Giles Brown, who is not to be approached before his third café solo of the morning, picks Marbella’s best breakfast restaurants.
It’s the most important meal of the day. Take it from me, if your mood is directly affected by food, then a great breakfast properly sets you up for the next 24 hours. To make sure that you start your day BRIGHTLY, here are a few of my favourite places to ‘break fast’.
Dezentral
Just across from the Andalucía Plaza Hotel, Dezentral is a must do if you are a committed coffee addict like myself. The Ristretto doble – the strongest they have – comes with a warning from the management, so be careful! Other caffeinated delights include the ‘Wake Up’ coffee (a triple shot espresso with creamy milk), ‘Coffee Meets Ginger’ (made with oat milk and fresh pressed ginger), ‘Dirty Chai latte’ (made with soy milk and Chai syrup) and even the ‘Dezentral Cappuccino Crème Brulee (with crunchy caramalised brown sugar on top).
Dezentral is also renowned for its homemade cakes and fresh German bread, and the BRIGHT editorial team also vouch for its Shakshuka – a healthy breakfast popular in Israel and other parts of the Middle East – that is a delicious combination of simmering tomatoes, chickpeas, spices, and poached eggs. Make sure to book ahead if you want to make it for Saturday brunch, it gets busy!
Calle las Malvas Ed. Online 19, Marbella
Tel/WhatsApp: 661 509 729
Keto Royale Kafé
Believe it or not, Marbella is home to mainland Spain’s first healthy ketogenic café. If the word ‘keto’ makes you immediately think of hipsters in clogs, joylessly hunched over earthenware pots in surroundings duller than the food, then Keto Royale Kafé will change that view. Run by husband and wife team Sam and Adam, Keto Royale is a superbly stylish venue that is one of Marbella’s top places for Social Media tags. There is substance over the style as well as the team producing dazzling dishes that take keto to another level. My previous encounter with this style of cuisine was in Glastonbury – a meal so bland that I was sorely tempted to take a bit out of the placemats for a little flavour. Keto Royale blows such depressing food out of the water, with breakfast options that include freshly baked keto bread toasted and served with spinach, perfectly poached organic eggs and a homemade creamy hollandaise sauce, as well as their renowned fluffy American pancakes served with homemade berry compote and fresh fruit! Keto Royale Kafé is justifiably busy. Pop over and don’t forget the selfie!
Calle Pintor Jose Caballero, Marbella
Tel: 951 810 696
Tomate
Fabulously fresh, fun, and friendly Tomate’s two restaurants – one in Puerto Banús, the other in San Pedro de Alcántara – are run by a husband-and-wife team, Laura and Jose. Putting the environment and ecology first (energy used in Tomate is certified as 100% green, exclusively collected from renewable and sustainable sources that don’t contaminate), Tomate has a variety of tasty breakfast options, from acai bowls through to full English and even full vegetarian breakfasts. Though it may be sacrilege for an Englishman to say, when I road tested the menu (yes, I know, the things that I must do in the name of research!), I found myself preferring the veggie option. A special mention must also go to the coffees, as well as the range of juices. I’ve found myself staggering into San Pedro for a reviving ‘Superzinger’ on more than one occasion!
Puerto Banús – Calle Rivera, Casa RA Tel: 951 279 334
San Pedro Alcántara – Calle Córdoba 15 Tel: 951 196 494
Venta Los Pacos
Celebrating 70 years of serving everyone from duchesses to dustbin men, Los Pacos is a Marbella institution. It’s busy, noisy and totally authentic and still serves the traditional Menu del Día of three courses and a drink for under €10. It’s in the morning that Los Pacos comes into its own though, with workers grabbing a strong coffee (and occasionally a shot of something stronger ‘to get the cogs turning’) while the television in the corner dissects last night’s football. There’s lots of banter between the staff and customers while the kitchen turns out an array of food that can be anything from churros to a Catalana sandwich. Grabbing a terrace table in the bright morning sunshine at Los Pacos with a coffee, churros and freshly squeezed orange juice is one of the quintessential Marbella experiences.
Av. Bulevar Príncipe Alfonso de Hohenlohe, Km 179, Marbella
Tel: 952 772 122
Yanx
If you have visited the US, you will know that nobody does breakfast in quite the same way as the Americans. Yanx, Marbella’s best-known American restaurant, located in Nueva Andalucía, is justifiably famous for its breakfast menu. Originally opened by a Texan businessman in 1997, Yanx is now owned by likable Brit David, who has added a British and Mediterranean influence, resulting in ‘Ameriteranean’ cuisine (no, I didn’t know there was such a thing either), taking classic no-frills American cuisine and giving it a sunny Mediterranean twist. Highlights include the seriously delicious blueberry and raspberry American pancakes with Canadian maple syrup, plus a traditional British toasted sandwich with sausage, bacon and farm fresh eggs. There are worse ways of starting your day!
Café Yanx, C.C. Centro Plaza, Nueva Andalucía
Tel: 952 818 861
