Skina

A Farmhouse on the Golden Mile

The Golden Mile between Marbella and Puerto Banús carries a reputation built mostly on volume: hotel terraces, beachfront grill rooms, and the kind of Spanish-Mediterranean menus that print the same dishes year after year. Skina occupies a different register entirely. The converted old farmhouse opposite the Parque de los Enamorados sits quietly behind its address on Avenida Cánovas del Castillo, and the physical experience of arriving — stone walls, a space that opens into private rooms and terrace areas rather than a single dining hall — signals immediately that the format here is about compression rather than scale. This is a small restaurant doing serious work, and the building reinforces that before you have ordered anything.

That format places Skina within a category of two-Michelin-star restaurants in Spain that operate at limited capacity and high intensity, where the room size is a deliberate editorial decision rather than a constraint. Among the handful of comparable addresses in coastal Andalusia, it sits at the upper end of the price bracket , €€€€ , and prices accordingly against peers in that band rather than against the broader Marbella dining market. For context on what the southern Spanish fine dining tier looks like across the country, Aponiente in El Puerto de Santa María and Quique Dacosta in Dénia operate in a related register , seasonal, place-rooted, and technically precise.

Andalusian Cooking as Environmental Argument

The sustainability story at most modern fine-dining restaurants involves a press release about local suppliers and a chef photograph in a vegetable garden. At Skina, the argument is embedded more structurally in what chef Mario Cachinero is doing with the cooking itself. The approach begins with classic Andalusian recipes and the flavour architecture of the region, then applies technique to extend and clarify those references , not to replace them. This is a form of culinary conservation as much as a creative act. When a kitchen commits to the flavour logic of a specific geography, it implicitly commits to the producers and seasonal patterns that create those flavours.

The Quisquillas dish with Thai broth, referenced in La Liste's documentation of the restaurant, is a useful case. The base ingredient , quisquillas, the small translucent shrimp pulled from the cold Atlantic-influenced waters near Motril on the Granada coast , is a hyper-local Andalusian product with almost no export profile. Framing it against a Thai broth is a technique decision, not a sourcing contradiction: the shrimp remains the point, and the broth is a vehicle for presenting its delicacy in a different context. That kind of attention to a regional ingredient with low commercial visibility is, in practical terms, what sustainable sourcing means at the high end of the market.

This approach connects Skina to a broader movement within Spanish fine dining where returning to regional specificity has become the more adventurous position. The creative energy at places like Azurmendi in Larrabetzu or El Celler de Can Roca in Girona comes partly from how deeply each is rooted in a place. In Marbella, a city better known for international flash than regional rootedness, that commitment to Andalusian identity is a more conspicuous editorial stance.

The Menu Architecture

Three menu formats run in parallel. The à la carte option covers five courses and allows some degree of individual selection. The seasonal menu shifts with what the kitchen is working with at a given moment , the format most directly tied to the sourcing logic described above. The Grand Crú menu pairs the food with what La Liste's assessors describe as extraordinary wines and champagnes, and represents the ceiling of the experience in both ambition and price. The two wine cellars built into the farmhouse, overseen by Marcos Granda , who arrived at this role through sommelier practice rather than through the kitchen , give the wine side of the pairing more structural depth than is typical at restaurants of this size.

The food and wine pairing option, available across the seasonal menu, is the format that most fully expresses Granda's dual authorship of the restaurant. A sommelier running a two-star kitchen is unusual in Spain and creates a drinks program that is integrated rather than supplementary. That distinction matters at the upper price tier, where pairing menus at comparable addresses often feel like a second act appended to the food rather than developed in parallel with it.

Skina is open Tuesday through Saturday for dinner only, with service running from 6:30 to 9:30 pm. It closes on Sundays and Mondays, and takes a closure period from 7 to 22 November. Booking in advance is advisable , the combination of a small room, two Michelin stars, and a single dinner service per night means availability tightens quickly, particularly across the summer season when the Costa del Sol operates at full pressure.

Where Skina Sits in Marbella's Dining Map

Marbella's serious restaurant tier is more varied than its coastal resort reputation suggests. The farm-to-table bracket is represented by Areia, which operates at the €€€ level with a sourcing-first format. Modern Spanish cooking appears at BACK and in the creative work coming out of Messina. Japanese technique has a strong foothold through Nintai. Andalusian cooking in a more traditional register appears at Andala Marbella.

Skina occupies the leading of that local stack by award measure: two Michelin stars held across 2024 and 2025, 81.5 points on La Liste's 2025 ranking, and a position of 169th among European restaurants in Opinionated About Dining's 2024 rankings. The OAD number is particularly useful as a peer-set indicator , it places Skina in a cohort that includes established two-star addresses across France, Italy, and northern Spain, positioning it well above what a purely coastal leisure destination might be expected to produce. The 2023 OAD ranking as one of Europe's leading new restaurants confirms that the recognition accelerated quickly once the kitchen found its current form.

For readers comparing Skina against the broader Spanish fine dining tier, the conversation includes Arzak in San Sebastián and DiverXO in Madrid at the three-star level, and international two-star peers like Le Bernardin in New York City or Atomix in the same city. The company Skina keeps, by award metric, is worth noting before arrival.

For broader Marbella planning beyond the restaurant, EP Club covers the full range: restaurants, hotels, bars, wineries, and experiences.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the vibe at Skina?

Skina is a formal two-Michelin-star restaurant in Marbella, housed in a converted farmhouse on the Golden Mile. The atmosphere is intimate and composed rather than theatrical , a small room, multiple private spaces, and a terrace option, with service structured around a sommelier-led operation. At the €€€€ price point and with 81.5 La Liste points in 2025, it sits firmly in the top tier of Marbella dining and carries the focused energy of a kitchen working at that level.

What dish is Skina famous for?

The Quisquillas dish with Thai broth has drawn specific attention in La Liste's assessment of the restaurant and represents the kitchen's method most clearly: a hyper-local Andalusian ingredient , small translucent shrimp from the Granada coast , treated through a technique that amplifies its character. Chef Mario Cachinero's approach, combining Andalusian culinary roots with precision technique, is the consistent thread through the seasonal menu rather than any single fixed dish.

Is Skina a family-friendly restaurant?

At the €€€€ price point in Marbella's fine dining tier, Skina is designed for adults focused on a serious dinner rather than a casual family meal.