A couple of weeks ago we went to a friends house to help him out with some practical things. Before going there, we wanted a bite to eat and we also wanted to check out the promenade by the beach, in particular if shops and chiringuitos were starting to open again. As spring is upon us, and the Covid-19 situation is (slowly) being addressed, we were eager to see if there were any improvements from two weeks ago.
Much to our surprise, the promenade to the East of Puerto Marina was bustling with people! Two weeks ago, almost everything was closed, and there were no definite answers as to when the beachfront shops and restaurants would start to open again.
So we took a stroll along the promenade, trying to find a place we haven’t tried yet, and fell upon “La Mar Bonita”. Sitting basically right on the beach like so many other restaurants in this area, this one appealed to both of us immediately (and we had already spotted a few tables available right on the beach…). It’s always a good sign when you see a chiringuito being almost full, and especially when it’s full of locals. So we hurried inside and got a lounge table in the sand.
Even with almost every table occupied, we were soon attended to by very friendly staff, and ordered a few beers. Only to quench our thirst, mind you… After a while, we remembered that we were actually a bit hungry, so we ordered two small dishes from the menu. Two seafood classics in this part of the world, espetos de sardinas (grilled sardines on a skewer) and gambas pil pil (shrimp in garlic- and chili oil). Both the sardines and the shrimp were delicious, definitely above average (and we’ve tried a lot of them).
On a side note, a news crew from one of the national TV networks was reporting on the state of Covid and the businesses on Costa del Sol right next to us, so we flashed by in the background in the afternoon news! We also tried doing a short live stream on Facebook for fun, you can watch both videos in the bottom of this post.
So, in short, with…
1) friendly staff
2) a prime location and
3) very good food
…you have a pretty good recipe for success, so this is one we are definitely going to keep our eyes on and revisit, to have dinner and try some of their main courses as well. Down below are the links and the location to this little spot.
All the best wishes to you, and we hope to give you a new blog soon!
Nely and Johan
Link: https://facebook.com/ChiringuitoLaMarBonita
Map: https://g.page/LaMarBonita?share
Livestream (pardon the language):
News (there’s a lot of pop-up ads, NOT ours):
