Uni restaurant at the Puente Romano Hotel in Marbella is part of an elite chain located at some of the most prestigious locations around the world.
The setting at the Puente Romano certainly falls within this remit, situated overlooking the ‘Plaza’ with neighbours such as Dani Garcia’s Bibo, Joe’s Bar and Thai Gallery.
Uni is pronounced ‘oo-ni’ and is the Japanese word for sea urchin. However, Uni is not a typical Japanese restaurant; it is fusion of Peruvian and Japanese called Nikkei formed by the large communities of Peruvians with Japanese heritage. It might sound a little strange as a fusion but it really does work.
There is a fantastic choice of mouth-watering dishes available on the comprehensive menu but as we were new to this type of cuisine, we opted for the Nikkei tasting menu at 70€ per head. There was another option at 90€ per head which included a ‘drinks’ pairing but we wanted a nice crisp bottle of white wine with our food.
Having been shown to our table, on an intimate terrace overlooking the plaza, we ordered our wine and were quickly give a little taster on the house of fried noodles with oriental diced vegetables. Our taste buds were already delighted with the different flavours this simple dish offered, and we were ready and pretty excited about the food that was due to arrive.
Our first dish was a bowl of edamame beans sprinkled with salt and paprika, or more descriptively called ‘Edamame with Togarashi’. They were perfectly cooked and really tasty. While we were tucking into these another dish arrived of two little tacos, one salmon and the other crab. These were bite sized and full of flavour.
Next to arrive was Hamachi Ceviche with Yellow Aji Wasabi and Coriander. I think you can tell just by the description of the dish how tasty this was.
This was followed by Truffled Wigyu Tiraditos which again was delicate and full of flavour. They were ultra-thin slices of beef with truffles.
In between these amazing dishes we were washing them down with a crisp Rueda Sauvignon Blanc white wine, which balanced perfectly with the slightly spicy food.
The next dish was Patagonian Cod with Orange Miso Glaze served with Aji Red Chilli. This dish was truly amazing and we were both left sitting there in food heaven.
Just as our taste buds started to calm down the final dish arrived. It was Lamb Cutlets with Anticuchera and Teriyaki Sauce, served with a bowl of rice. Once again our taste buds were leaping.
The last two dishes of the tasting menu were probably some of the best food we have EVER eaten.
Finally we decided we wanted something sweet to end so we ordered off of the normal menu. We opted for coconut coated ice cream lollipops which came with fruit and a caramel dipping sauce.
Uni at the Puente Romano Hotel in Marbella was one of the best meals we have eaten in Spain and we will most definitely being going back to explore the a la carte menu.
Our total bill was around 200 euros for two tasting menus, a dessert to share, a bottle of white wine and a bottle of still water.
It is obviously not a cheap restaurant but in our opinion, it was worth every penny (centimo) we spent and comes highly recommended for a special occasion or for foodies who want something different.
