Malaga's Palodú restaurant triumphs with first Michelin star

Malaga hosted this year's Michelin Guide Spain & Andorra gala ceremony, which ended with a new star for one restaurant in the city: Palodú. The event was held at Espacio Sohrlin on Tuesday, 25 November.

The last time the gala was held in the province was 11 years ago and Marbella had the privilege of hosting it, although the province did not receive any stars that year. This year, Michelin has also been less generous than expected, with only one star for Cristina Cánovas and Diego Aguilar's restaurant. On the bright side, that meant that the two chefs exclusively received a resounding ovation when they went on stage to collect the white chef's jacket that accredits their first star.

According to the guide's inspectors, Palodú is one of those restaurants "that are a pleasure to go to because they show us a constant desire to improve". The establishment has two tasting menus called Alcazul and Palodú, "both with seasonal dishes and the option of food and wine pairings". "We have been surprised by the intense flavour of their sequence 'Mullet - Gazpachuelo - Potato'," the inspectors stated.

The three restaurants in Malaga city that already had a star - José Carlos García, Kaleja and Blossom - retain their glory this year. The wider offer of Michelin-starred restaurants in the province includes Sollo in Fuengirola and Nintai, Back and Messina in Marbella. Bardal in Ronda and Skina in Marbella retain their two stars.

The menu of the event was created by some 200 chefs, reflective of the gastronomic potential of the province, which has a total of 12 stars out of the 37 in Andalucía. At the regional level, Faralá by Cristina Jiménez in Granada, ReComiendo by Periko Ortega in Cordoba, Ochando by Juan Carlos Ochando in Los Rosales (Seville) and Mare by Juan Viu in Cadiz received new stars. In total, five new stars, making it the region with the most first stars. In addition, Juan Carlos García from Vandelvira (Baeza, Jaén) received the young chef award, while Rafa de Bedoya from Jerez won the second star for Aleia, the establishment he runs in Barcelona.

Not to be forgotten are the two stars of Smoked Room - a restaurant that, although located in Madrid, has a Malaga stamp as it belongs to Marbella group Dani García. The establishment also won an additional prize: the sommelier award for Luis Baselga.

It is also worth noting that Marcos Granda retains the stars in his restaurants Clos and Toki in Madrid, Ayalga in Ribadesella and Marcos in Gijón (each with one star).

The bad news is that both Tohqa (El Puerto de Santa María), which closed about a month ago, and La Finca (Loja, Granada), which recently moved to Malaga, have lost the distinction.

At the national level, a total of 25 restaurants are debuting this year as Michelin-starred restaurants (compared to 32 last year). Two stars were given to La Boscana by Joel Castañé (Bellvís, Lleida), Mont Bar by Francisco José Agudo (Barcelona), Ramón Freixa Atelier by Ramón Freixa (Madrid) and Enigma by Albert Adrià. No new establishment received a third star.

In total, the selection of restaurants in the Spain & Andorra Guide 2026 brings together 16 restaurants with three stars, 37 with two and 254 with one, totalling 307 award-winning restaurants.

In the Green Star section, Diego Gallegos' Malaga restaurant Sollo retains the distinction and AMA (Tolosa, Guipúzcoa), Bakea (Mungia, Vizcaya), Garena (Dima, Vizcaya), Hika by Roberto Ruiz (Villabona, Guipúzcoa) and Terrae by David Rivas (Port de Pollença, Mallorca) were added to the list.

As for the Bib Gourmand selection, which rewards the best value for money, the province of Malaga won two new distrinctions: Base9, described as "modern in style with a strong traditional foundation" and recommended for "the old-hen cannelloni and its unusual potato omelette, prepared in the style of Japanese omurice and served with wasabi mayonnaise"; and El Chiringuito in Sedella, which the guide describes as a "modest spot with a rustic, family-style atmosphere", run for many years by the grandparents of the current chef, Víctor Hierrezuelo. "Today, he offers a menu with regional and local roots that he has managed to update with great skill," the guide says.

Also maintaining this recognition in the city of Malaga are La Taberna by Mike Palmer, which the guide describes as "a modern take on traditional cuisine that leaves its mark and stays in the memory", and La Cosmo, which, according to the guide, "focuses on transparency and quality in everything related to the product and its origin, trying to give value to locally sourced ingredients". All are included in the list of 204 restaurants, 29 of which are new entries.

The gala was hosted by celebrity presenter Jesús Vázquez. It ended with the traditional parade of the 16 three-starred restaurants, but that was the end of the event, with no new additions to the three-star category, much to the surprise of some.

Taking place at Sohrlin, the gala could not go without the presence of Antonio Banderas, who compared the artistic world to that of gastronomy: "The recipe is the script; going to the market is the audition; in rehearsals we cook; and our restaurant is the stage." The gala was as enchanting as the restaurants it celebrates.