Summer has well and truly arrived for us – you can tell as we have had a stream of visitors which means that we are again searching out new and fabulous places to take them! One of these is Casa Joya – their website is here. We can’t claim the credit for finding it – indeed it has been recommended to us by lots of our friends over the past year, and it has taken my parents to arrive again to venture out and finally go there!
Casa Joya view
And wow! I would say it is one of the best places to go around us – the setting is just beautiful – but I must mention it is a little off the beaten track, but certainly not difficult to find. From the motorway, you take junction 553 to Huercal Overa and head north through Santa Maria De Nieva and look for the Casa Joya sign after the 13km marker. The drive there is ever so slightly challenging, but the road is good and the scenery of hills and wild flowers worth it.
Restaurant interior
Once you see the Casa Joya sign, it is very well signposted right to their door – the setting as said is just beautiful – tranquil and impressive at the same time. It is an old cortijo which has been transformed into an eclectic mix of Spain and Zimbabwe (Mary, one of the owners, is from there, here husband James is the chef) and has a wonderfully homely and welcoming atmosphere.
Dinner menu
The great thing about this restaurant is that you can stay overnight if you want to tuck into the wine – we on this occasion didn’t, but certainly will at some point. We settled down to looking at the very tempting menu over drinks – much more sophisticated than we are used to around here and very welcome too – I completely went off diet for the night! I think James must spend 22 hours in the kitchen, as everything appears to be made from scratch, (including the half dozen or more homemade desserts). There is something for everyone’s taste and all beautifully presented and delicious. We ordered a variety of dishes, from my goats cheese and caramelised onion tart, to fish cakes, to langoustine and mussels to start and from rabbit to monkfish for mains and everything in between. Each dish was utterly delicious.
Grilled Prawns and Mussels
Pork stuffed with black pudding
Date and Prune sticky toffee pudding
On face value it seems pricey for dinner so don’t go expecting a 12 euro menu del dia – this is in every way far superior to that and more a gourmet experience – if this were France you would expect to pay three times as much as the 26 euro price for two courses (29 euros for three). Lunch is an utter bargain at 16.95 and 19.95 euros for 2 or 3 courses respectively. So think of it as a special occasion venue which still offers magnificent value for money in our opinion.
I just can’t wait to go back again, maybe for lunch very soon!
Casa Joya telephone number: 699 005 024
Yummy Almeria 
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