Village life in Andalucia

I am going to share with you the well kept secret of one of the best restaraunts in the Axarquia. Its called “El Acebuchal” and it’s in the village of that name, between the villages of Frigliana and Competa. the village was decimated by Franco because it was a centre for the resistance under the dictatorship. The villagers were turned out of their homes to fend for themselves and the village rendered uninhabitable by the police.

A few years ago the son and grandson of one of the families revisited the village and began to renovate the buildings. “El Acebuchal” is part of that project.

The food can best be described as “slow”. It consists of a selection of slow cooked casseroles. It features chicken, rabbit and lamb, plus locally sourced game – typically red legged partridge and wild boar. Potatoes are slow braised. There are also locally sourced vegetables in season, slow cooked and delicious. The spicing is Moorish. Saffron, mint, cumin and garlic, the stock thickened with almond.

We took our son Stan there. Stan is a French trained chef. Stan and I had the “Jalabi” (wild boar). We were served with a huge plate each, which we could hardly eat. Flavoured with cumin, saffron and garlic and thickened with ground almonds it was delicious. The spicy heat was black pepper rather than paprika – an authentic moorish touch. We could have shared a single plate.  Judy had the lamb. It was lamb scrag, spiced with fresh mint garlic and saffron and thickened with almonds. We ordered a side dish of potatoes, slow cooked with onions, in water olive oil and garlic in the oven. Superb. We had the vegetable of the day – pumpkin, similarly spiced and slow cooked, and a huge portion. We would have followed up with some fresh fig ice cream, but the waiter cum maitre d’hote cum chef had to whip down to the coast to the bar that actually makes money, where he was due to do a shift.

The El Acebuchal is open 1pm to 4pm every day except Monday. Go there. Its a couple of miles down a dirt track. You think you are lost. You aren’t. You are heading in the direction of a great meal. For clear directions see http://www.elacebuchal.es or info@elacebuchal.es. GO TODAY! (unless its Monday!)