Honest cooking, deep flavors, and closeness: this is El Alimentario, the restaurant by Chef Jaime Tejedor that has conquered the Axarquía.

In the northern area of Torre del Mar, away from the bustling seafront that characterizes the town, in a residential area (Av. Infanta Elena, 1), one of the most unique restaurants in the entire Axarquía is hidden. Its chef describes it as a restaurant that offers "complex simplicity," but what you find as soon as you walk through the doors of El Alimentario is a lot of honesty. The Catalan Jaime Tejedor is the one behind the stoves, a chef with an impeccable resume in haute cuisine who was brought here by love to Benajarafe.

El Alimentario is a truly honest gastronomic restaurant, a reflection of a product and a kitchen with care, with a lot of work, where patience and the flavor of its bases stand out. "It's an austere restaurant, there are no big details, it's very simple," defines Jaime Tejedor himself, who assures that he has built that restaurant he would like to go to. The menu it offers is really honest, I insist, because it provides a result of haute cuisine with contained prices, also abundant, perfect for sharing and enjoying as a couple or in groups.

The "complex simplicity" of Tejedor at El Alimentario is quickly understood in the first bites of his cuisine. Correct and simple plating, without frills, which hide their powerful force upon contact with the palate. The complex work behind some of the dishes –some of them taking two to three days from the start of the recipe– translates into intense, powerful, and clear flavors, enveloping as you taste both land and sea, because in Tejedor's kitchen there is room for everything.

Dishes with personality, patience, and care

In one of those bites with which to start at any restaurant, with a croquette to whet the appetite. In the case of El Alimentario, you begin to understand what kind of cuisine Jaime Tejedor professes. His roast meat croquette with mustard (3.5€) is a win-win, a guaranteed success, a more than deserving representative in the upcoming Malaga croquette contest, powerful and creamy. If separately they are usually a hit, his tuna tartare with herring roe on ajoblanco (25€), as a Malagueño, is a mandatory journey through Tejedor's menu, two concepts that marry perfectly.

The flavor explosion offered by his roasted eggplant with smoked sardine, along with creme fraiche, marmite, and apple (18.5€) easily generates followers, although undoubtedly one of the dishes that surprises are his artichokes carbonara, with cheek, confit yolk, and Parmesan, which invite you to reflect on whether we really need pasta in this usual equation, one of those overwhelming dishes that consolidates the thought that had already settled in the mind of any diner who takes a seat at El Alimentario: when to repeat.

The elegance in Tejedor's kitchen is evidenced in dishes like the ray in meuniere with bimi (24€), where he shows his past and journey with the French cookbook. The point of the ray, unbeatable, especially considering the type of fish it is, especially cartilaginous. Tejedor says that the burnt eggplant you either love it or hate it, although I think it's hard to reject such a companion for his confit lamb terrine (26€), also served with a yogurt sauce.

When you go through a menu and savory dishes with such consistency, nothing makes you think that dessert can compete and fight equally. The mascarpone cream with spicy tomato jam and basil sorbet (8€) is an unbeatable end to the gastronomic journey that Tejedor offers at El Alimentario, a fresh dessert that surprises, justifies, and deserves any visit to the restaurant. The wine cellar cannot be overlooked, with around 270 national and international references, with some select pieces for their uniqueness and minimal intervention. It is also necessary to mention the work in the dining room by Elisabeth Lupiáñez and Víctor Aranda, close and educational.

A tasting menu in growth

El Alimentario seeks to take a further step in its format and its commitment to haute cuisine, expanding and adapting its tasting menu to other standards, between seven and nine courses (70€), very different from its current proposal, with four savory courses and one sweet (49€). The Michelin Star is always a recurring aspiration among haute cuisine chefs, especially for a Jaime Tejedor who already knows what it is to achieve and defend it.

"We all have a bit of ego," says the Catalan, who wants more with El Alimentario but without losing focus: "My goal is for this restaurant to continue to be profitable, which it has been since almost the middle of the first year; that my workers work comfortably, earn a very decent salary and that they continue to be happy as they are now. And if the recognitions come, it will be because we are doing things right. I have no other goal." In any case, Tejedor acknowledges that, in his opinion, "we deserve more recognition than we have," although it is not something that keeps him up at night because "this week we have been almost full all week, for me those are the recognitions, that people leave happy, that's the beautiful thing." Tejedor concludes by highlighting that the tasting menu "I do it for us, to express ourselves, to grow gastronomically because I believe there is a lot of potential and I believe that, the customer we have, deserves that we give them more."

El Alimentario has managed in the most residential area of Torre del Mar, without the big spotlights offered by the capital or Marbella, to have the pages of its reservation book covered every week. El Alimentario is not a casual restaurant, it is a gastronomic restaurant that captivates, that invites you to organize and plan around it, its visit and the enjoyment it offers. Jaime Tejedor is doing things right, and it shows.