Brasa y Salsardines, olive-wood embers and the sea

Six sardines, one cane, and the embers of a boat.

In Málaga they say sardines are for the months without an R. From May to August the sardine is fat, and the espeto is at its best.

The espeto was born on the beaches of El Palo more than a century ago: fishermen threaded sardines onto a cane, pushed it into the sand beside the embers and let the heat, not the flame, do the work. We do it the same way, in an old boat filled with sand, over olive wood, with coarse salt. Nothing else.

The rest of the menu comes off the same coals and from Marbella's fish market: whatever came in that day.

The boat, the cane and the embers. Just as in El Palo a hundred years ago.

On La Bajadilla, beside the fishing port.

Ten minutes' walk east from the old town along the promenade. Public parking at the fishing port, two hundred metres away. L-1 bus stop on Avenida Severo Ochoa.

Terrace and sand open all year unless there's a storm. Dogs are welcome on the terrace.