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The journey itself is often an adventure.
The drive to Cortijo Santa Maria in the hills above Sotogrande, is magical as soon as you exit the motorway.
When you look at some of Spain’s most expensive homes and the most exclusive golf course in Spain, Valderrama you can sense that you are about to experience something very special.
While the arrival to the resort’s five-star hotel SO/ Sotogrande is not as impressive, you will be pleasantly surprised once inside.
The architecture is interesting and unfussy. Water and planting are cleverly used to create a lush paradise with cascading levels, subtle colours, and furnishings.
Cortijo 1964, the restaurant on the top floor with one of my favorite dining terraces.
From here, you can see the Serrania De Ronda, Sierra Bermeja, and La Concha, which is located above Marbella.
You can also see Africa if you squint, even if it’s a dreary day. Look down at the Cortijo roofs.
Laurent Perrier has kindly offered me a glass for 12 euros. The Prince of Wales is also a royal patron. You can also get cava in a glass but champagne is a better choice for the extra four euros.
Before you can blink, scallop tartare ‘eclairs’ and mussels in a Peruana tiger sauce are brought to the table, along with three types of local bread from Malaga with Cordoba olive oil.
There are at least ten wines by the glass, which is a nice touch. There are at least 10 wines by the glass. It was nice to see local wines like Iceni from Arcos de la Frontera.
The menu itself is a trawl of Andalucian classics, things like suckling pig and grilled octopus, thankfully added to with the Conil tomato tartare, as well as an interesting sounding beef tiradito with blood orange and cucumber essence, at just €15.
Obviously there was Jamon Iberico ‘Belloterra’, as well as a good number of vegetarian dishes including roasted cauliflower and vegetable ravioli.
Just as I was licking my lips over the odd-sounding ‘transparent asparagus veil’ which apparently came with prawn tartare and dashi, I was entirely sold on the special summer tuna menu, with a decent number of classic blue fin tuna cuts from nearby Barbate.
Nicolas Isnard is the Michelin-starred chef from France who oversees this restaurant. Leandro Caballero (hotel executive chef) hails from Cordoba.
The Tuna Festival Asian Menu, as it’s called, is modelled on Japanese market dishes and comes in three sizes with the longest coming in at a reasonable €115.
The first dish for all three is ‘Tuna and Takuan rose’ – a subtle starter of thin strips of tender tuna belly wrapped in an envelope of an oriental vegetable, called takuan.
It was shaped like a rose and sat on apple gel with dashi soup. A tiny bit of wasabi brought it to life.
Next up was a tuna tartare with a citrus and kumquat sorbet and ‘kalamansi’ aroma.
The flavours were great, but it didn’t compare to the next dish: a tuna-belly tartaki with a caviar sprinkled on top, and with Thai pomelo, Thai sweetcorn, and mint pesto.
We were now onto the pudding courses, including the intriguing ‘Green tea, tamarind and cinnamon’ which was rather like having tea at granny’s – a real creamy treat.
The rich rice pudding was good, but it didn’t compare to the amazing cheese course.
Billed as ‘Andalucian cheese – a journey’, it even had its own well presented menu that explained the five cheeses from Sevilla, Cordoba, Cadiz and Malaga.
Leandro from Pozoblanco explained, “We were given free reign to push on.” And one can probably talk about Rabo de Toro (a type of salmorejo) for hours.
Since joining the Almenara a decade back, it has gotten better and better. Now I’m able to concentrate more on the quality of my work and be experimental.
After the journey, I arrived home with a huge smile on my face.
Av. Almenara S/N
11310 Sotogrande
San Roque, Cádiz
+34 956 922 911
cortijo.sotogrande@so-hotels.com
The Olive Press is a great source for Andalucia News.
