“Tropicana” Romántica

Celebrating St Valentine’s Day in style

By Paul Whitelock

Thursday, February 15, 2024 

The Tropicana is a restaurant in Ronda. We used to go when it was a tiny place on a corner on Avenida de Malaga. Then, around 2019, they purchased premises in the centre of Ronda, and refurbished the local. Then came the Coronavirus pandemic, with its lockdowns, and the team, led by father and son, both called José Antonio, had to adapt their plans. 

Since the “all clear”, however, this fine restaurant has established a strong reputation and it’s hard to get a table these days. Well, it's number 2 in Ronda on TripAdvisor.

14 February 2024

We tried to book last year, but they were full. This time I booked a few days in advance and there was no problem. On arrival last night, there was a sign outside informing would-be diners that Tropicana was fully booked.

Polite staff showed us to our table in a well-designed and spacious dining room. We checked out the menu to a background of foreign voices, some English, but, astonishingly, lots of Italian. Was there a conference in town?

Of course, at 8.30 pm there were no Spanish – far too early for them. 

Our food

For our entradas (starters) we opted to order two and share.

We went for ensalada tropicana, which as the name suggests had some tropical fruit in it with a variety of leaves and a scoop of ice cream. We also chose croquetas de la casa. Both were delicious.

For our main courses Rita chose pulpo (octopus) and I went for conejo (rabbit), which you don’t see much on menus these days. 

But what to drink? Red? White? We went down the middle and chose rosado – Cloe, from local bodega, Doña Felisa.

Rita found her pulpo sensational, and I thoroughly enjoyed my conejo. There was no buckshot to contend with, which has been my experience with this dish in the past.

The wine, nicely chilled, went well with both the “fish” and the “meat”.

Nicely replete, we nevertheless shared a dessert, tarta de zanahoria (carrot cake). Not too sweet, except for the Chantilly cream, which we ended up scraping off.      

All in all, a very pleasant evening. The bill came to 106 euros, which, for what we’d consumed, was perfectly in order.

The best bit was, Rita paid, her Valentine’s gift to me.  

© Paul Whitelock

Note:

This article first appeared on www.eyeonspain.com 

Click here: “Tropicana” Romántica (eyeonspain.com) 

Photos:

Main photo courtesy of Restaurante Tropicana

All other photos by Paul and Rita Whitelock 

Further information and Links:

Restaurante Tropicana, Calle Virgen de los Dolores, 11, 29400 Ronda (Malaga) Tel: 952 87 89 85

www.bodegadoñafelisa.com 

www.help-me-ronda.com 

Restaurante Tropicana - Restaurante Ronda (negocio.site) 

Tags:

Bodega Doña Felisa, Cloe, conejo, croquetas, ensalada Tropicana, Pablo de Ronda, pulpo, Rita, Ronda, rosado, tarta de zanahoria, tropical fruits, Tropicana, zanahoria