Mijas-Costa is an area blessed with great restaurants and tapas bars, but one of the best is undoubtedly, Lizarran, close to Dunnes Stores on the outskirts of Fuengirola.

At first glance, the attractive traditional exterior looks a little out of sorts with its surroundings – Lizarran is 50 metres from the Waitrose/Iceland store, on the other side of the commercial centre to Boulanger. Many times I had driven past this busy bar but never ventured inside – more fool me.

Whether you go for breakfast, lunch or simply a few tapas and a beer in between, you will always be met with a friendly greeting and a smile – something sadly missing in so many other local restaurants. Parking is easy and you can pull up right outside, or just around the corner where the majority of the shops are.
Lizarran Tabernas Selectas are now open all over Spain, and the fabulous range of food on offer is enough to tempt the most discerning diners. To describe it as a tapas bar would be doing it a disservice, as the selection of food on offer is fabulous. Lizarran is really casual dining at its best.
The last time we visited with a group of friends at lunchtime, we decided to order a selection of tapas and half portions between us, and enjoyed some of the best food we´ve eaten in months. Although situated just out of town, Lizarran has the feel and atmosphere of a busy, city-centre bar during lunchtime, and the service is great.

The barman kept a tab during the afternoon, and the beauty of this place is that you can order a few dishes to start with, enjoy a few beers with it, and then order bits and pieces throughout the afternoon. This place is open from 9am-11pm and doesn´t close in the afternoon. So if you are anything like us, you can relax and enjoy the day instead of rushing to finish lunch before 4pm.
Although lunchtime at LIzarran can be a bit frenetic, it is also great fun, and you don´t have to wait long for anything. A massive pan of paella is produced around 1pm, and served over lunchtime either by the half or full plate. You will not find better paella than this anywhere. Our favourite barman (not sure of his name unfortunately) shouts out every time a new dish or speciality arrives from the kitchen, and makes sure no one goes without.

We enjoyed a delicious selection of montaditos ( thinly sliced baguette with various toppings), including goat´s cheese and baby red peppers, succulent roast pork, home-made paté with cherry tomatoes, smoked salmon and cream cheese and stuffed tortilla. Lizarran charge clients for the montaditos by counting the number of cocktail sticks on your plate (1 per tapa). This method of accounting always amuses me as I can just imagine what would happen if Lizarran opened a bar in the part of England I come from. Customers would be eating the cocktail sticks or shoving them under the carpet to avoid paying the full amount owed. Or maybe that´s just where I come from? Ahhhhhh England.

After the tasty montaditos, the fun really begins with an enormous salad display. We always order the Russian salad with potatoes, peas, peppers and onions, plus tuna, tomatoes and lettuce hearts and even Greek salad with feta cheese, black olives and fresh herbs. As you can tell we are a hungry mob, and in addition to a couple of bottles of refreshing rosé wine and cold beers by the bucketful, we normally order main courses a little later on. A firm favourite with our crowd is the octopus in red wine, served with rice. This a fabulous dish which we have never found anywhere else, and is definitely one of Lizarran´s finest offerings. Fresh tuna was also on the menu, marinated in lemon and olive oil, plus the finest chorizo sausage cooked in hot oil and chillis. Pork and apple sausage is also a firm favourite along with delicious manchego cheese and Serrano ham.

The specials change daily, and although there is no menu as such, the selection of dishes is chalked up on a blackboard. A vast tapas display cabinet is also situated along the bar, and you can choose your food while enjoying a drink or three.

Lizarran is everything we look for in a Spanish bar, including superb coffee and breakfasts, plus all day tapas, specials and friendly, smiling staff.

How to get there: From Dunnes Stores (next to the Myramar Centre) on the outskirts of Fuengirola. Lizarran is 500 metres – past Lidl – direction Las Lagunas. Ample parking in the public car park for Boulanger, Iceland etc.
Address: C/Carmen Saez de Tejada, (Pol. Industrial Molino del Viento).
Open: From 9am to 11pm.
Telephone: 0034 95 259 2854.