Iona Napier
SUMMERTIME’S coming and the livin’ is easy as dining tables emigrate outdoors to take advantage of the balmy May weather.
The candles are lit, the sangria is on ice and, as Phil Collins once sang, there’s ‘no jacket required’ until the setting sun slips down below the horizon.
It’s that special time of year when the air is scented with the delicious aroma of barbecues and the coast’s orchestra of chirpy crickets start rehearsals for a nocturnal symphony that lasts summer long.
With a tapa in one hand and a chilled drink in the other, you may well ask yourself if there is any place in the world you’d rather be than Andalucia right now.
As tables in town squares get harder to come by you can tell that it’s official: the al fresco dining season is underway.
If you want to grab your pew with a view, make sure to reserve those front row seats over the sparkling Mediterranean, that rooftop terrace table over the buzzing cityscape or leafy rural idyll in the hills.
Dining outside is a simple pleasure, titillating the tastebuds and the table talk too. That’s because in Spain, eating in the aire libre promises some of the best people-watching in all of Europe.
With extended Spanish families all gathered around the communal table – grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and even their immaculately turned-out little ones, up until all hours – you really do see life on a plate!
Whether you head for Cordoba’s shady tiled courtyards, Marbella’s trendy bars or prefer to wriggle your toes in the sand at a relaxed beach café on the Costa de la Luz, the options are endless.
Malaga has been dubbed ‘the new Barcelona’ (you read it first in the Olive Press) and is packed with trendy haunts and Moorish roof terraces.
For its size, even little Gibraltar has its fair share of oceanfront and urban dining options, as well as mountains of fresh seafood, fished from both Gibraltar and Spanish territorial waters!
And, as Justin Bautista tells the Olive Press in our interview, everyone’s talking about the Rock’s new fusion cuisine splicing international and local specialities.
Even if you’re dining ‘in’ (meaning at home), shift the dining table onto your patio or balcony and light those candles in celebration of the new season.
Just don’t blame us when your green-with-envy Facebook and Instagram friends decide to book a table chez vous and descend for the whole of the summer!
