Los Delfines is situated in the prime position in the rather tacky yet self-anointed "best marina in the world". It's the last building at the end of the harbour wall, at the intersection point between Benalmadena and Torremolinos.
Normally restaurants attached to boat clubs attract the yachting crowd and as a result a healthy marina tax gets added to food and drink prices, but that is not the case here. Every time I've walked past it's been rammed full of down to earth locals enjoying really fresh local and inexpensive seafood. I've always wanted to try it, but the blonde (*doffs cap to A.A. Gill) has always rejected it on the grounds that despite it's prime and extreme position, the view you have whilst dining on its terrace is that of a 6 foot concrete harbour wall, rather than the beautiful green Mediterranean. To be honest, this attracted me even more, as given the proliferation of restaurants on this stretch of the coastline with absolutely uninterrupted views of the Med, you have to infer that Los Defines must be doing something right for it to be so popular.
I'd got a few days sans-blonde, so now was the ideal opportunity to give Los Delfines a go. (I nearly put sin-blonde, but let's stick with the French for now, as this whole blonde sobriquet is probably gonna get me in enough trouble anyway)
The menu is the pretty standard offer of shellfish and seafood, but they also have a good range of tapas too. I just opted for a main course, and decided to have the turbot as they offered as a whole fish for just €15 when normally you have to buy it by the weight.
The flatfish of the Mediterranean do tend to be smaller and less impressive than their North Atlantic counterparts and clearly at €15 this wasn't going to compare to the (**wanky foodie name dropper alert) turbot we'd tried at Elkano or the even more amazing sole at Ibai in the Basque region, but as I was eating alone, a smaller specimen suited just fine. Oddly enough the best turbot I have ever had in Andalusia was at an altitude of 2000m at La Lonja in the Sierra Nevada, where you really have to suspend disbelief at how fresh and good their seafood is, particularly as I believe their turbot was sourced from Northern Spain too.
I had the turbot cooked a la plancha (on the hot plate), which is my favourite method as you end up with a crispy and tasty skin, something that you don't get if the fish is filleted or served a la sal (in salt). If you are having a big enough fish (750g+, I'd say), then you can have it cooked espalda (as long as its not a flat fish). Espalda means back in Spanish, and this method involves the fish being cut in half along its backbone and cooked butterfly style on the plancha. This means you end up with four crispy/tasty sides (two skin and two flesh). Another cooking method typically used by the chiringuitos is espeto (which means skewered) and then barbecued over wood, but sometimes I find this method leaves the skin tasting a little burnt and the smokiness can detract a little from the purity of taste of the beautiful white flesh. That said, I do love oilier/darker fishes espeto'ed like the omnipresent sardines. Ahhhh... a moment of reflection, that you know it's pretty good day, when the most difficult decision you need to make is how to have your fish cooked.
This turbot at Los Defines was cooked perfectly, as you won't be able to see below, due to the poor photo.
Fish is normally always served with patatas a lo pobre (poor man's potatoes), and I have to say that these were perhaps the best I've ever had. I always find that the later you eat in the afternoon, the better they are, as a big batch is made in the morning and so by late afternoon they've had more time to absorb the oil, vinegar and stock they are cooked in. You can tell they are going to be good when they're a bit darker in colour too. This was 2 pm though, so still reasonably early, but these were so sweet and so tasty. I had a water and a coffee to drink and the bill came to €18, which considering I'd consumed a whole turbot was pretty reasonable.
One minor irritant was that the water had come all the way from the Pyrenees. I reflected that if it wasn't for the 6 foot harbour wall, I would be able to see the melting snow cap of the Sierra Nevada from my table. I also then reflected that you know it's a good day when the most irritating thing you experience is the irresponsible sourcing of the water you are drinking.
Los Delfines, I shall return, maybe to have a larger fish, or for the pulpo (octopus), that lots of locals were ordering, and I shall use thy patatas a lo pobre as a bait to snare the blonde into looking at thy concrete wall.
Overall 7/10
Food Value for Money 7/10
Wine Value for Money n/a
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