How to open a restaurant in a small Andalucian village

Channel 5 in the UK were making a documentary on ex patriots living on the Costa del Sol and one of their subjects was my brother and his restaurant, an establishment well known to all the locals down here for its very unusual and charming setting as well as its eccentric owner. As I have mentioned before Francis had had a brief and somewhat undistinguished career as an avocado farmer before his final disillusionment set in when he was robbed of his entire crop by unscrupulous thieves. Despite all the security measures that were taken to protect his farm he never really settled down again and he began to haunt the clubs and bars of Marbella.. It was about this time during the 1990’s recession that my husband and I started a restaurant in our house in Benahavis and a couple of weeks later Francis arrived to take a look. To his great surprise, and ours I have to say, our little restaurant was full of customers and Francis stood and watched me making out some bills. “That´s it!” he shouted, “I´m going to open a restaurant in my house!”

And indeed he did – less than a week later.

He started by telephoning all his friends and managed to drum up a dozen or so people, or “victims” as they referred to themselves. They arrived en mass and sat around the old family dining table with a look of expectancy on their faces. Meanwhile Francis was furiously cooking in the kitchen. Every now and then there would be a great crash accompanied by a string of oaths and curses. Finally he appeared and with a look of triumph announced that he had discovered the secret of making tomato soup taste like Heinz. Of course this announcement was received by a great roar of laughter and Francis´restaurant career began.

Looking at his restaurant today with its lavish bar and opulent table settings and décor, it is hard to imagine its humble beginnings. My brother has always been interested in cooking and entertaining, something he did on a regular basis in London, but of course it is a very different thing when you have to present a bill at the end of the evening. However, he pressed on valiantly serving some very good meals, some indifferent and some downright horrible. It is to the credit of his friends that they stuck by him, proving to be loyal customers despite the fact that they often put up with poor food.
Francis had hired a cook by now, I think the word “chef” was too sophisticated for the type of food being served and huge cauldrons of beef stew with mountains of mashed potato were ladled out rather in the manner of a school dining room. The mediocrity of the food was more than outweighed by the comical and outrageous behaviour of the owner and the fact that he made the customers laugh so much, more than compensated for the food with the result that the restaurant was full every night.


As the money began to roll in various improvements were made to the restaurant. The kitchen was modernised, more tables and chairs were ordered and Francis began to buy paintings and artwork to hang on the walls. A new chef, a Frenchman no less, was hired and the standard of food shot up dramatically. A new clientele developed and the place became very smart indeed as well dressed Madrileños and smartly coiffed continentals started to appear.

The restaurant was now a splendid affair with a soaring cathedral ceiling constructed from dark wooden beams. There was a minstrel gallery upstairs where Francis kept all his music and from where he sometimes burst into song to the delight of his customers. A huge fireplace stood in the centre of the room and French doors opened onto a terrace and the windows were draped in rich, dark curtains. Paintings, gilt mirrors and other artefacts adorned the walls. A grand piano, sofas, a Victorian sideboard plus an assortment of candelabras, standard lamps and consul tables were dotted around the room. Photographs of family and friends stood in silver frames on every available surface, including the piano which was also home to the menu and wine lists. A dozen tables of varying size dressed in white lace tablecloths were crammed into this emporium.

Francis´ old guest bedroom became the Medieval Dining Room, so called because he had painted the walls with medieval scenes of stags and griffins which leered down on the diners and the library which contained magnificent floor to ceiling bookcases crammed with books became another dining area. First time clients on entering the restaurant nearly always gasped with delight and amazement. It was after all a most wondrous sight.

A new problem now presented itself. The house had not been designed to be able to park more than a handful of cars and now chaos ensued as huge, expensive cars forced their way along the narrow driveway looking in vain for somewhere to park. Rolls Royces, Jaguars, BMWs and Mercedes sports cars squeezed past each other before they were obliged to back up and park on the rough terrain beneath the avocado trees.. At the end of the evening the situation deteriorated as customers in various stages of inebriation attempted to negotiate their way out of the farm. There were a couple of unpleasant incidents with a lot of shouting and so Francis hired a valet to take care of the parking. This arrangement came to an abrupt halt when the valet was discovered sitting in one of the more luxurious cars listening to the owner’s music and chain smoking Ducados – a rather pungent brand of cigarette! Understandably the owner was extremely annoyed and the hapless valet was given his marching orders there and then. He stumped away muttering dark oaths, his pockets jingling with all the coins he had found no doubt lying around in the cars.

The very next day an enormous bulldozer arrived and work began on building not one but two car parks.

Gabriel Marianni & Anna Mauger-Mariani

Gabriel Mariani & Anna Mauger-Mariani

Miranda Pothecary

About Us

We are Penny and Robert Germaux, long time residents of Benahavis, a charming white Spanish village in the hills above the Costa del Sol.

This website is a work in progress, but it will soon be filled with stories from our lives.

If you'd like to be notified of when this site officially launches, please email us.

Penny's Letters

Penny Germaux enjoys writing and will be sharing stories from her life in Benahavis, under the Penny's Letters section of this blog.

Benahavis Cuisine

Belgian Robert Germaux trained as a chef and has worked as a restaurateur in Belgium, Spain and New York.  In addition to teaching cooking classes, Robert offers a catering service, along with his English wife.  He looks forward to sharing some of their favourite recipes with you on this blog soon.