20 Jun, 2021 @ 10:30
1 min read

Garden of Eden: The young team at Marbella’s Cascada are carving out an exciting, healthy dining secret

Cascada 1

YOU would be hard pressed to find a more alluring location for a restaurant.

Sitting beside a bubbling brook in an almost tropical valley above Marbella, Cascada is one special place to eat.

A true garden of Eden, Cascada (meaning ‘waterfall’) is hidden up a track surrounded by woodland full of birds and crickets.

You arrive at a charming candle-lit terrace in the evenings, bedecked with bougainvillea and geraniums and inside a contemporary space, ideal for colder nights or boiling days.

Cascada 1
A true garden of Eden, Cascada (meaning ‘waterfall’) is hidden up a track surrounded by woodland full of birds and crickets.

While short, the menu is as exciting for vegetarians as it is for meat-eaters like me, with a heavy focus on good, local ingredients. In fact, some friends reckoned it was the best vegetarian food they had eaten in Marbella ‘for years’.

Chosen by a committee made up of its young well-travelled owners Max and Ben, who herald from France and Belgium, and their chef Jacques Marie Lagarde, it has a really good mix of dishes.

Cascada 4
Such attention to detail goes into each dish, creating a feast for both the eyes and the stomach!

It was clear things were being taken seriously when I heard Jacques giving his team their marching orders, Gordon Ramsey-style, on the pass inside.

And you certainly couldn’t fault him for presentation and timing-wise everything came together like a military operation.

I particularly liked the prawn and guacamole tacos, which came in a BBQ sauce and were gluten-free to boot.

The local Coin salad had a bit of everything, while the aubergines served on a blue cheese mousse with beetroot and cane honey were legendary.

The pluma Iberica main was also delicious although the baked kid on the BBQ was really special.

Max, who grew up in Asia, later told me their philosophy was ‘simplicity is the ultimate sophistication’ and that just about sums it up perfectly. 

Visit www.cascadamarbella.com for more information

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Jon Clarke (Publisher & Editor)

Jon Clarke is a Londoner who worked at the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday as an investigative journalist before moving to Spain in 2003 where he helped set up the Olive Press.

After studying Geography at Manchester University he fell in love with Spain during a two-year stint teaching English in Madrid.

On returning to London, he studied journalism and landed his first job at the weekly Informer newspaper in Teddington, covering hundreds of stories in areas including Hounslow, Richmond and Harrow.

This led on to work at the Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Mirror, Standard and even the Sun, before he landed his first full time job at the Daily Mail.

After a year on the Newsdesk he worked as a Showbiz correspondent covering mostly music, including the rise of the Spice Girls, the rivalry between Oasis and Blur and interviewed many famous musicians such as Joe Strummer and Ray Manzarak, as well as Peter Gabriel and Bjorn from Abba on his own private island.

After a year as the News Editor at the UK’s largest-selling magazine Now, he returned to work as an investigative journalist in Features at the Mail on Sunday.

As well as tracking down Jimi Hendrix’ sole living heir in Sweden, while there he also helped lead the initial investigation into Prince Andrew’s seedy links to Jeffrey Epstein during three trips to America.

He had dozens of exclusive stories, while his travel writing took him to Jamaica, Brazil and Belarus.

He is the author of three books; Costa Killer, Dining Secrets of Andalucia and My Search for Madeleine.

Contact jon@theolivepress.es

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