The Estepona food market reopens, transformed into a gourmet space

There are places born to be meeting points. And then there are those that are reborn to become the heartbeat of a city. With this concept, the Mercado Santa Ana in Estepona opened this week.

According to what he told Diario Sur, its CEO, the hospitality entrepreneur Quique Ceana, "we wanted to create a space that reinterprets its traditional essence to transform into a completely novel gastronomic, cultural, and social experience in the municipality and also on the Costa del Sol."

Accompanied by an international team with three other partners from Argentina, Belgium, and Chile, Ceana tells Diario Sur that "we have opted for a complete gourmet space, a project that I curiously proposed years ago, during the GIL era in Estepona, but without success because Estepona was not ready yet," he admits. "Today, however, the context has changed, the municipality has grown, and the numbers add up."

After six months of construction and an investment of more than one million euros, the result is a 1,100 square meter space that breathes warmth, history, and modernity. Far from the coldness of an open-plan warehouse, the design aimed to create nooks, intimacy, and atmosphere. Previously sealed windows have been opened, the wall and the San Luis Castle have been integrated into the visual narrative by projecting their stones onto the walls, and something essential has been achieved on the Costa del Sol: "I think we have managed to bring the street inside, with awnings, lights, large windows, and terraces that blur the boundary between inside and outside."

The Mercado de Santa Ana revolves around gastronomic freedom. There are no strict rules or imposed routes: diners can sit wherever they want and build their own experience. "Sushi, Italian cuisine, top-quality Iberian products, Mediterranean offerings, a cellar with more than 600 references, and a cocktail bar that exceeds 300. Everything coexists in harmony, without hierarchies, which is what we were aiming for. There is no space better than another; the whole is what makes the difference," Ceana argues.

And he details that "the initial idea was to maintain traditional market stalls alongside the gourmet space, but the evolution of the sector and the lack of generational replacement led us to redefine the project towards a more experiential proposal. However, we believe that the market spirit remains with the design of open kitchens, a visible fish market, and the constant sensation of movement, of product, of life."

Gastronomic Dynamization

The Mercado Santa Ana also aims to energize the old town and extend its influence to nearby municipalities like Manilva or Casares. With a capacity for 400 seated people and up to 600 in a mixed format, the space is prepared to host everything from casual dinners to large events. In fact, just two weeks after its opening, Ceana confesses that they already have a dozen bookings for the summer.

Leading the culinary proposal are executive chefs Rocío Rodríguez Galán and Javier Villanueva, both with experience in Michelin-starred kitchens. "Our goal is to design a dynamic, balanced menu that surprises and captivates from the first bite," the chef tells us.

We asked about the dish that is already starting to define the market's identity, the one that a person cannot miss if they go to Mercado Santa Ana for the first time. "The duck tataki with kale pesto and pistachio," confesses Rocío Rodríguez Galán, "where we wanted to mix technique and flavor, juicy warm duck meat that melts with the citrus nuances of blood orange and the deep character of the Peking sauce and the smooth Italian pesto."

Strolling through the Market, we see a carefully selected gourmet offering with the arrival of the Asturian brand Coalla, whose founder, Ramón Coalla, has bet on Estepona in a gesture of trust that Ceana especially values. This will soon be joined by new specialized operators, such as a space dedicated to top-quality Iberico from Huelva.

The meticulous cocktail space with pisco sour, margarita, spicy mango, or the frozen ones made by Juan Nicolás; the Italian restaurant by Mario Iadanza, passionate about food and all made to order, who recognizes that carbonara with guanciale and truffle pasta is the most demanded these days; the bakery with sourdough bread of olives or made on-site with the recipe of José Andrés, …

In total, nearly 50 people are already working directly or indirectly in this new Estepona enclave, most of them with years of experience alongside Quique Ceana who now faces the challenge of coordinating a complex, lively, and constantly evolving proposal at Villa Street number 8.