Max Quality
As you have probably gathered by now, we do our fair share of food reviews here at Society Marbella, but dining alongside the chef, now that doesn’t happen quite so often. This month we had the pleasure of dinner with Max Pignataro, Executive Chef of Metro Grupo.
Metro Grupo’s mantra is simple; great food, wonderful settings, professional service and good value. Max is responsible for the first, and most important aspect, overseeing the food in all twelve of the group’s establishments including Alberts Bar and Grill, ; the location for our recent dinner. Overlooking the beautiful port of Cabopino, Alberts offers breakfast, lunch and dinner serving a creative and varied menu packed with seasonal dishes with produce sourced locally as much as possible. Open all year round, it is particularly popular on Sundays for their famous Sunday roast including a hog roast and regular live entertainment with a variety of popular tribute acts.
You meet a lot of characters in Marbella but Max’s story is quite extraordinary; at only 17 years old, he opened his own restaurant in Argentina but that wasn’t where this tale began. From the tender age of six, he helped wash pots and dishes in his father’s restaurant before moving onto cooking when he turned 14. You could say hospitality was in his blood. His father was from Italy and his mother from France, as well as the restaurant, his father also owned a German-French bakery, his grandfather was a cheese-maker and his uncle owned a restaurant in Italy. If anyone was born to cook, Max was. Eager to expand his knowledge he moved to Europe working in restaurants in Portugal, Italy and Spain before settling in London working as the Head Chef at the National Gallery, cooking at the British Library, the Theatre royal and the Institute of Contemporary Art Gallery. His talents also took him across the globe, working in tropical paradises such as the prestigious Fregate Private Island in the Seychelles and Richard Branson’s famous Necker Island.
Hearing Max tell his story, and the passion that he has for food and the art of cooking was not only inspiring, it also had us very excited to get stuck in and taste. We started with the Soft Cajun Chicken Tacos served with chunky guacamole and lime crėme fraiche; the tangy accompaniment completed the spiced chicken effortlessly. Next up was my personal favourite, Chargrilled Iberico Pork Secreto served with spiced apple mashed potato, crispy chorizo and pear cider reduction. Never, throughout all my dining experiences have I sampled a dish bursting with more flavour than this, the pork was as tender as can be, a melt-in-the-mouth moment. I would even go so far as to say this was the nicest pork dish I have sampled in a restaurant, quite a statement I know! To conclude we opted for a meat feast with Albert’s Mixed Grill comprising of steak, lamb cutlet, sausage, chicken and all topped off with a fried egg! If you’re hungry and you mean business, then this is your dish; a pure protein feast, perfectly cooked, seasoned and served…. Metro Grupo pride themselves on great food but we would say this was exceptional. The company wasn’t too bad either!
www.alberts-cabopino.com
