Thanks Josele, I´m going to Málaga in a few weeks and your recommendations are highly appreciated.

mikelg, you are most welcome to drop an e-mail when you come.

Hi again! It's getting close to our departure and we're really excited. We've booked table at EL CALEÑO and are planning a paella evening at SOCARRAT. I've found an interessting restaurant called La Casa del Angel. Have you eaten there? Would you recommend it? It sounds like fun

Good idea the Caleño reservation. I'm going there tomorrow.
So sad about Socarrat, as it closed a few months ago and now is another fish restaurant. Have not found out another paella restaurant I can recommend. I'll investigate.
La Casa del Angel has known better times, I cannot rec. it now. Almost in front you have El Tapeo de Cervantes, tapas place ranking nº1 on TripAdvisor.
There aremany places around the city center, do you want some food in particular?

As said before, you got to have one late night at El Pimpi in C/Granada. Even if you stumble upon a tourist or two, this place will surely put you in the ultimate Málaga mood. The spacy room, almost a patio, in the back, is as made for a ladies week-end. When leaving, you stumble upon the lighted Roman amphi-theater and the Moorish fortress and you are five mins away from Hotel Molina Lario. Here are some photos and insisting Spanish reviews: http://11870.com/pro/el-pimpi

If you want a genuine flamenco experience, go to Peña Ciudad Puerta Blanca in Avenida Gregorio Diego on the 15th of October at 22h. A local flamenco club five-ten mins taxi ride west of your hotel. Song, guitar and dance by the compañia de Susana Lupiáñez 'La Lupi'. One of the best dancers in the Málaga region and the former teacher of the finest flamenco dancer alive, Rocío Molina. Here's La Lupi in another flamenco club in Málaga: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vymfnEuqXf8

El Pimpi is highly recommended, but it is not a place for a formal dinner, with linen tablecloth and serviettes, but for tapas and raciones, the ambience is unique and the stuff is good.
To Puerta Blanca you'll need a taxi, don't try to take the bus, it is all a mess as they are still working on the new underground, and you'll get lost.
Many restaurant prepare paella, including Caleño, but have not been able to find a paella-specialty restaurant.

Kimhe, the Peña Juan Breva has new locations and website, http://www.museoflamencojuanbreva.com/ if you want to check.

Thanks a lot, Josele! Was in town last weekend without visiting Juan Breva, but hope to come back in November. A Málaga!

Thanks again for more info. We're planning a dinner at restaurante Vino mio. Would you rec. it? It looks like fun with good food. We're also planning a late night one night and I think Tablao Flamencio “Vista Andalucia” in Avenida de los Guindo sounds fun. It is open very late! Is this a good place og would you rec another one? Agani, thanks for all the great tips!

Vista flamenca sounds fun as you say, and it comes recommended by the normally reliable andalucia.com-site:
http://www.andalucia.com/cities/malaga/nightlife.htm

But La Lupi in the local flamenco club on Friday (see above) would for sure be the real deal and a true experience. Entrance would be some 10€, and you can have drinks and some plain tapas at normal (low) prices. I would for sure have started the night with La Lupi, and then move on to the all night Vista Andalucía tablao just some 300 metres away (the first parallell street).

Dinner at VinoMio can be pleasant, I am regular to the place. Food is good, with vegetarian options. They used to have different musical options along the week, but they have switched to only flamenco daily, and they start early, I believe for the benefit of foreigners. The performers are young people, not the usual tourist trap. See the rest. website.
I believe you'll see better shows where kinmhe suggests.

kimhe - just wanted to say thank you for the tip about getting tickets for the Estrella Morente [flamenco] concert in Seville last sunday. it was a terrific experience, more of which on the Trip Report when i get round to doing it!

Raggy - sorry to highjack your thread, but I wanted to say thank you to Kimhe.

annhig - glad to hear that you had a great flamenco night with Estrella Morente!

The Sevilla concert was obviously a revised version of the performance she held in the Patio de los Aljibes in Alhambra in 2004, "Pastora 1922". This was a tribute to legendary singer Pastora Pavón (La Niña de los Peines) and the famous "deep song" contest in 1922 in the same place, arranged by the poet Federico García Lorca and the composer Manuel de Falla. You can find much of that concert on the DVD "Casacueva y Escenario" (2007):
https://www.flamenco-world.com/tiend...dvd-pal)/4426/

mmmmm - not sure if i know enough about flamenco truly to have appreciated it fully.

haven't got time to watch the film - will return soon, I hope.

Hi again! Can anyone tell me about the markado centrale? Is it open now?

The Atarazanas market, just west of central Marqués de Larios street, is open and very busy! You should definitely pay a visit, and maybe afterwards have a chocolate con churros or a coffe at the close by and excellent café Casa Aranda in C/ Herrería del Rey, 1.

hi kimhe,

i just looked at the clip of that DVD but was very frustrated as I couldn't see much of the accompanying artists, who made up a very large part of the show we saw, and delivered both the highs and the lows!

firstly the highs - there was a terrific male dancer, who was just superb - the fastest feet I've ever seen. and Estrella's voice is very distinctive and powerful - would that i understood more!

the lows? - the show proper opened with some very mediocre [IMHO] dancing by some ladies who had seen better days [I hope!] and nights. They were wearing very substandard costumes [so unlike the beautiful ones we had seen in the specialist flamenco shops in Seville] though they certainly helped Estrella to stand out [not that she needed to]. and there was a mandoline band who looked as if they didn't know why they were there - neither did the audience. the show proper had been preceded by a film showing [i suppose] war-time/civil war film of spain. apart from one "tableau" half-way through the show, which featured EM in a lovely frock, dancing to something by de Falla, there were no discernable links between the film and what followed.
the 2nd half of the show was excellent and the audience, doubtless more knowledgable than me, clearly loved her. I did however feel that there was an element of the Emperor's new clothes when it came to the people accompnaying her.

You would get much more of the accompanying artists and the highs and lows in the full cd. Also much very interesting stuff from Estrella in action at home and in the Sacramonte caves in her native Granada. The film and the costumes, the line-up and everything had to do with trying to evoke the famous 1922 deep song (cante jondo) contest dedicated to try to save the "pure" flamenco tradition of the gypsies as an expression of the true folk tradition of Andalucía, how this eventually was perverted by the Franco regime etc. How successfull this was can and has been discussed, but EM is usually an experience in herself.

My husband and I ate at El Caleño at Josele's advice and to this day, we speak about it with reverence.
We ate paella because we knew it would be good there and our previous experiences (in Barcelona) were not what we knew paella was supposed to be.
El Caleño's paella was delicate and the shrimp was sweet and flavors were just beautiful. I'm so glad we decided on it though it meant missing out on the other offerings. Funny thing is, we also were amazed at the green salad. How could something so simple make such an impact? It was beautiful lettuce, with mild onions and a watery vinaigrette that made me swoon.
Pair that experience with a sunny afternoon and a glass of white wine, and, well, you get the picture.

The trick in Spanish salads is simplicity and freshness: virgin olive oil, wine vinegar and salt. Those creamy and fatty dressings some countries widely use for salads are absolutely forbidden in Spain...