Almocobar

FEW places come as intimate as this. Squashed in between a couple of townhouses beside the ancient Moorish Almocabar gate to Ronda old town (and hence the name) it is incredible that they can get all its six tables in.

But this they do and full they are, almost every day of the week from January to December, minus, of course, the five weeks in summer, when they head off for a well earnt break.

This sums up the ethos of the place. While they could easily fill another dozen tables in the square during peak tourist season, as a number of the other restaurants in Barrio San Francisco do, they are content with the success they have.

A real local restaurant, and run by a chef's chef, the very talented Manuel Arias Jimenez, Almocabar is one of those places you just want to keep quiet about and I had to think long and hard about including it in the guide.