WOW! SPANISH IN SOTOGRANDE!

I rarely write a restaurant review for two main reasons. First I am too busy enjoying the food, wine, company and ambience to be jotting down notes. Secondly I have colleagues who write excellent reviews so am happy to leave the chore to them.

I am not going to write a strict review today either. I am going to dwell on food and a new restaurant but what interests me most is how the restaurant came to be.

Now it is well known that in various Costa resorts there are so many British and Northern European bars that you’d scarcely know you were in Spain. In contrast Sotogrande is a luxury urbanisation where the nation’s great and good and politicians come to rest their weary bodies in the summer months. Yet incredibly in Sotogrande Port whilst they have an Irish and English bar/restaurant, a Belgian eatery and international cuisine there has not been a high class Spanish restaurant – till now.

Step forward Adrian Van Loon who has been an estate agent in Sotogrande for more years than it would be polite for me to mention and who also has bravely fought to bring culture to this sun-kissed paradise – and battles on still.

Adrian’s old office has been sitting empty for a while in the heart of the port and he wanted to rent it as a restaurant. Various Argentinean and Italian restaurateurs approached him to take over the site but Adrian rebuffed them all – a brave move in this economic climate. He felt it was important that this idyllic corner of Spain actually had a Spanish restaurant.

His wait was rewarded because recently opened was La Taberna owned by Luis González Sánchez who hails from Toledo and Teresa García Ruíz who is from Sevilla. They had run the Triana Bar in central Madrid for a number of years which had become famous amongst the flamenco fraternity.

La Taberna has a large bar and terrace with a wide range of tapas and also a restaurant with an amazing ceiling probably only rivalled by the Sistine Chapel! The food is heavenly too –classic Spanish dishes with many roast lamb and sucking pig dishes cooked in the traditional styles of Castile-León.

I am not going to review the food because the menu is always changing but the lamb chops I had and the tuna on Adrian’s plate were excellent and we also sampled a white Rueda D.O. (Verdejo 100%) “Chamelin” (2009), a red Ribera de Duero (Tempranillo) “Conde de Sirvela” (Crianza 2006) and a dessert wine Moscatel espumoso “Reymos” Valencia – which complemented the food perfectly.

So if you are in Sotogrande this summer do head to La Taberna for a splendid meal with a warm welcome. Yes the owners are Spanish but when it comes to good food and wine there is no language barrier!

NO INUNDEN NUESTRO VALLE

“Es correcto, se están llevando a cabo trabajos de prospección de suelo para saber si el lugar reúne las condiciones para construir un pantano, el muro de contención estaría ubicado un poco antes del Dorado, con lo que probablemente el arroyo de las gallinas quedaría inundado.

Desde hace un par de semanas estamos detrás del tema, reuniendoinformación sobre el posible proyecto ya que todo esta bastante oculto y en los boletines oficiales no aparece nada al respecto, con lo que por ahora todo hace indicar que son catas de suelo y mediciones para la viabilidad del proyecto.

La información extraoficial que tenemos es que el agua del pantano estaría destinada a Sotogrande, las urbanizaciones de la costa y el posible campo de golf de san pablo, de todas formas ya hemos informado a los grupos ecologistas para investigar conjuntamente y estar al tanto.”

The above message from Fran Gómez of the Izquierda Unida in Jimena is the news that the residents of Arroyo de las Gallinas did not want to hear. There have been rumours that plans were afoot to turn the valley in to a giant reservoir but until the drilling machines turned up nobody wanted to believe it.

The Arroyo de la Gallinas is a beautiful secluded valley that starts in Gaucín then crosses the boundary between Málaga and Cádiz and runs for several kilometres in Jimena de la Frontera. The plans have been kept secret but the plan is plain enough – to send water to Sotogrande and the Costa del Sol with a large dam wall by the El Dorado farm school.

If the valley is flooded all the people who live and draw their livelihood there will be forced out.

Out will go ‘Capricho’ – a man in his 80s whose family have farmed the valley for generations and live there still.

Out will go ‘Lute’ – who tends thousands of orange trees on large plantations and lives in the valley with his young family.

Out will go Dominic – whose family have lived in the valley for 12 years – he pleads: “I don’t want to loose my home.”

The problem has been the scheme to destroy the valley and their homes has been kept secret - none of those living there have been consulted. The majority are fighting back by withholding permission for the drilling teams to enter their land. Now, with this dreadful scheme made public, they can fight the nameless bureaucrats out in the open.