Miles Collins

A seafood gem off the beaten track…

There is a restaurant/diner off a dusty track on the backroads of Conil in Southern Spain. As unspectacular a looking restaurant as you could imagine it plays host to the vanloads of workers who stop by every lunchtime between twelve and four for a plate of their house specialities.

Los Pinos is substance over style personified. You’re table is covered with two paper table cloths, the paper napkin wrapped cutlery is quickly set down to stop the cloth from blowing away in the midday breeze. Drinks are served and the order taken. They say the busier they are the quicker you get your order and I can understand the hidden logic behind that. I watched the dishes flow from the kitchen with a relative ease, I wondered how long the cooks had worked there and how often, if ever, they changed the menu.

Fried fish is the order of the day here, small or large portions, it doesn’t matter. What matters is the quality of the fish and with the fishing port of Conil a short drive away you can understand why it is so popular.

We ordered some fried squid, cut into rings and served with lemon, nothing else. Perfect snack food, so tender, so moorish…

Next up was supposed to be a plate of fried anchovies, I had been looking forward to eating these for months but my friend’s pronunciation led to us getting a plate of fried baby squid instead! Not that it mattered because it is one of my favourite dishes….

Next up was a plate of beautiful sliced tomatoes topped with flakes of tuna and fresh lemon. A generous pinch of rock salt brought all of the flavour out and was the perfect foil to the fried seafood, that a nice glass of cold white Riocha….

Any good travel guide will tell you to look out for those restaurants which the locals frequent, if the place is full of happy workers then it’s a sure bet. Los Pinos is a sure bet.