With Spain winning the World Cup (at football, I believe, if it is not rugby or cricket sports wise I am not that interested to be honest) I thought it rather apt to put up a post on a meal in Spain, a place I have long loved with a passion, which expands it not just to the World but beyond with my restaurant choice of La Cosmo (with one meaning of Cosmos in Spanish being the  Universe I believe, but more on the duality of the meaning of the word later).

I have what I regard as a second family in Spain, all living in or around Malaga, with one of them (Pepa) having looked after (as an au pair) my sister and I as children whilst she was over here learning English. Post her going back to Spain my parents kept in touch and over the years we have came to think of her and her family (Mamá and Papa, Pepa and 4 other sisters, the youngest closest to my age) as an extension of our family (and I think they think of us in much the same way). I always referred to one of the 5 sisters (sadly no longer with us anymore) as “Mi Prima” (my cousin – she spoke very little English and I spoke very little Spanish, but we were somehow able to effectively  communicate seemingly telepathically) which always felt right (despite her not being an actual relation).

I have fond memories of sitting for hours keeping Inma (the youngest sister) company, whilst she performed (hated by her at the time) her turn in manning the family shop, which seemed to sell everything known to man (I need 25 grams of Astatine, OK just let me check out back. Oh sorry we only have 24 grams will that do?), where we would sit on the step outside eating enormous amounts of pipas (sunflower seeds) between customers and of getting back from the pub at 07.00 having picked up bread from the baker on the way home, with me then surfacing at about 12.00 with Mamá (who clearly thought I was far too thin and thus was intent on fattening me up) immediately presenting me with a beer, jamon and/or tortilla (I mean heaven or what)!

This perhaps explains my enduring love of all things Spanish!

There have been many happy visits by us to them and visa versa over the many years, since Pepa first came to the UK, but for various reasons (the plague et al) it had been far too long since we had seen them (shamefully last time was when Mrs. SF and I visited Corboda) and thus Mrs. SF and I decided to take my Mum over to see them, with us all immediately acting like we had never been apart!

We had some on our own time to mooch around Malaga, whilst the Spaniards had to do pesky stuff like work, which included trips to the Picasso and the Thyssen museums (both good, but preferred the latter)

and me hunting for Andulusian wines to add to the line up I am putting together   for a tasting I am doing in Bristol in September

As it was me, we also filled this spare time with eating, with me being particularly keen to try a place called La Cosmo (this name rather confused me, as I try very slowly and painfully to learn Spanish, as isn’t it a masculine ending so why preface it with La – Google tells me it is because Cosmo here is actually short for cosmopolita, but Cosmo(s) is a stand alone word with a different meaning and is masculine isn’t!? Same with la mano!) which had been recommended by people whose food opinions I trust.

Rather unassuming from the outside (I walked past it, twice),

we were initially seated inside which gave a nice view of the open kitchen

The high stools, however, weren’t great for my mum or indeed me with my innate clumsiness as I am predisposed to exaggerated hand gestures and thus   feared I would at some point over do it and careen over the low back.  We therefore asked to sit outside, which was much more relaxing (with proper chairs).

The menu is on one of those QR code things on the table, much prefer a physical menu to be honest but I am a luddite,

and the food offering operates on a sharing basis (dishes arrive as and when they are ready and you collectively tuck into whatever arrives first rather than awaiting your dish). Having said that there was a clear (and logical) structure as to how the dishes came out (once you accept you are going to be sharing stuff).

Mrs. SF hates sharing with me as she maintains, entirely fairly, that I am a greedy git.  My Mum tends to be more robust in telling me off, so her presence tempered that trait in me somewhat (not much if truth be told) this time.

Good looking menu I though, with choosing tricky.

Lots of stuff that I really wanted with nothing on the menu I didn’t want (Mrs. SF absolutely forbade me from ordering either the Frank Sinatra , for her “no bloody way” rather than “my way“, tripe or the snails  – Spanish Mamá use to do a cracking  snails in a spicy green sauce dish that I loved and which absolutely horrified Mrs. SF).

As we persued the menu, a nicely chilled glass of El Maestro fino (£6) went down a treat.

Gildas always remind me of happy days (stuffing my face) in Pais Vasco/Euskadi and as a results it is a mandatory order if I see it on the menu (see other week’s post on Kindred who do a good gilda in Cardiff).

Here they had jazzed up their gildas (€7 a pop I think) a bit with the addition of raw tuna belly and roasted tomatoes.

I love the mix of salt, sour, sweet and spicey heat you get from the trad. gildas with the piparras (long Basque pickled peppers), olives and anchovy combo, but the adding of the meaty almost buttery tuna belly and intense sweetness of the roasted tomatoes really lifted this to the next level with umami to the max. It was topped off with a slick of top quality grassy, peppery, olive oil.

I often rile against messing with classic dishes, but this really worked.

Next up was another riff on a Spanish classic, in the form of ensalada rusa, with their La Ensalada (€14).

Here they made use of hake in place of the usual tuna and green beans as the veg element.

The key (for me) in any ensalada rusa is not to overdo the mayonnaise (which can make it a bit gloopy and cloying) and with the more delicate flavour of hake this became ever more imperative here. What we had here was more a light emulsion that blanketed nicely seasoned crushed potatoes and generous flakes of hake. Texture was provided by the crunch from barely cooked slices of green bean (blanched at most I would say). This meant the slightly mild flavour of the hake wasn’t overpowered. Enjoyed this, but it was probably my least favourite dish of the meal (the bar was pretty high mind).

Carbonara is a dish that is constantly f’ffed up and additions/changes made for no reason, so I was curious and ready to rage at this dish on the menu. As I love a good old moan, I had to order it.

What came wasn’t a carbonara by any stretch of the imagination (regardless of the heretical leek centre piece)

but boy was it good.

I don’t know how long and with/in what they cooked the leek, but it was almost buttery in its softness yet retained an allium bite and a pleasing lick of smoke. The sauce was rich and full of flavour without overpowering the centrepiece leek. A positive drift of gran padano added a pleasing hit of salty nuttiness to the dish. Not a carbonara, but what it was was a cracking dish. A real showcase for the humble leek.

Next up we moved on to a fish dish in the form of the whole deep fried seabass (€26).

The majority of the fish had mainly been cut into cubes with crispy skin and what they described as a Japanese gazpacho (which I though had more than a hint of sweet and sour sauce to it, but was none the worse for that). There was also plenty of fish left on the bone of what was a very decent sized portion. I called dibs on the cheeks (best bit of many a fish in my opinion). 

Another really good dish this, which was a perfect size to share between 3 of us. This is currently my top fish dish of the year. 

The final dish was a big bugger of a beef number (€28),

with cubes of nicely cooked  good quality sirlion (good crust and ruby red interior), mini jacket potatoes  and a mousseline sauce.  I had doubts about the latter, it being a variant of hollandaise sauce. I wondered if it would be a tad delicate for beef, but it actually held it own, with a  nicely smokiness to the jacket spuds the mousseline sauce sat on. It all sat in a rich, winey, sauce. Despite the robust portion size and us having eaten a lot already, it disappeared very quickly.

Again a really good dish, although bested by the seabass in this instance.

For pud, the menu again looked to have plenty of stuff of interest 

with the pear tartin rather tempting me (especially as I wasn’t paying).

I had, however, hear very good things about the flan.

What I would call a creme caramel that had a distinct taste of buttered popcorn, this was a rather delightful way to end the meal

On the booze front, the list (via the QR code – grrrr- again) was short but not without interest.

The somewhat diverse nature of the dishes we ordered make choosing one wine a challenge

I, however, spied an old favourite in the form of an Allende Blanco (a predominately viura, with just a dribble of malvasia, based white rioja).

Lovely drop this, which was €50 (Blacklock do it for £69 which equates to about €80) with it retailing for about £25 in UK and same in Euros in Spain. 

Orchard fruits, citrus and a minerality on the nose and on the palate, you got more of the same with a lovely creaminess and a long finish. Touch of spice at the end and good acidity made this is an excellent food wine, that worked with pretty much all the dishes (struggled a tad with the sirloin and I should have probably ordered a glass of ted with that,  but hey ho).

The verdict

La Cosmo is a really nice restaurant, with excellent food and a nice relaxed vibe. Service was very good, being knowledgeable and engaging (there when needed but not obtrusive and very tolerant of my pigdin Spanish). If you looking for a good meal in Malaga you should definitely have this ppace on you list.

As it was my birthday that day, Mrs. SF and my Mum rather nicely insisted on treating me to this meal and as such I didn’t pay. The bill was (I think) around €230 (so pretty much £200) which include an aperitif each, loads of food, a good bottle of wine, coffees all round and a tip. Not cheap, but for what we got I thought it very good bang for their buck.

I finally word on wine prices. We had a lovely meal in another place called Uvedoble

and I noted that the Tadeo (a very good local 100% Petit Verdot wine) on their list was €44 (bottom right picture in the collage above).

Now I know that this wine is around €40 retail in Spain (in UK about £46/€54) as I bought some to bring back home. My question is how is this possible in Spain as against the standard level of UK mark ups? VAT and wine duty differences may  accounts for a bit of it, but the rest?

The details

Address: C./ Císter, 11. 29005 Málaga

Website: https://www.lacosmo.es/

Opening hours: