Restaurants, cafés and bakeries in Costa Calma

El Olivo de La Cala is a Mediterranean restaurant on Calle Butiplaya in La Cala de Mijas, the beach village on the coast south of the home, and it has been part of the village for more than fifteen years. The house puts a lot of weight on its rooms. There is an open air terrace under the Mediterranean sky, made for warm evenings and the sunset, and inside there are dining rooms gathered around a central fireplace, which makes it a place that works in winter as well as in summer. A wine cellar holds over a hundred Spanish references from the main regions, chosen by the house sommelier and renewed with the seasons. The kitchen describes its cooking as the authentic flavours of the region: seafood, Iberian meats, seasonal vegetables and desserts made in house, with fish and shellfish chosen from the market each day. The cold starters give a good idea of the style: a serrana salad, a rocket salad, a foie gras salad, avocado with prawns, a classic prawn cocktail, smoked salmon, melon with Iberian ham, and portions of Iberian ham and cured cheese to share. Further sections cover warm starters, fish, meat, grilled meats and a cheese board, with seafood paella and steaks among the dishes the house highlights. Anyone with an allergy is asked to say so when booking, and the kitchen adapts where it can. Groups from six people are welcome for birthdays, christenings, anniversaries and company dinners, with long tables inside or on the terrace and a menu proposed to suit the occasion. Tables can be booked online. Pets are not allowed, apart from assistance dogs.

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Vista Lago Restaurant

Mijas · Mediterranean · Steak and grill · Burgers

Calle Tranco, 4, 29649 Mijas

+34673635287

Vista Lago is the restaurant of Hacienda el Sueño, an apartment resort in Las Lagunas de Mijas, and it welcomes outside visitors as well as residents; the house presents it as a place to spend a whole day or an evening between Marbella, Mijas and Fuengirola. The setting is the draw: mountain views, a terrace and a roof terrace, a large pool and the resort's own lagoon with a waterfall. The kitchen describes its menu as Mediterranean and grill, with Italian, Spanish and African influences and fresh local produce. The day starts early. Bread and pastries are baked every morning, and breakfast runs from a full English with eggs, sausages and hash browns to eggs Benedict, pancakes with maple syrup and filled rustic toasts. From midday there are wraps, burgers and a club sandwich, plus tapas such as homemade Iberian ham croquettes, filo wrapped prawns with cane honey and, a sign of the many Dutch guests, bitterballen and frikandel. The evening card covers king prawns pil pil, red tuna tataki, beef tartare, risottos, a seafood tagliatelle with prawns and clams, grilled squid, sea bass meunière, presa ibérica, duck magret, sticky spare ribs and a rib eye. Vegetarian and vegan plates are marked, including a vegan wrap and a vegetable wok, and a gluten free brown roll is available. Cocktails and smoothies come from a mixologist's list, and the wine list is international with some natural wines. Booking a table in advance is recommended. It suits a long lazy lunch by the water or a dinner with a view of the hills.

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The Clubhouse at La Cala Resort

Mijas · Italian · Pizza · Steak and grill

C. Mirador del Golf, 1, 29649 Mijas

+34610046422

The Clubhouse is the social centre of La Cala Resort, the golf resort in the hills above La Cala de Mijas, a short drive west of the home. The resort calls it a meeting point for golfers, friends, families and guests, and it is open to all of them: there is no need to book, people simply walk in. Tables stand indoors and on a sunny terrace that looks straight across the Campo Asia course to the Andalusian hills behind it. The cooking is casual and fresh, with lighter choices alongside the heartier plates. The current menu names a La Cala salad of baby spinach, feta, roasted pumpkin, pecans and cranberries, a burrata salad with citrus and pistachio pesto, a pastrami sandwich of Irish Angus beef with Emmental and the house sauce, fettuccine marinera with scallops, prawns and mussels, teriyaki baked salmon with jasmine rice, and a grilled Irish Angus sirloin with béarnaise or chimichurri. For sharing there are patatas bravas, gambas al pil pil and a platter of Iberian charcuterie with Payoyo cheese, and the pizzas run from a plain margherita to a white pizza with truffle and portobello mushrooms. Every pasta can be made gluten free. Inside, large screens show live football, golf, rugby and tennis, and a golf simulator gives non players something to try on a rainy afternoon. The terrace, a large canopy and a garden pergola are also used for private celebrations. For holiday guests it is the easiest relaxed lunch nearby, with a view over the fairways that justifies the short drive.

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La Mejicana Pizzería y Taquería

Mijas · Pizza · Mexican · Burgers

Calle Murillo s/n, 29649 Mijas

+34952586990

Tue 20:00–24:00; Wed–Sun 13:00–17:00, 20:00–24:00; Mon Closed

La Mejicana has been cooking in Las Lagunas since 1989, which makes it one of the long standing names of Mijas Costa. It sits on Calle Murillo beside the María Zambrano park, in the residential heart of Las Lagunas, and its motto, Para tu gusto, lo mejor, roughly 'for your taste, only the best', sums up how the owners describe their approach: they make everything themselves, starting with the buying of the produce, and cook every day from what they call original South American recipes. The menu mixes two worlds. On one side there are pizzas, from a margherita and a four cheese to a Mexican with spiced minced meat, a Colombian with chicken in hot sauce, a Moorish with spiced mince, onion and black olives, and a Nordic with salmon and capers. On the other side there are Tex Mex plates: hard or soft tacos, including tacos al pastor with pulled pork and pickled onion, nachos with guacamole and hot sauce, burritos served with rice and salad, chicken fajitas and quesadillas. Pasta, salads, burgers, finger food and desserts complete the list, and vegetable versions of most dishes are marked. What sets the house apart is its gluten free cooking: it runs a completely separate kitchen so that people with coeliac disease can choose from a wide menu, and there are lactose free options as well. Food can be eaten on the spot or collected to take away, which suits a relaxed evening back at the holiday home. A second branch operates in Alhaurín de la Torre; the Las Lagunas house is the original.

Dragoeiro

Água de Pau

Example photo of the cuisine — not photographed at this venue Dmitriy Tarasenko / Pexels

Rua do Cerco 29, 9560-206 Água de Pau

+351296247644

Mon–Sun 12:00–15:00, 18:00–23:00

Dragoeiro is in Caloura, at the Quinta do Mirante above the coast of Água de Pau, and it cooks two things side by side: sushi and the food of the Azores. Next to sushi and hot sushi there are fusion plates, starters and salads, meat, seafood, pasta and risotto, açaí and desserts, with a wine list to match. The kitchen works to one rule - "waste has no reserved seat" - and tries to use every ingredient and every protein in full. It is open every day for lunch and dinner, and tables can be booked by phone or through TheFork.

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Queijadas do Morgado

Vila Franca do Campo · Bakery · Cakes and pastries · Breakfast

Example photo of the cuisine — not photographed at this venue Mikhail Nilov / Pexels

Rua do Penedo 20, 9680-146 Vila Franca do Campo

+351296581183

Mon 09:00–19:00; Tue 09:00–19:00; Wed 09:00–19:00; Thu 09:00–19:00; Fri 09:00–19:00; Sat 09:00–19:00; Sun 09:00–19:00

Queijadas do Morgado on the Rua do Penedo in Vila Franca do Campo makes one thing, and it is the thing this town is known for across the whole archipelago: the queijada da Vila. The house calls them the fantastic queijadas of Vila Franca do Campo, the only ones — and it is not really an exaggeration, because the recipe belongs to this town. A queijada da Vila is a small baked tart of egg, sugar and milk in a thin pastry case, wrapped in paper and sold by the dozen. Despite the name — queijo is cheese — there is no cheese in it. They are eaten as a mid-morning thing with coffee and they are what Azoreans carry back to family on the mainland, which is why the shop is set up for taking away rather than sitting down. It opens every day from nine in the morning to seven in the evening, with no closing day, which for an island bakery is unusual and useful — Sunday included. Vila Franca do Campo was the first capital of São Miguel until an earthquake and landslide destroyed it in 1522. It lies on the south coast, about twenty minutes east of Ribeira Chã along the coast road. You will find Queijadas do Morgado at Rua do Penedo 20, 9680-146 Vila Franca do Campo.

BookNoFees: Example photo: Grilled tuna steak with salad and lemon

Adega Caloura

Água de Pau

Example photo of the cuisine — not photographed at this venue Adriano Bragi / Pexels

Rua da Caloura 15, 9560-206 Água de Pau

+351935614425

Adega Caloura is a restaurant in an old wine cellar in Caloura, the fishing hamlet below Água de Pau where the vineyards run down to the sea in stone-walled terraces. The vaulted room, the barrels and the candlelight make it the most atmospheric dinner on this stretch of the south coast, and it is small enough that a table is worth reserving. The kitchen is fish and seafood first: grilled tuna and tuna tartare when the boats bring it in, garlic prawns, octopus, with a couple of vegetarian plates and a long list of Azorean and mainland wines to go with the cellar. It opens only in the evening and only on some days of the week, which vary through the year - a phone call before driving down saves a wasted trip.

BookNoFees: Example photo: Whole grilled fish on a white plate

Bar Caloura

Água de Pau

Example photo of the cuisine — not photographed at this venue Masuma Rahaman / Pexels

Rua da Caloura 20, 9560-226 Água de Pau

+351296913283

Bar Caloura sits right on the water at Caloura, the small harbor below Água de Pau on the south coast of São Miguel. It began in the 1980s as the place where the local fishermen met, and it has kept that spirit: informal, with a terrace over the sea where the sound of the waves comes with the meal. The kitchen is about fresh fish and seafood - limpets, prawns and the catch of the day from the grill - alongside Portuguese dishes. The restaurant is accessible by wheelchair, takes reservations and also does takeaway.

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Pérola do Oceano

Água de Pau

Example photo of the cuisine — not photographed at this venue Deane Bayas / Pexels

Rua do Paúl 26, 9560-246 Água de Pau

+351296913161

Pérola do Oceano is a family restaurant in the village of Água de Pau, a few minutes up the hill from Ribeira Chã, where the owner cooks and the dining room is papered with postcards, photographs and notes left by guests from all over the world - the decoration has grown for years and is half the reason people come back. The food is Azorean home cooking, unfussy and generous: fried chicharros, the small mackerel of the islands, baked octopus, crab and fried prawns to start, a grilled beef tenderloin for those who want meat, and for dessert bean pudding or the house ice cream. Prices are village prices. It suits a family evening more than a formal one.

BookNoFees: Example photo: Grilled steak served with vegetables

Restaurante O Silva

Ribeira Grande · German home cooking · Fish and seafood · Lunch

Example photo of the cuisine — not photographed at this venue Vladimir Gladkov / Pexels

Rua Direita de Cima 41, 9600-221 Ribeira Grande

+351917725881

Mon Closed; Tue 12:00–15:00, 18:45–22:00; Wed 12:00–15:00, 18:45–22:00; Thu 12:00–15:00, 18:45–22:00; Fri 12:00–15:00, 18:45–22:00; Sat 12:00–15:00, 18:45–22:00; Sun 12:00–15:00

O Silva has been cooking on the Rua Direita de Cima in Ribeira Grande since 1979 — more than forty years of the same kitchen, run on family recipes handed down through the generations. Regional character, tradition and freshness are the three things the house names for itself, in that order. It is unusually specific about what it is known for, which saves a visitor guessing. The famous dish is the Bife à Silva. Then there is arroz de cherne com miolo de camarão — wreckfish rice with shrimp — the espetada de cherne com camarão, cavaco, and filetes de abrótea, fillets of forkbeard. Cherne and abrótea are deep-water fish of these islands and are not things you will have eaten at home. Food is also prepared to take away, which the house calls flavours at home. It is closed on Monday. Tuesday to Saturday it serves lunch from midday to three and dinner from a quarter to seven until ten; on Sunday there is lunch only. The Rua Direita de Cima runs through the old centre of Ribeira Grande, the island's second town, on the north coast about forty minutes from Ribeira Chã. The drive crosses the middle of São Miguel over the ridge, past the Lagoa do Fogo, which makes the journey there worth as much as the meal at the end of it. You will find O Silva at Rua Direita de Cima 41, 9600-221 Ribeira Grande.

Alabote

Ribeira Grande · Fish and seafood · Vegetarian · Vegan

Example photo of the cuisine — not photographed at this venue Adriano Bragi / Pexels

Rua East Providence 68, 9600-524 Ribeira Grande

+351296473516

Mon 12:00–15:30, 19:00–22:00; Tue 12:00–15:30, 19:00–22:00; Wed Closed; Thu 12:00–15:30, 19:00–22:00; Fri 12:00–15:30, 19:00–22:00; Sat 12:00–15:30, 19:00–22:00; Sun 12:00–15:30, 19:00–22:00

Alabote stands on the Rua East Providence in Ribeira Grande, on the north coast of São Miguel. The building is the first thing the house talks about: an architecture built to hold contemporary, functional construction and the landscape together rather than to shut one out of the other, with the sunset as part of what you are there for. Fresh fish is what it stakes its name on — the best of the Azorean sea, as the house puts it, cooked carefully. An alabote is a halibut, so the name says the same thing. What sets it apart from most restaurants on the island is the breadth of the menu. Alongside meat and fish there are vegetarian and vegan dishes as a proper part of the card, and the traditional Azorean repertoire is kept as well. In an archipelago whose cooking runs on beef, pork and fish, a kitchen that treats a vegan diner as a guest rather than a problem is worth knowing about in advance. Service is in two sittings — midday to half past three, then seven to ten — and it is closed on Wednesday. Ribeira Grande is the island's second town, about twenty minutes over the ridge from Ponta Delgada and forty from Ribeira Chã. You will find Alabote at Rua East Providence 68, 9600-524 Ribeira Grande.

Louvre Michaelense

Ponta Delgada · Cafe · Lunch · Dinner

Example photo of the cuisine — not photographed at this venue Mikhail Nilov / Pexels

Rua Antonio Jose DAlmeida 8, 9500-053 Ponta Delgada

+351938346886

Mon 11:00–00:00; Tue 11:00–00:00; Wed Closed; Thu 11:00–00:00; Fri 11:00–00:00; Sat 11:00–00:00; Sun 11:00–00:00

Louvre Michaelense stands on the Rua António José d'Almeida in the middle of Ponta Delgada, the capital of São Miguel. The house keeps no website, so nothing here describes what it serves; what can be set down is the address, the hours and the name. The name is worth a sentence. Michaelense is the adjective for São Miguel — a person or a thing of this island — so the house calls itself the island's Louvre, which is a large claim made with a straight face and tells you it is a room that holds things as much as it is a place to sit. The hours describe an all-day room rather than a restaurant with services: eleven in the morning until midnight, without a break, six days a week. It is closed on Wednesday, which is the one thing to plan around. Thirteen hours in a stretch means a coffee at three in the afternoon and something at eleven at night are equally possible, and in a town where most kitchens shut between lunch and dinner that is the point. Ponta Delgada is about half an hour west of Ribeira Chã along the south coast, and this street is in the old centre, a few minutes from the harbour front and the city gates. You will find Louvre Michaelense at Rua António José d'Almeida 8, 9500-053 Ponta Delgada.

BookNoFees: Example photo: Fried calamari rings with salad and dipping sauce

Soun Cafe and Restaurant

Serrekunda · German home cooking · Breakfast · Lunch

Example photo of the cuisine — not photographed at this venue Farhad Ibrahimzade / Pexels

Bertil Harding Highway 7, Serrekunda

+2202335847

Mon 07:30–23:00; Tue 07:30–23:00; Wed 07:30–23:00; Thu 07:30–23:00; Fri 07:30–23:00; Sat 08:30–23:00; Sun 08:30–23:00

Soun is a café and restaurant on the Bertil Harding Highway, the coast road that runs along the Gambian Atlantic shore. It describes what it does as breakfast, brunch and beyond — Afro-fusion cooking with a nostalgic Gambian flair. The name carries the whole idea and the house explains it. Soun comes from the Wolof word souna, a variety of local millet, and it honours Joyce's grandmother, Kumba Soun Sanneh, who was born in the souna harvest season. A restaurant named after a grain and a grandmother is telling you where its cooking is rooted before you read a single dish. My Gambia Magazine described the room as a fusion of flavours with a welcoming atmosphere, warm lights, soft music and staff dressed to match the decor — every part of it, they wrote, reflecting Joyce's commitment. The kitchen keeps separate cards for breakfast, for lunch and dinner, and for drinks. It opens at half past seven in the morning on weekdays and half past eight at the weekend, running to eleven at night every day with no closing day. The coast road connects Bijilo, Kololi and Serrekunda, so this is a few minutes from the beach hotels and from the Bijilo Forest Park, where the red colobus monkeys come down to the path. Serrekunda is the largest town in the Gambia, considerably bigger than the capital, and the coastal strip below it is where almost everything a visitor uses sits. You will find Soun at Bertil Harding Highway 7, Serrekunda, Gambia.

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Restaurants, cafés and bakeries in Costa Calma

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