Casa Navarra: well-executed, flavourful home-style cooking

Food critic

After being closed for a month following a fire, the restaurant haas reopened with its same cuisine from Navarra and dishes with local produce

Enrique Bellver

It has barely been a month since the area where the grill was located caught fire. Now, Casa Navarra has reopened its doors following the ... refurbishment.

Leire and Asier Herrero, together with Isabel, the head of dining and Asier’s wife, have wasted no time in getting back behind the stoves and over the charcoal. Casa Navarra’s menu remains true to its philosophy: charcoal-grilled meat and stews in traditional earthenware pots.

The cuisine at this restaurant remains unchanged, deeply rooted in the traditions of the local cuisine of Navarran farmhouses and, naturally, in the dishes typically prepared in the areas of Malaga surrounding the restaurant.

There is a total commitment to locally sourced, seasonal Andalusian produce, not only in terms of beef but also in the use of vegetables and fruit typical of each season. A fine example of this is those Malaga cherries, so hard to find in fruit shops, but which are served here as a dessert when they are at their very best.

This is the place to come if you want to enjoy one of the best steaks on the Costa del Sol

Now, following the generational handover that took place some time ago, Asier and Leire have succeeded in establishing this grill restaurant as one of the finest establishments serving classic and traditional cuisine in Andalucía. Some people believe that it is in autumn that the cuisine at this eatery is at its very best.

This pre-winter season, with its earthy forest flavours, the first wild mushrooms, and fresh pochas (white beans) in peak season, is the ideal time to enjoy Leire’s stews.

However, there are also those of us who prefer the summer season to enjoy tasty, mild piparras (Basque chili peppers) freshly fried with a perfect touch of salt, or freshly harvested pochas simply sautéed with vegetables and a splash of vinegar, ready to be devoured to reach culinary heaven.

Stewed fish makes up another essential part of the culinary philosophy at Casa Navarra, and not just the cod prepared in its various styles like pil-pil, with tomato, or a la vizcaína.

Other dishes, such as sea bream a la bilbaína or the classic cut of hake, lightly grilled and served with a robust garlic and oil sauce, allow diners to enjoy deeply traditional flavours of the sea.

However, this is the place to come if you want to enjoy one of the best steaks (chuletón) on offer along the Costa del Sol. Asier has absorbed all his father’s expertise at the grill and takes care to bring the cuts to the right temperature before placing them on the grill. This step, which seems simple enough, is still not properly understood by many establishments that boast about their grills and meats, where the steak often arrives at the table cold in the centre.

Casa Navarra is a restaurant where Malaga’s produce and cuisine blend perfectly with cooking styles that still taste of Navarra.

Casa Navarra

Address: Mijas–Fuengirola Road, km 4.

Telephone: 952 580 439.

Closed: Mondays and Tuesdays.

Prices: Sea bream: 30€; T-bone steak: 68€/kg; Mille-feuille: 9€.

Valuation: Cuisine: 8/10; Dining room: 7/10; Wine list: 6.5/10. Overall rating: 8/10