Calima, located in Marbella’s Gran Meliá Don Pepe Hotel, has been chosen by the public as the best restaurant in Spain 2007 in the 1st Salsa de Chiles Food Awards, organised by ABC.es.
1st Salsa de Chiles Food Awards
An initiative of ABC.es, through its Salsa de Chiles food blog, edited by the food critic Carlos Maribona, the idea behind the awards is to choose the best Spanish restaurants in the opinion of its readership. There are two awards (public and jury) in each of the five different categories: creative cuisine, traditional cuisine, fast and economic food, best desserts and restaurant of the year.
2007 winners
The jury award in the category “Best Restaurant of the Year” went to Ferran Adria’s El Bulli (Gerona), El Poblet (Alicante) triumphed in the “Creative Cuisine” category, Etxebarri (Vizcaya) won the “Traditional Cuisines” award, Baby Grill Rabaiyat (Madrid) won in the “Fast and Economic Food” category, and El Celler de Can Roca (Gerona) in that of “Best Desserts”. As regards the public awards, Calima (Marbella) was voted as “Best Restaurant of the year”, El Celler de Can Roca (Gerona) came away with the “Creative Cuisine” award, Principe de Viana (Madrid) won in the “Traditional Cuisine” category, Paninoteca D’E (Madrid) was voted the best fast and economic food restaurant, and Casa Gerardo (Asturias) won in the “Best Desserts” category.
More than 10,000 readers voted in this first edition of the Salsa de Chile Food Awards.
Calima
Born in Marbella, Dani Garcia, the young head chef of Calima, first became known when he opened Tragabuches in Ronda (Malaga), which was awarded a Michelin star in 2000, two years after opening. One of Martin Berasategui’s most talented pupils, he started to work for the Sol Melia hotel chain at the end of 2004 as a consultant, before opening Calima in August 2005, the year in which he was chosen as “Chef of the Year” during the congress “Lo mejor de la Gastronomia”, held in San Sebastian. Among other awards, he was chosen as the “Best Chef of the Year” by the Gastronomic Academy of Malaga and by Canal Cocina, as well as receiving the “2006 Best Service Award” from Madrid Fusion. Also in 2006, the International Academy of Gastronomy awarded him the “Best Young Chef” prize.
At Calima, Dani Garcia practises an innovative cuisine strongly associated with traditional Andalusian dishes. This is clearly reflected in the restaurant’s menu, in which the main courses are grouped together by product origin, containing creations as evocative as strawberry gazpacho with fresh cheese and anchovy snow and Malaga ajoblanco with prawn raviolis and herring caviar.
Located in the Gran Melia Don Pepe Hotel, Calima has a dinning room accommodating 40 people, a private dinning room with a capacity of 18, and, weather permitting, a terrace with fabulous views of the Mediterranean.
