Top tourism award after nearly 80 years of serving delicious churros

Because of all this, Ronda council has decided to award Churrería Alba one of its tourism prizes, and the presentation will take place this Thursday, 22 September, at the Convento de Santo Domingo. Other awards are to go to Hotel Catalonia Ronda, the Sierra Aventura active tourism company and Casa Grande restaurant in Alpandeire.

This establishment has been going for 77 years, as it was first opened in 1945 by Encarna, the mother of the present owner. She used to cook the churros herself, and her photograph still graces one of the walls. In 1955, the churrería also became a café.

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Juan, who runs it now with his wife, two children and three members of staff, says his mother taught him everything he knows.

“I have been working here since I was 13; when I was about 18 or 20, when my mother died, I started making the churros,” he says, and he confides that the reason the churros are so delicious is that the oil in which they are fried is changed every day and the dough is made to the traditional recipe.

“I think my father’s experience has something to do with it, too. He has been doing this for 50 years,” says María Alba.

She and her brother plan to continue the business and maintain its traditional image. “The tiles in the room upstairs are the same, so is the counter. We have changed very little because we wanted to preserve the image,” she says.

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Juan sometimes makes around 350 spirals of churros a day. “In summer we are very busy, with all the tourists,” says María, while her father insists that “everything is thanks to the clients who have always come here, though, people from Ronda and the Serranía”.

The establishment is open from 8am to 4pm. "We start with the breakfasts, and we try to be able to close by 4 in the afternoon," says María.