Walter Finch
IT has fast become one of most popular restaurants in the Port of Estepona.
But the magic behind Pollo de la Mar doesn’t just lie in its secret recipes.
The force that is driving its success is a softly-spoken, twinkly-blue-eyed 26-year-old called Lisanne.
Known as the beaming smile behind the counter, Lisanne has put her heart and soul into the business and its delicious homemade fried chicken.
Running Pollo de la Mar is a dream, she tells the Olive Press as we enjoy the evening sun, because ‘every day is different.’
“One minute I’m serving a customer, another I’m doing the rotas, maybe later I’ll go to a supplier to stock up,” she explains.
“I wake up in the morning and I just don’t know what the day is going to bring.”
But the thing she loves the most? “Chatting with the people that come into the restaurant.”
“Talking with them as they come in and make their orders, feeling part of the community here, saying hi to the people who work in the other businesses. It makes me feel blessed.
“But I also love to be in the kitchen and try out new ideas and experiment with new flavours.”
Little did Lisanne know that when she arrived in Spain four years ago with a qualification in childcare and pedagogy, she would become a fried chicken impresario.
But life has been funny that way, and now the popular figure in the port is recognised around the town as she takes her dog Shanti for walks.
“I am the celebrity chicken girl,” she laughs with that twinkle in her eye.
