Jon Clarke (Publisher & Editor)
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.
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.
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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