The Prince and The Hawker

La Cosmopolita garners a special mention in the Michelin guide, though without a formal designation. Situated on a quieter corner off of one of the main streets in central Málaga with endless gastronomic options, La Cosmopolita advertises copious amounts of local Andalusian produce cooked with a creative twist.

I visited La Cosmopolita with my partner one evening on a recent trip. While he found the meal satisfactory, I was left a little disappointed.

It was a weekday and the restaurant was only about half full at the peak of the evening. As we walked in for our reservation, we were greeted at the front and led to a table on the terrace. The restaurant has a lovely, ample terrace that is on a quieter street but still retains the lively atmosphere of central Málaga.

Once seated, the server explained the menu to us, highlighting that there were starters and mains split between sections of the menu for permanent and seasonal dishes. To be honest, I was still a little confused about the menu organisation after the explanation.

We ended up ordering a few dishes to share, as was recommended.

Time to Eat at La Cosmopolita

Before the meal, our server brought olives and bread – fairly standard in Spain.

The first dish we tried was the Tomato Quiche. It came topped with burrata and anchovies. Given the proximity to great seafood, I expected a lot from this dish. However, the quiche base fell flat for me. Visually, the dish looked very flavourful, but it was surprisingly one-note for me.

The squid dish we tried next was more interesting. The squid was cooked perfectly tender and the combination of onion and saffron in the sauce was very interesting. I found the pungent sweetness of the onion was enhanced by the subtle saffron flavour.

When researching the restaurant, I had read multiple sources touting the Changurro as one of La Cosmopolita’s best dishes. Crab omelette made with oloroso wine (an Andalusian specialty)? Of course, we had to order it. Unfortunately, I found the dish a bit bland. Instead of the sweet wine bringing out sweetness of the crab, the flavours muddled together indistinctly for me.

After the savoury dishes, we decided to go for dessert. Looking at the menu again, we both wanted to order a Jelly Egg Yolk each. However, the server insisted that we only order one and share it, because he said the dessert is very sweet. I found this a bit odd. When the dessert came and we gobbled it down, we found we definitely could have had one each. Nonetheless, the dessert was absolutely delicious. The jelly was super smooth, rich, and caramelly.

Final Thoughts

I was quite disappointed with our visit to La Cosmopolita. From the odd quirks of service to the muted flavours in some dishes, I was underwhelmed. I’m sure this was partially because the restaurant is featured in The Michelin Guide and because I read so many glowing reviews beforehand.

I will say that the dishes on the menu show a lot of innovation and some of the flavours we experienced were very tasty. I especially enjoyed the dessert, though we could have done with two portions of it. I’m intrigued enough that I would be inclined to give La Cosmopolita a second chance in the future.