat a small meal after you're done. It's not, so please build up an appetite...