La Paloma
Drive into the interior — past the coast, past the beach clubs, up toward the small village of San Lorenzo, where there is only a church, a school, and one local bar. La Paloma started as a run-down finca in 2004, painted light blue and white by friends, with flowers and birds hand-painted on the walls by artist Orietta Sala. In winter the citrus orchards around it are heavy with oranges, tangerines and lemons. In spring the blossom fragrance reaches the terrace. The garden is the whole point.
By night: candles and fairy lights woven through the orchard trees, the sound of crickets, the moon over the fields. Chef Prasuna Coppini — who learned Italian cooking from her mother in Tuscany, then spent years travelling and making it her own — runs a deliberately small menu that rotates weekly. Two pastas (one night a week is homemade), a risotto, the famous grass-fed beef fillet with balsamic and thyme that never leaves the menu, a fresh fish dish, always something for vegetarians. Cocktails under the stars from master Pancho before you sit. On cold nights the finca's rooms are firelit and the whole thing shifts into something else entirely.
An orange grove in the San Lorenzo interior. Tables outside, fairy lights through the trees, candles on the table, crickets. The setting has been twenty years in the making and it shows.
Prasuna Coppini learned Italian cooking from her mother in Tuscany. Then she travelled. The dinner menu reflects both — Italian in structure, with spices and influences that come from somewhere wider. The beef fillet with balsamic and thyme has never left the menu. That tells you everything.
A run-down finca transformed by friends, painted light blue and white, with flowers and birds on the walls by artist Orietta Sala. It looks exactly like somewhere that was made with care rather than budget. Because it was.
A completely different proposition from dinner — Middle Eastern inspired dishes, focaccias, fresh juice. Worth a separate visit. Some people prefer it to the evening.
Book well in advance — this place has been covered by the New York Times, Vogue UK, and the Sunday Times. It fills up.
Lunch and dinner are genuinely different restaurants sharing the same kitchen. Lunch is Middle Eastern; dinner is Italian from the rotating weekly menu.
The grass-fed beef steak fillet with balsamic vinegar and thyme sauce is always on the dinner menu. It is there for a reason.
Once a week is homemade pasta night — worth asking when you book.
Sit outside. On cold or stormy nights the fire-lit indoor rooms are available, but the garden is the point.