Malvarosa

I have to admit, Tapas is never top of my list of food when choosing somewhere to go. I have nothing against Spanish food but I am always looking for something that will blow me away. There are so many great flavours there and great potential.
I ended up at Malvarosa in an attempt to find somewhere to eat after a trip to Fort Kinnaird. It’s a small place, with a nice family feel. You end up sitting pretty close to the kitchen.
We went for 5 tapas dishes (and some bread) between two of us. We weren’t hugely hungry but this seemed a good amount. Overall it was mixed bag; the chorizo bread (which we didn’t order but ended up with) was quite cold, and some other bread was a bit hard for my liking. Patas bravas tasted pretty much as it should with a nice kick. Chorizo in cider was nice but I wish it had a bit more punch.
The haddock bites were a real high point however and the standout dish. Fresh and more-​ish. The garlic chicken was also great. The goats cheese onion tarts arrived a while after we finished everything else and were fine but didn’t blow me away. It was rounded off with a nice Rioja though.
It doesn’t quite make the 4 stars because although the staff were friendly, the service wasn’t quite up to scratch. We had to wait for the dishwasher cycle to finish before getting some drinks, we waited quite a while with our menus and we received some dishes we didn’t order and didn’t receive some we did.
I think if you like Tapas though this is a safe bet. The food tasted fresh, generally seemed of good quality, and prices are fair. I don’t think I would make the trip out to Portobello to come here but if in the area I’d come back.

A nice small little restaurant. We went here on Valentine’s day so obviously it was quite busy but the service was excellent. We didn’t have to wait long for anything. Amazing when you think there were only two of them running the front of house! The menu isn’t massive but a good variety. We ordered 6 tapas dishes between the two of us but we’re still a little hungry after… everything was fairly enjoyable (apart from the stew which was just butter beans in a light stock if you ask me). There isn’t much of a choice for desserts but their house cake was lovely. All in all we’re quite likely to go back here as it was pleasant and not massively expensive. Ooh definitely recommend the bravas. Lovely stuff

I don’t often find myself in Portobello but walking down Portobello High St. at around lunch time I happened to pass Malvarosa. As a lover of Tapas and Spanish food combined with an invitingly traditional looking interior, I headed in.
We were immediately greeted by two very welcoming and friendly ladies serving us. Inside, it feels just like a Spanish tapas bar (as long as you don’t look out the window on to Portobello High Street) you can transport yourself straight to Granada.
The menu is great and offers a good variety of traditional Spanish tapas options as well as some more unique dishes, something I really like in a restaurant. Similarly, they have a well chosen wine listed, sourced from Spanish vineyards. The beers are the standard Estrella, Mahou and Alhambra along with a couple special editions I didn’t expect to see. And well priced with my 250ml of white coming in at only £4.60.
To eat I had marinated anchovies, Potaje de Garbanzos — a chickpea and vegetable stew, Ensalada de Invierno — a mix of sautéed greens and Merluza al Chilindrón — baked Hake with ratatouille. They were all spectacular. The anchovies were served with chopped parsley and plenty garlic — perfect! The chickpea stew was very well flavoured. It had sultanas in it and I don’t usually like sweet and savoury at the same time but with a perfect balance of spices and sweetness this Moorish style dish was so nice. The mixed greens were also cooked perfectly; al dente but still with a golden char on the outside.
The Hake comes with a bit of a story. I was aware it would take a little longer as it was baked in the oven to order (great) It was the last dish to arrive after a very slight wait (only about 5 minutes longer than expected). Despite not having a problem with this at all, our servers were incredibly apologetic, took it off our bill and gave us a complimentary bowl of olives! It was definitely worth the wait. It was beautifully cooked; creamy white, flaky flesh and served with a ratatouille that was massive on flavour.
I have to give a special mention to those olives as well. They are huge, I don’t know what they were marinated in but as far as olives go, they were spectacular.
I went through a period of eating my way through Edinburgh’s Spanish restaurants and Malvarosa is certainly up there with the best. It has the whole package; great food, great staff, great atmosphere and good value. I think i’ll be looking for excuses to visit Portobello more often.

If this isn’t the best Spanish restaurant in the Edinburgh area I’ll eat my hat.
Great food, really good service and a pleasant atmosphere so absolutely nothing to pick out as a negative.

Oooh, tapas in Portobello. Make it sunny, hit the beach, squint and it could be the Med with a bit of imagination.
Having once considered moving here and discovering there was a proper tapas restaurant, I had been itching to try it. It came highly recommended by my office mate who had tipped me off about the gluten free options :-)
Malvarosa is a lovely Spanish enclave in the heart of Portobello. With its cosy décor, Spanish chefs and the lovely Alvaro making you feel welcome, it makes visiting Portobello on a rainy day a great option.
I loved the food — lots of GF options, all highlighted in grey. Went for paella and tapas to share between 3 and there was tons of food. My own staple request — tortilla espanola was fab — and cooked properly, the egg not looking too raw or dried out. The garlicky mushrooms were lipsmackingly good and very moreish. I loved the black pudding, milder than Scottish black pudding, but one of two varieties on offer. I the paella was fab, big chunks of chicken and chorizo, complete with veggies — yum, yum.
The service was excellent. This is very much a family restaurant. Alvaro the owner was interested in all his customers and after discovering we weren’t local, was keen to know what brought us to Malvarosa. When I discussed my almost house move to Portobello and the office mates recommendation, I was told to thank said office mate for good review. Clearly an owner who cares about his business and his customer experience!
Well worth a visit — planning our next GF lunch here so hopefully returning within the next month — yum, yum.

Hmm where to start? Decided to go with a friend’s recommendation and try Malvarosa for lunch with a couple of friends, all of us are Coeliac (gluten free) so can sometimes be a bit of a challenge for restaurants but there was smiles all round today when we were given a menu with all the gf options clearly marked, and I say all as there was plenty to choose from! A great variation of tapas dishes and judging by the smells welcoming you as you come in the door I’ll definately be back to try out more. But until then I can honestly say that the Tortilla Espagnol is the best I’ve had in Edinburgh! Traditional Spanish black pudding was fantasitc and the Paella was definately worth the wait… If you like your tapas then you definately need to try this place!
Now I know that you will never mistake Portobello for Spain but I’m not so sure now as I think if the sun were to shine just a little while sitting in Malvarosa then I’m sure you’d agree with me that a little piece of Spain’s been uprooted and transported to Scotland! All the staff are Spanish and made us feel really welcome, it’s a small restaurant so I’m guessing booking will be a must as we head into summer so make sure you put it on your to do list!

Malvarosa is a relatively new challenger to the Portobello High Street. It brings tapas much closer to my house, and for that I thank Malvarosa. And indeed, I thank and praise it highly, for not only does it bring tapas closer, but it brings gooood tapas closer. The service last night was excellent, great banter with the guy front of house (Vegetarian? What kind of monster are you? I think in Spain, I might be burned as a witch (I jest, I jest)). You are made to feel welcome, and not rushed, even when the restaurant were heaving, we were one of the first to arrive and one of the last to leave, supping on tasty sangria and enjoying a good catchup.
To the food — the menu is quite small, but not in a bad way — just don’t go in expecting a book of tapas. Malvarosa keeps it succinct — but there is still a good amount of choice across meat, fish and vegetable spectrums. Patata bravas — good, smoky paprika flavour with a good kick, although could do with a bit more of a hit of the sauce on the potatoes. A warm ensalada of broad beans, artichoke and spinach was delicious (also available with meat, the Spanish vegetarian option, hur hur hur). I’m still enjoying the thought of chickpeas, spinach and sultanas — a tagine-​y style tapas which I couldn’t get enough of.
I could go on — I’ll admit, I forgot to ask my dinner date how the meat dishes were — so I can’t comment on those. I was too busy enjoying mine to think of anything else. For dessert, we tucked into chocolate cake (super rich, bit too heavy for me, with a stomach already groaning from our mains) and flan (I got the last one hurrah!) — flan had a bit of an odd texture, so a little less enjoyable than I had hoped for.
Overall, Malvarosa is a lovely place to spend an evening catching up with good friends. No rush, no stress, just good food and good times.

I visited Malvarosa for the first time on Friday and it was a complete delight.
It appears to be run by Spaniards. I booked my table by emailing them — which always endears me to restauarants. They were very accommodating when I changed the number of people for my booking — and then didn’t chastise us when one of our party didn’t turn up.
It’s also — and this gets lots of brownie points in my book — BYOB. £3 corkage. And they even brought us cava glasses for the cava.
The food is fabulous. Principally tapas but imaginatively done. No chorizo in red wine here. They have chorizo with cider, the de rigeur patatas bravas but a less common potatoes with garlic dish and then a whole array of fish, flesh and vegetable alternatives.
We had a seafood paella that was plump with mussels, some other shell-​y things and king prawns. A lovely hake stuffed dish, chorizo of course, tortilla with chorizo, aubergines with manchego cheese and lovely fat olives.
They have an impressive choice of desserts for a Spanish restaurant. And it’s all delivered with a charming sparkle that make this new addition to Portobello’s High Street a great fun night out.
It’s all very good value for money. We paid £20 a head as a party of five with the paella, plenty of tapas, desserts, coffee and several corkage charges.
Do try it. They deserve to do well.