So, what is the most unlikely place you've eaten at which has held a Michelin star? No doubt there's some tiny noodle stall in Tokyo which holds a star (Tokyo holds the most stars out of all the cities in the world) but there can be fewer unprepossessing Michelin starred restaurants than Restaurant Skina
Located in a tiny residential street located just off the Old Town tourist drag in Marbella, in the summer, Restaurant Skina has its tables in the residential street with locals having to squeeze past tables to get into their houses! Unfortunately, I missed this unique dining surroundings as I was in town when it was too cold to eat alfresco in the evening
The cozy indoor area feels much more fine dining in atmosphere with one wall dominated by a large temperature controlled wine cabinet and the door to the kitchen swished open and close in a futuristic way
The menu offers a la carte or tasting menu options, both for the same price. As the same dishes are offered on both menus, it's a no brainer to go for the tasting menu as you get to try more dishes. They were also very accommodating in allowing subsitutions on the tasting menu if there was something else guests preferred to try instead
The restaurant philosophy of 'Tasty Creativity' is proudly emblazoned all over the restaurant and with head chefs from Japan (Hideaki Yoshioka) and Catalunya (Jaume Puigdengolas), I was looking forward to an evening of molecular gastronomy fun. This was enhanced by Marco, the maitre d's passion and pride for the food, the wine and the quality of his establishment. Perhaps sensing that I was a bit of a foodie, he assured me of a great evening's dining
1. Variety of tapas
Three inventive plates arrived in succession:
- wafer with whipped goat's cheese served on edible pebbles. Light and tasty
- tuna cracker with tuna consomme. The cracker was packed with umami goodness, almost like crunch tuna jerky. The consomme was a technical triumph but the depth of flavour suffered a bit in conparison with the amazing cracker
- deer ham with celery. Another dish with deep flavour of deer enhanced by the curing process
2. Lobster tartare with strawberry
Now why hasn't anyone thought of this dish before? This was the most intriguing dish on the menu and brought the biggest smile to my face all evening when I ate it. The lobster tartare was sweet and the raw nature of the lobster meat actually allowed me to taste the full lobster flavour where too often, cooking lobster turns it into more of a prawn texture. Here, the lobster flavour was then complimented by slightly tart but still sweet early season strawberry. The tartare was topped off by 2 nice slices of cooked lobster
3. Mediterranean salad of sea bream sashimi, grapefruit, purple onion, radish & salmon caviar
It was almost too pretty to eat. A perfect harmony of simple clean flavours combining to enhance each other. I tried eating different combinations of components and they all tasted great
4. Spinach rice with Malaga white prawns
Like a lot of the dishes, this arrived on a bespoke custom made dish - the only other place I've seen this is at Alinea in Chicago. The rice was more of a risotto texture. A nice dish but perhaps I could have done with a sweet or tart counterpoint to the savoury overtones of the dish
5. Seared sea bass with parsnips and Jerusalem artichoke puree
Lovely piece of sea bass cooked to perfection and nicely accompanied by the Jerusalem artichoke puree as well as a slightly sweet sauce made from the fish cooking sauce. The only technical problem with the cooking all evening was with the parsnips which turned out a little too hard to cut with the fish knife that I had
6. Roasted pigeon served with cereals
This arrived in 2 preparations - breast served on a little cake made with cereals and the little pigeon leg served on a separate plate. This dish is perhaps designed to prove that they can do precise technical cooking as well as be inventive. Though so very easy to overcook, both bits of pigeon were moist, tender and gamey
7. I was given a complimentary plate of cheese served table-side
8. Apple with yoghurt, celery and ginger
Another triumph in the food matching department. Yes, even the celery went well with all the other ingredients
9. Orange cream with carrot ice cream
A lovely citrus end point to the meal - after all, when in Spain, you must have some of the great local oranges. The key to the dish was that the carrot ice cream wasn't overly sweet
10. Just in case they haven't raised enough smiles already, they have one last treat up their sleeves - a trolley filled with amazing petit fours. A fantastic way to end the meal
They were also very proud of their home made bread, presenting it whole to the guests before being taken away for slicing. The bread arrived with olive oil for dipping. I must also make mention of their freshly squeezed orange juice, which was like nectar
An amazing meal topped off with a kitchen visit. Thanks, Marco! read more