Villa Spain - Property Magazin for the Costa del Sol

 

Villa España ­ "Simbad el Marino" ­ Authentic taste of Spain

One of our quartet was just coming off a fortnight-long diet of salads and, pleaded with us to turn a blind eye while he committed the “cardinal sin”, in a beachside fish restaurant, of eating red meat. We acquiesced but did sneak a mildly envious look at a superb fillet of beef that wouldn’t have been out of place in a specialist meat grill establishment.

We also ordered a plate of chips after observing the relish with which he attacked his side dish–home-peeled and sliced, we must add (no frozen impostors here).

As we lingered over coffees, Cristobal emerged from the kitchen to fill us in on the restaurant’s intriguing history.

Born in Almería (the eastern-most province of Andalucía), though his parents were from Fuengirola, he was a tuna fisherman for 15 years, before moving into construction, including a stint in the nearby Hotel Don Carlos’s technical department.

The old Simbad beach chiringuito, built 30 years ago just along the beach, was run by a friend and when he became ill Cristobal started helping out. On his death, the family asked Cristobal to take over. Fifteen years ago, the introduction of a national “Coasts Law” restricting building on the beach meant they had to close it down and build the current restaurant. With his background in construction, Cristobal supervised the work, even to the extent of personally, and painstakingly, crafting the building’s distinctive roof and walls impregnated with thousands of shells. In fact, with its wood-beamed ceiling, hanging fish nets, fireplace and general rustic style, Simbad El Marino is, according to Cristobal, the only “typical” beach restaurant of its kind on the Costa del Sol”.

Simbad is also quaintly rare in one other respect: “no credit cards accepted”.

“This is my house (the restaurant manager is his cousin, the waiter his son and the kitchen assistant his brother) and whoever wants to come here can pay cash,” says Cristobal, admittedly with a twinkle in his eye. “I have to pay cash at the market.”

The restaurant did at one stage allow payment by credit card. “But one day I went to the bank and deposited 600,000 pesetas in credit card slips. I asked for 200,000 pesetas in cash to pay the staff and they said I would have to wait. I went back to the restaurant and smashed the credit card machine with a hammer.”

With that, we hurriedly put our cash on the table and ask for a business card. The slogan on the postcard they give us is slightly misleading: “The coolest restaurant on the beach.” Cool in the sense of temperature, certainly, but the Marbella-ish hype is completely unnecessary. The appeal of Simbad is that it is not trendy. As our host observed as we drove away, “You don’t see too many Mercedes in the car park.”

The restaurant did at one stage allow payment by credit card. “But one day I went to the bank and deposited 600,000 pesetas in credit card slips. I asked for 200,000 pesetas in cash to pay the staff and they said I would have to wait. I went back to the restaurant and smashed the credit card machine with a hammer.”

With that, we hurriedly put our cash on the table and ask for a business card. The slogan on the postcard they give us is slightly misleading: “The coolest restaurant on the beach.” Cool in the sense of temperature, certainly, but the Marbella-ish hype is completely unnecessary. The appeal of Simbad is that it is not trendy. As our host observed as we drove away, “You don’t see too many Mercedes in the car park.”

 

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