Restaurante Playa Bella: 50 years preserving the essence of traditional Spanish cuisine

Since opening in 1972, Restaurante Playa Bella has kept the tradition of top-quality Spanish cuisine alive – the kind that champions premium ingredients, careful and meticulous preparation and a personalised service for every guest.

Over its half-century journey, it has become a place for generations: many diners first came with their parents or grandparents and now bring their own children. Playa Bella has become part of their gatherings, memories and lives.

With wooden walls, classic tableware, fresh flowers and framed mementoes, Playa Bella has preserved its original charm and identity through the decades. It’s a place where food is more than sustenance – it’s ritual, celebration and reunion.

The warm and deeply human service, which has fostered a long-standing bond with many customers, completes a culinary experience grounded in the traditions, gestures and pace of classic Spanish cooking. “What you see on the menu has been prepared the same way for over 50 years because it works,” the owners stress.

On the menu, diners will find carefully prepared starters such as gratinated spinach crepe, avocados with prawns, melon in port with grated coconut or fresh asparagus with ham.

Hearty spoon dishes are another of Playa Bella’s specialities, including lobster cream soup, gratinated onion soup and their delicately prepared seafood bisque.

Some of the most popular mains among regulars are the grilled beef sirloin, green pepper entrecôte, milk-fed lamb chops and the superb grilled beef chop (850g).

As a restaurant with a clear passion for the sea, Playa Bella also offers an excellent selection of fish and seafood. Highlights include grilled monkfish with king prawns and garlic, John Dory with pil pil king prawns, fresh sea bass, gratinated sole fillet with prawns and seafood, gratinated seafood crepe and salmon stuffed with spinach.

The house specialities also stand out, with dishes such as gratinated aubergines stuffed with beef sirloin and vegetables in natural tomato sauce, gratinated shellfish in scallop shells, scrambled eggs with Burgos black pudding and pine nuts, beef sirloin meatballs in homemade tomato sauce with chips and beef sirloin with fresh foie and Pedro Ximénez sauce. Although its most famous specialty is its succulent suckling pig.

Always looking to delight its loyal guests with fresh ideas while staying true to its roots, this season Restaurante Playa Bella has introduced a new wine cellar, featuring outstanding selections from a wide range of designations of origin.

More information:

Address: N-340, Km. 162, 29680 Estepona, Málaga.

Hours: Monday to Saturday: Open from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.

Sundays: 1:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. / 7:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.

Wednesday : Closed all day.

Telephone: 952 80 16 45

Web: restauranteplayabella.com