In Nueva Andalucía, in front of Puerto Banús and behind the Casino Marbella, is one of the best Spanish restaurants specialized in meats: Vôvem. Its manager, Francesc Sole Borrell, assures that he does not know “any other steakhouse in Spain that has such a wide variety of meats as Vôvem”.
With a degree in Business Management & Administration and International Law from Oxford Brookes University, at 46 years of age, and after having managed several companies in the textile sector, Sole Borrell is currently dedicated to the management of two other renowned restaurants in Marbella ( El Gran Gatsby and Magna Café). In addition to Catalan and Spanish, she is fluent in French, English, Italian, speaks some German and started learning Russian a few months ago.
Catalan by birth and Malaga by adoption, he considers himself a lover of this land, defending it wherever he goes and determined to demonstrate the great potential and the enormous possibilities offered by this corner of southern Europe .
With some new projects on the horizon, he is currently focused on the management of Magna Café in Nueva Andalucía, El Gran Gatsby in Puerto Banús, and above all on his latest venture, just over a year ago, Vôvem Asador, a restaurant for lovers of meat and other recipes cooked on the grill with top quality oak wood.
-What differentiating characteristics does Vôvem have compared to other restaurants in its class, what new concept does it bring?
-Apart from the decoration and the restaurant’s own style, with the kitchen and grill seen by the diner, Vôvem is a new concept of steakhouse because in its menu we can find daily more than ten different varieties of beef, displayed in a spectacular display case.
At Vôvem we try to transmit to the customer all the knowledge we have learned about the great and unknown world of premium meats. Ages, breeds, type of feeding, maturation, etc., are explained by the staff in order to guide the customer in choosing the ideal piece and thus ensure that the experience at Vôvem is, at least, different from that of other steakhouses.
-Would it be risky to say that Vôvem offers the best meat on the Costa del Sol?
-I can’t state it categorically, but I can tell you that I don’t know of any steakhouse in our country that has such a wide variety of meats and above all at the level of quality that Vôvem offers on a daily basis. During the six months before opening the restaurant, I visited a large number of cattle farms to see in situ all the processes and all the rooms where the animals are handled, from the stables to the fields where they graze, the type of feed and ingredients that make up the animals’ diet, the cutting rooms, the maturing rooms…. This work is essential to be able to choose the best suppliers and thus guarantee a very high level of product quality.
In the same way, and unlike other restaurants, we have our own maturation chamber which, under optimum temperature and humidity conditions, allows us to control the optimum point of consumption of the meats.
-What can you tell us about the variety of beef breeds that your restaurant offers?
-In the current menu we have different varieties of beef breeds: Friesian, Avileña-Charolais, Fleckvich-Simmental, Galician, Parda Alpina, Rubia Gallega, Berrenda en Colorao, Angus Black from Nebraska, Sayaguesa, national Wagyu, Chilean Wagyu from the natural park of Villarica, purebred Japanese black Wagyu, and finally meat from Bodega El Capricho, considered by the New York Times as the best meat in the world.
-In the face of such a wide variety of meats, does the restaurant offer any kind of advice to diners to better satisfy their tastes?
-Our dining room staff tries to advise the diner according to their tastes. To do so, we indicate for each type of meat the type of texture, the degree of fat infiltration, the type of feeding of the animal, the power both in the nose and in the mouth… In short, we try to get as much information as possible from our customers, to see their preferences and thus be able to offer an unparalleled organoleptic experience.
As an interesting fact to highlight, Vôvem has for some breeds the genealogical tree of the sire, which in some cases allows us to go back to the 50’s of the last century and identify these males, thus demonstrating the pure lines of these specimens.
-Apart from meats, what other dishes can be found in Vôvem’s menu?
-Another of the differentiating aspects of Vôvem is the great gastronomic offer apart from meats. In the new menu that we have just released we can find more than 45 dishes, among which we highlight some magnificent carabinero croquettes, an avocado cannelloni stuffed with seafood, a Wagyu carpaccio with salty vanilla caviar oil and lightly smoked parmesan, the famous coca de foie with caramelized apple, sirloin tartar with fried free-range grilled egg, as well as grilled cod with Wagyu black pudding, baby squid stuffed with mushrooms and vegetables in their own ink, or the very tasty dry rice with seafood cooked over oak and vine shoot wood.
The presentations of the dishes are very careful, at the same level as their preparations. The option to order half portions in some of the recipes, allows diners to share several dishes before starting with the tasting of the meats.
-It is even possible to have some tapas on the terrace, as well as all kinds of mixed drinks and cocktails…
-Vôvem has two spaces united by a large window, and thanks to this we can be seated inside the restaurant enjoying the terrace and vice versa. We complement the gastronomic offer with a very interesting wine list, mixed drinks and cocktails, at really attractive prices.
-What are the opening hours of the restaurant and the terrace?
-Our kitchen is open uninterruptedly from one in the afternoon until midnight, and you can enjoy the magnificent terrace with a cocktail or cocktail until two in the morning.
-Apart from Vôvem, you run two other restaurants in Marbella: El Gran Gatsby, in Puerto Banús, and Magna Marbella, in Nueva Andalucía. Could you describe them briefly?
-Magna Café has been a reference of haute cuisine in Marbella for more than ten years offering an international cuisine that, together with its magnificent views, makes it a must visit in the area of Nueva Andalucía.
This is the fifth year of El Gran Gatsby, located in the best area of Puerto Banus. It has a spectacular terrace from where to contemplate the African coast and Gibraltar enjoying one of the best proposals of Mediterranean cuisine that can be found on the Costa del Sol.
In these summer months it is easy to meet all kinds of personalities who find the ideal place both for its discretion and for its magnificent gastronomic offer, advised by Nando Jubany, Michelin star chef and maximum exponent of the cuisine of tradition, origin and product.
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