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On a recent visit to Lima in Peru I enjoyed a wonderful meal with my Peruvian friends, family and collegues at ´The Rosa Nautica¨. This restaurant must be one of the most famous landmarks in Lima due to its location, a pier stretching out into the Pacific Oceon. The entire pier is owned by the restaurant, which is situated right at the end with fantastic views of the oceon. Along the pier are small kiosk-style shops selling craftwork, clothes and souvenirs of Peru.

Upon entering the restaurant, the customer is greeted by what may be described as a stylish tradicional hotel  grill decor.

With chandeliers hanging in the main hall and in the smaller salons for private parties, you cannot help but feel you have just walked into a 5 star hotel grill.

We were greeted by the maitre d’ and 3 waiters who showed us to our prepared table. After ordering an aperitif (pisco sour being the most popular) we studied the menu. The theme was a variety of fish dishes all prepared in quite distinct ways.  Meat dishes were available but of a more regular preparation.

As a starter I ordered a Peruvian favourite of mine, chupe de camarones, which is a prawn soup, but not as Europeans are used to.

The waiters cleared the plates then arrived with a lemon jello to clean our pallets;  the wine was served which we had chosen earlier. A small wine cellar yet a perfect selection covering over 11 countries.

The main course arrived of corbina served with a herb, lemon and garlic sauce accompanied with seasonal veg and papas (peruvian yellow potatoes).  A perfect choice I decided later.

Although I do not eat desert my companions’ choices looked wonderful. All in-house prepared and with a style that should win the best decoration prize.

Whilst dining we were constantly watching the ocean as we heared the waves lapping on the legs of the pier. Fishing boats leaving for the night, dolphins peaking their heads out of the water every so often and the scores of fish so visible in the clear waters.

A remarkable and memorable experience. Price wise, nothing!!  Bearing in mind that South America is somewhat cheaper than Europe or the USA. For 14 of us – starter, main course, desert, aperitifs, imported wine and coffee, plus one or two drinks at the bar,  the price per head was 35€.

The food, service, ambience and price I found to be superb and would suggest anyone visiting Lima not to miss out on this restaurant.

The Rosa Nautica,
Espigón 4,
Circuito de Playas,
Miraflores, Lima

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My long-standing good friends, Ian and Mary, took me out for a surprise lunch on my birthday. We drove the coastal scenic route to La Herradura, and then up the rugged mountain road to the Mirador de Cerro Gordo – a restaurant perched in the cliffs 200 metres above sea level and in the middle of the protected natural park of Cerro Gordo. The views were breath-taking, and the air fresh with the scent of pine trees, natural flowers and herbs.

We sat at a comfortable table outdoors so we could look at the scenery whilst we ate. We each chose one of the Gourmet Sandwiches available on the lunch-time menu. These sandwiches are made with ciabatta bread and served with a cup of home-made thick chips and alioli. The sandwich filling of my choice was the home-marinated salmon with cucumber, crisp lettuce and black pepper. Mary chose the peeled prawns with cucumber and a Marie Rose dressing; Ian had the warm, griddled breast of chicken with salad and a mustard mayonnaise. The Gourmet Sandwiches cost 6 euros each which at first I thought was a bit pricey for a sandwich, but then concluded that it was worth the price after I realised how filling and delicious the sandwich was. The other lunch-time menu option was Mixed Tapas – which has to be ordered for a minimum of 2 people -  also served with ciabatta bread, and consisting of such delicacies as smoked duck, Serrano ham, gravalax, etc. Ian had just about enough room for a delicious dessert afterwards:  sticky toffee pudding with hot toffee sauce and toasted nuts.

A truly wonderful lunch set in a unique relaxing setting, with friendly service and gourmet food. As an added bonus, the restaurant comes complete with its own pet black squirrel, “Lady Lucille” who jumps outdoors from tree to tree, occasionally landing on the straw shades above diners!

The occasion was an experience I would most definitely like to repeat. If you plan to visit this restaurant in the evening I would recommend booking a table in advance. They also cater for celebration parties and weddings. More information is available on the restaurant’s website, including their menus and some tasty-sounding recipes.

For keen walkers there is a rugged path beside the restaurant which leads to the Cerro Gordo Tower; for naturists there is another path which takes you down to the Cantarrijan naturist beach.

Mirador de Cerro Gordo; Ctra vieja de Malaga
Tel: 958 349 099
Email: reservations@miradorcerrogordo.com
Website: http://www.miradorcerrogordo.com

GPS: N36° 43.940 W003° 46.055

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A new initiative for people who like to eat out, but cannot afford to eat out as much as they would like to, has been brought to the clients within the Axarquia area. This is likely to grow in popularity very quickly as the concept catches on; it has been introduced by Dinner4two.

Essentially, people will be able to buy dinner for two and eat out once a month for 60 Euros including wine.  Participating restaurants will provide a good menu for this price and the couple will just present a card to the restaurant.  The bill will be paid by the Dinner for two association.  The dining couple just pay the one-off fee of 100 Euros, and they have paid in advance for six meals out for two persons.

Although this is in its early stages, it is planned to have a string of restaurants of high standard along the coast from Benejarafe to La Heradura and from the coast up to Frigiliana, Vinuela, Periana etc.

Originally conceived as an idea to help pensioners who perhaps can’t afford to dine out as often as they would have wished, it was later decided to to open the scheme to everyone who likes to eat out with friends and make the whole scheme very affordable.

For more information  just click here

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This is a tourist complex but has a very good restaurant open to non-residents. Food is good, but pricing could be a little more competitive.

What another visitor had to say:-

“We stayed at Cantueso in June this year. It is a beautiful and peaceful place which has the added benefit of a brilliant restaurant just steps from the cottages.”

The GPS location is:  Lat 36 55 30 N, Long: 04 10 24 W
IARU Locator: IM76VW

Address is: Camino del Estacion, 29710 Periana, Spain

Telephone: (0034) 699 946 213
E-mail: info@cantueso.net

Location maps are shown on the restaurant’s website: cantueso.net

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I set off from Velez-Malaga full of anticipation at enjoying an evening with friends at the Bistro.  Of course, completely in character, I managed to get lost even though I was using SatNav to find the place.  Eventually some charming Spanish people gave me directions and I arrived to find an entertainer with a wonderful singing away.  As my eyes slowly adjusted to the subdued lighting I gradually recognized friends that I had not seen for a while and I was pleased to find that although I was about thirty minutes late, nobody had started to eat yet.  In fact orders had not been taken.

The ambiance was really nice and I was quickly into the spirit of the evening.  Everyone was out to have an enjoyable evening and the entertainment was very good.  I had decided that I would wait until after the first course before asking anyone to have a dance but it was not very long before a couple broke the ice and were showing us how it was done as they strutted their stuff on the dance floor.  The dance area was not very big and the more flamboyant amongst us were going to find it just a little restrictive.  However as the evening wore on it soon became clear that close proximity to others was not going to inhibit some of the ladies who gracefully demonstrated, even with the constraints of the dance floor, they could perform some amazing and ingenious dips and twirls.

As the food arrived and served with impeccable style, I became more engaged in the interesting conversations around me and the food was everything one could wish for.   I had elected to start with a tuna salad and it was a fresh well balance starter with just the right amount of fish and salad that had not been overwhelmed by lettuce.  This was helped by a generous helping of red wine from my friends,  Steve and Carol.  As I had decided to be very sparing in the amount of alcohol that I consumed this was sufficient for the whole evening.

Of course, as this was a dinner dance evening, each course was followed by a dance or two or three.  This was definitely an evening where you could burn off your calories as you consumed them.

I had elected to have the chicken in mushroom sauce as my main course and I was served with a generous helping which kept me from dancing for about thirty minutes unlike some of my table companions who were were much quicker off the mark and had eaten their meal and were dancing the night away with enthusiasm.  (I did not know that anyone could eat that quickly.)

The desserts arrived and mine was waiting for me as I came off the dance floor.

Eventually, the singer had decided that he had entertained us long enough and bade us goodnight.  He was generous enough to concede an encore and sang us one more song and then it was time to thank the organizers and be on our way at something like 12.45.  However, not before the restaurateur had played us a song with his guitar.  It was a little while before we realized that it was the song about living next door to Alice.  Some of my friends were quite  imaginative with the  wording.

We made our way to our respective cars and prepared to go home, knowing that we would really like to revisit the restaurant, having had a really good night out.

The whole evening was organized by Tony and Judith from Move to the music If you ever fancy a good night out dancing then try them.  Good music, good dancing and very good company.  Note:  They have changed their venue.

Bistro The Gallery,Avenida Del Prado 4, Aloha
29660  Nueva Andalucia, Marbella

Telephone 952 818 262
Mobile 661 826 652

For those of you with GPS you can find it at:-

36°30’1.17″N  4°57’35.95W

Posted under Restaurant Reviews