Parador de Málaga Gibralfaro, Málaga, Spain
Parador de Malaga Giralfaro
Castillo de Gibralfaro, s/n 29016 Málaga, Spain
+34 952 221 902 www.paradores.es/en/parador-de-malaga-gibralfaro

The Bill (Euros)
Starters €14.00 - €22.00| Mains €14.00 - €32.00
Puds - Didn't Get There
The Score
Cooking 7/10 | Service 5/5
Flavour 4/5 | Value 4/5
TOTAL 20/25
My, oh my. While I've been away you seem to have acquired a lot of misinformation. For example, Málaga is just the airport you use to head towards Marbella. (It is also the dropping off point for Torremolinos, but I suspect this won't apply to you.) Or, don't eat in Spanish hotels, the food's bound to be rubbish.
Totally wrong on both counts. We discovered the town's delights in a wonderful week's holiday some years ago. It was the logical starting point for our Great Andalusian Adventure. On Wednesday I wrote about the delights of Spanish paradors. Since our return, I'm surprised at how few people are aware of them. In Málaga the location could hardly be more dramatic. Next to the castle, as you'll have worked out from the address. Being driven up a tortuously steep and twisty road, we did wonder how we would ever get down again. Thankfully, there is a fairly regular bus service.
This was day one of the GAA. As seems to be common these days, it had started with an alarm set for 0315. Definitely no appetite for heading forth in search of food. Time to test the paradors' boast of featuring the best of regional cuisine. We had a room with a view, but it was as nothing to the panorama from our dining table. Spectacular in daylight, it became even more magical as night fell. Tiny, winking fishing boats far out; the lights coming on in the billionaires' yachts in the marina. All gently bathed in 30 degree warmth. That's the Mediterranean for you.
I don't generally photograph food, but this little amuse bouche just set the standard. Neither of us had much of an appetite, but something like that makes you study the menu with more care. Did I say regional? What about ajo blanco, which I'd never tried before. It's a chilled white soup of garlic and almonds. Here they'd jazzed it up with something fishy and pickled on the base, colour added with edible flowers. Partridge pate is another local favourite. Wonderful, but be warned, there is enough for three. Iberian pork, obviously, in many forms, and fish aplenty. Octopus, cod, bream, bass, snapper and, of course, anchovies. Feeling carnivorous? I was sorely tempted by the roasted leg of suckling goat, or the sucking lamb cutlets.
L had an interesting salad. (We're coming to the conclusion that the entire world eats more interesting salads than we make at home.) There was tuna confit and mango and prawns and avocado. Dig a little more and you find some candied walnuts. I think there may have been some dried apricots and a slightly sweet dressing.
My, oh my, as I said at the start. Welcome back to Spain. And this is just day one.