With a name like Los Bandidos, you can never really be sure what you’re going to get – even if you’re familiar with the 36 years of history of the Puerto Banús outpost in Marbella, Spain.
Beyond the As Sulimaniyah’s restaurant’s velvet-roped entrance, Los Bandidos is decked out in black-and-white murals of gangsters from both Hollywood and the real world.
Despite the kitsch aesthetic, the atmosphere is relatively elegant Old Hollywood, brightened by white tablecloths and floor-to-ceiling windows, and French tunes piped through the room. If you thought the setting was unlikely, the menu is perhaps more so.
Servers want to ensure you’re well fed – very well fed – so pace yourself before ordering four plates from the get-go. Los Bandidos leans into a broad spectrum of European cuisine, focusing on French dishes and Swedish specialties by way of Spain and straight to Riyadh.
With warm olive bread with homemade herb butter brought to the table after ordering, it sets reasonable expectations for the meal ahead.
Los Bandidos’ supposedly famous shrimp pil pil has had the same recipe for 25 years, but here it hasn’t quite cracked sourcing the best prawns for the job, nor the promised chilli and herbs.
Overall, desserts fair best.
Dig into a coin-thin warm apple tart that may be skinny (fret not, it comes with ice cream) but doesn’t want for flavour.
Los Bandidos is in a trendy area, keeping company that includes the likes of Oulu, Shababik and Jolt Café, with ROKA, COYA and Beefbar just down the street. For now, the jury’s still out on whether this player has the muscle to edge out some real dons of dining.
