Visit: 17 September 2022, dinner for four people.
Price: **
Website: https://www.amanhavis.com/
The Review
Amanhavis is a hotel and restaurant situated in the beautiful white-washed Andalusian village of Benahavis, located in the hills a few kilometres away from Marbella and Puerto Banus. Benahavis is renowned for its many restaurants and tavernas that serve great tapas.
Amanhavis hotel and restaurant has been operating for over 23 years. It’s an oasis of tranquillity, with its Moorish towers and rooftops overlooking the village and mountains. The hotel rooms are all individually designed and very comfortable. The restaurant specialises in Andalusian cuisine, and the menu changes daily depending on the season and what is available from the surrounding markets. Guests can choose from six starters, eight main courses and four desserts.
We were served a selection of snacks, good bread and roasted garlic.
We enjoyed a selection of starters, including home-made pasta bags filled with sea bass and prawns that was served with a dill and Champagne sauce, pan-fried goose liver served on home-made brioche with a prune and apple sauce, and a special starter of cream of cauliflower soup (Crème du Barry). The starters were all very good. The goose liver was perfectly cooked with a silky-smooth texture and good flavour.
Our main courses included a tagine of oven roasted confit of duck leg that was served with saffron flavoured rice, nuts and dried fruits, two gigantic tiger prawns served with an almond flavoured spinach, a rack of lamb with a truffle crust served with a Rioja sauce, and Presa – Iberian pork served with a mushroom sauce. All the main courses well accurately cooked with lots of flavour. The prawns were huge, and very tender. The Iberico Pork Presa is an oval-shaped cut, found between the shoulder and loin of Spanish Pata Negra pigs. It’s very tender and well-marbled and, as with most cuts from Iberian pigs, can be served slightly pink.
Desserts included blackberry mousse served with fruit coulis and passion fruit sorbet, and a selection of home-made sorbets.
The food here is very good. The owners of this delightful boutique hotel and restaurant served our meal, and they are very friendly and helpful. The wine list contained some excellent Spanish vintages and is not overly priced. This is a great destination if you want to get away from the bustle of Marbella and enjoy some great food in a tranquil oasis in the Andalusian hills.
The Menu
The Food
The Restaurant
Outside the hotel:
The rooms and restaurant are in a beautiful courtyard with a small pool:
The pool adjacent to the restaurant:
The outside restaurant:
Bedroom at Amanhavis hotel:
The wall-to-wall restaurants and tavernas in Benahavis serve great tapas, meals and drinks:
A walk through Banahavis takes you past a selection of great tavernas and restaurants:
The Wine
The wine list at Amanhavis restaurant:
We drank the last bottles of the superb Ano Ribera del Duero Tinto, 2017, that rates a very high 4.4 / 5 on Vivino:
