Story

El Mirlo was not born as a restaurant, but as a home. A family home in Punta Paloma where Rafael Chico, a Tarifa native with an unwavering work ethic, and Carmen Molina, cook and host, began preparing food for those who arrived almost by chance.

What began as a garage turned into a bar, surrounded by a vegetable garden and the sea, grew naturally: first sandwiches, then simple dishes, and soon entire days spent between long lunches, conversations, and sunsets.

El Mirlo —named after Rafael’s father— became a meeting point, a refuge, and a tradition.

In 2003, it officially opened as a family-run restaurant, shaped collectively by those in the kitchen, the dining room, and beyond.

Today, under the Marbella Club umbrella, El Mirlo enters a new chapter without losing what matters: local produce, honest cooking, and a hospitality rooted in home.

A place that continues to fly, without forgetting where it comes from.