Algrano, Don Carlos Marbella – Review

Algrano Marbella is the Italian restaurant at Don Carlos Marbella, the landmark resort with a Rafa Nadal tennis academy, set among  Mediterranean pines, in Elviria, east Marbella. After the success of his Barcelona bistros, chef Gabriele Milani has brought his trattoria to the Costa del Sol. Each evening, the hotel’s poolside terrace is home to soulful Italian cuisine.

We arrived on a summer’s evening, as the pines became silhouetted against the sky as it changed from sunset to that seductive, deep blue, with the crickets and cicadas creating the evening’s soundtrack. By day, this space is Sol y Sombra, the hotel’s poolside restaurant. In the evenings character as it transforms to Algrano. Green and white striped tablecloths dress the tables, gently lit with rattan-shaded lamps. Each simple, elegant place setting includes a plate crested with Algrano’s signature wheat ear, playfully echoing the trattoria’s name.

Poolside dining

If you arrive earlier in the evening, expect the last swimmers to be still enjoying the pool while attendants quietly tidy the daybeds in front of you, with glimpses of the sea view between the trees.

As we browsed the menus, we sip cocktails. I get into the Italian state of mind with the Hugo, made of course with Prosecco, elderflower and lime, while my companion tries the signature house Classic Negroni, macerated in amphora. The terracotta vessels, stamped by Mancino Vermouth. There’s a paler version made with white vermouths and St-Germain too.

Sicilian olives, warm focaccia with Ligurian extra virgin olive oil, homemade grissini, and a small dish of shards of Parmigiano Reggiano with acacia honey and truffle are placed on the table. There’s a bottle of Algrano’s own olive oil if you feel tempted for more.

The antipasti are made for sharing. So order a selection. There’s an authentic Bologna IGP mortadella with pistachio and its own warm focaccia, and the burrata from Puglia is served with sun-dried tomato pesto, walnuts and taggiasca olives.

Italian home cooking

For the pasta course, we take our server’s advice and order the Wagyu taccole, fresh pasta in a deep wagyu ragù with spinach, and it’s super. And thankfully served on a properly hot plate, a small detail that too many Italian restaurants outside Italy forget. The shrimp ravioli, filled with ricotta and lemon and finished with red prawns, tomato and a little nduja heat, invites you to mop up the sauce with the bread. The whole baked Mediterranean sea bass with taggiasca olives, capers and cherry tomatoes is a tempting Mediterranean dish made to be shared. We finish with the Algrano tiramisù, a warm chocolate tartlet with hazelnut and vanilla ice cream.

Algrano Barcelona

Algrano began in Barcelona, where Milani made his name in the city’s hotel kitchens before opening his first pasta bistro.

The approach is classic Italian cooking, focusing on fine ingredients and expert technique. They get to the point. After all ‘ir al grano’ in Spanish means exactly that. No overcomplicating things. Expect the pasta to be made fresh every day. Even the name gets to the point, since ‘ir al grano’ in Spanish means exactly that, and the wheat ear appears on everything from the rug at the entrance to the stem of wheat in the little vase on our table.

This is not fancy destination dining. This is relaxed Mediterranean family dining. It makes for a relaxing, satisfying evening. Great to see Italian cuisine having its moment on the Costa del Sol, where so often dinner means immersive cooking from far-flung places like Japan and Peru.

You can choose tables on the covered terrace, with its ceiling fans, or take a table out by the pool, they feel a little quieter and romantic.

Read The Luxury Editor review of Don Carlos Marbella here.

The Luxury Editor dined as a guest of Algrano at Don Carlos Marbella