OFF-TOPIC: Málaga’s Underground Dinners for Just Ten Guests

A New Way to Dine in Málaga

Málaga’s food scene has welcomed an experience that operates differently from a conventional restaurant. OFF-TOPIC is a series of private dinners bringing together one guest chef and ten diners in an unusual location for a single evening.

The menu, setting and culinary host change with every event. A private home, creative studio or other unconventional venue is temporarily transformed into a restaurant serving a proposal designed exclusively for that occasion.

Its limited capacity is central to the concept. Instead of filling a large dining room, the experience aims to bring conversation back to a shared table and create closer contact between the chef and the people tasting the food.

Menus Served for One Night Only

Guest chefs are given the freedom to prepare dishes that might not fit the regular menus of their restaurants or culinary projects. The result is a one-off menu shaped by the season, available ingredients and the personality of each participant.

Food, wine, decoration and location are treated as parts of the same experience. The venue is more than a backdrop, helping to create a distinctive atmosphere for each dinner.

OFF-TOPIC therefore moves away from permanent tasting menus and traditional food events. Every edition works as a miniature culinary residency that begins and ends on the same evening.

Independent Chefs Around One Table

The project has been launched by Málaga-based agency GOMA to provide a platform for young chefs, independent projects and professionals interested in experimenting beyond their usual kitchens.

The chefs connected with its early editions include Fátima Villanueva, SrCangrejo’s Jesús León and Pedro Aguilera. Each brings a different approach to ingredients and the creation of a complete dining experience.

Álex Paz and Olga García, the team behind Fuentelgato, have also hosted one of the dinners. Previously based in the small town of Huerta del Marquesado in Cuenca, their project became known for personal, constantly evolving cooking built around seasonality and the best ingredients available.

A Ten-Guest Fuentelgato Dinner

Fuentelgato’s appearance in Málaga featured a menu developed specifically for a single evening. It opened with tomato and red pepper, followed by white prawns with cauliflower and mussels.

The meal continued with nettles, spinach and snails; salt cod rice with fried green pepper; and rabbit with roasted garlic. Wine and muscatel ice cream provided the final sweet course. A specially selected range of wines accompanied the menu.

The event followed the closure of Fuentelgato’s chapter in Huerta del Marquesado, giving diners an opportunity to experience the team’s cooking during its transition towards a new project.

A Different Location for Every Edition

OFF-TOPIC does not have a permanent home. Each dinner is announced with a new location selected to complement the chef and menu.

One of the venues connected with the initiative is Lago Interioriza, a Málaga creative studio specialising in restaurant, hotel and workplace design. Its involvement brings interior design into the dining experience, temporarily transforming the space around a single table.

This changing setting introduces an additional element of discovery. Guests attend not only to try an exclusive menu, but also to enter a place that would not normally operate as a restaurant.

How to Book a Place

Dates, guest chefs and menus are announced separately before each edition. With only ten places available at each dinner, reservations can fill quickly and are generally allocated in booking order.

Prices, exact locations and booking arrangements may vary between events. The organisers publish this information through their own channels and GOMA’s Instagram account, @wearegoma.

Guests should check the menu conditions before booking. Due to the fixed nature of some editions, adaptations for allergies, intolerances or dietary preferences may not always be possible.