One of my favorite meals in Marbella was our dinner at The Orange Tree. The friendly owners, Frank and Irene, warmly welcomed us into their restaurant and made us feel like family.
Shortly after we ordered a bottle of wine for the table, Irene brought us the most incredible homemade bread that was accompanied with olive tapenade, whipped butter, and pickled garlic cloves. I could have ate the bread all night, but I finally had to push it aside so I could save room for my dinner!
The Orange Tree offers a two-course and three-course early bird menu. Since the early bird menu was so reasonably priced I decided on the three-course menu since it was only a few dollars higher than the two-course menu. (Calories don't count when you are on vacation, right?) For my appetizer I ordered the Thai-style Mussels served in a green curry and lemongrass broth, for my entree I ordered the Duck Confit with mashed potatoes and red cabbage, and for my dessert I ordered the Pear Tarte Tartin. Please note that the menu does change frequently to incorporate seasonal ingredients.
The mussel appetizer is amazing and I highly recommend ordering this dish. The broth is so fragrant and each bite was an explosion of different flavors. I stole a few bites of my husband's scallops and pork belly appetizer and it was fantastic! The duck confit was delicious, but I was too full and couldn't finish it. I tried to cancel my dessert, but Frank insisted there is always room for dessert so somehow I managed to polish off a pear tarte with vanilla ice cream.
Originally we had planned to turn in early since we had a 6:00 am flight the following morning, but our dinner was leisurely spread over a three hour period. Everything is made from scratch so expect food to come out of the kitchen at a slower pace. We didn't mind at the time since we were enjoying our meal and chatting with Frank. read more