The Baños del Carmen spa in Málaga returns to its origins

El Balneario restaurant begins a new chapter, marked by what its managers define as a "return to the origins, to its roots." The year 2025 was marked at this location by a period of different management, seeking an international clientele with higher purchasing power; with a model that seemed to imitate some well-known luxury dining brands on the Costa del Sol.

However, after a year of this experience, the managers observed that this move had led to the distancing of their regular clientele, and the loss of some already established events. In response, the management changed at the beginning of the year and there is a new commitment to recover the gastronomic and family concept that established the enclave as a benchmark in Málaga over the last decade.

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The partners have decided to make a drastic change. The direct management of the establishment is now in the hands of José Luis Ramos and Damián Caneda. This change seeks to reverse the drift of the last few months, in which, according to Ramos, there was an attempt to transform the spa into "what it is not and cannot be." For this new stage, the spa has brought back two key figures in the great transformation that took place when the current partners joined in September 2014. Thus, Antonio Baños returns to the management. Meanwhile, Adolfo Jaime, dean of Malaga chefs, will help as an advisor to recover the menu he created years ago.

"We want to return the essence of its cuisine to the restaurant. One of the first tasks we have set ourselves has been the reconstruction of Adolfo's recipe book, which had been lost under the previous administration," says Ramos. "It is about recovering the original hallmark that was the key to the business's success."

Regaining Loyal Customers

With all this, the intention is to regain the customers and groups that had stopped coming to the spa in recent months. Also, the return of events, charity events, and professional groups, which had recently moved to other locations, and some of which have already begun to return to Baños del Carmen, such as the recent celebration of the Olivares Foundation party.

Damián Caneda, president of the society, is clear: "The goal is to return the space to the people of Malaga." "We want to focus on the positive, on the change of stage and on becoming a place where all Malaga residents can come," he asserts. The new proposal shuns labels of exclusivity to embrace its original nature: "We want to be a place for everyone again, family-friendly, for the average Malaga resident, not elitist."

The new management has designed a proposal where the kitchen returns to be the absolute axis of the business, where the menu prioritizes seafood and the traditional recipe book of the province. "We are returning to what it has always been: a seaside place to eat with family," emphasizes Caneda. Therefore, the protagonists of the table will be skewers, rice dishes, and dishes so characteristic of Malaga and Adolfo's cuisine such as gazpachuelo, which will again be a flagship of the house. Therefore, the entrepreneur concludes: "We seek to focus on Malaga gastronomy and the local public."

Antonio Baños, a much-beloved figure in the local hospitality industry who was temporarily out of the project, rejoins to lead a human team composed of about 50 permanent staff, a number that will be reinforced with the arrival of the high summer season. In this way, the operational structure is prepared to respond to a capacity of more than 300 diners seated per shift.

In addition, the versatility of the space for social events, weddings, and charity meetings will be recovered. "This place, besides being a restaurant, has an emotional component that must be managed. It's not like opening a McDonald's; someone from outside doesn't always understand what this means for Malaga," reflects Caneda.

The Terrace Reopens

Although the main focus is the restaurant and gastronomy, El Balneario does not renounce its status as a privileged viewpoint. The historic upper terrace, on the roof of the building, has been rehabilitated and will be the place for drinks and cocktails, while watching the sunset over the Bay of Malaga. It is currently open on weekends, and in summer it will open daily.

With this move, El Balneario closes a parenthesis in its recent history to try to recover the place it has had for more than a decade in a city that feels this corner as its own. Under the slogans of respect for gastronomic tradition and with the doors open to the people of Malaga.