Mandy Hotel: a taste of the Basque Country in Morocco
Located a short distance from Tetouan in a privileged setting, between the sea and the mountains, the Mandy Hotel faces the summer season with new features on its menu
In recent years, the Mandy hotel and restaurant has become a reference point in the area around the Mediterranean coast closest to the city of Tetouan. Located just seven kilometres from Tetouan, the establishment run by Iñaki Villaluenga has built up a significant clientele, including both locals and tourists and visitors to the region.
The Hotel Mandy was launched just over a decade ago. Today, its facilities include a pub, a two-storey restaurant, several bungalows and the swimming pool, around which numerous events are organised in the summer, such as concerts or tastings, which always include a good Spanish wine. As its founder, Iñaki Villaluenga, points out, his clients even come from Ceuta or from the yachts that dock in the nearby marina of Marina Smir.
And the fact is that the ratings that customers give the Mandy Hotel are getting better and better: 4.1 out of 5 on Google; 8.1 out of 10 on Trivago; 4 out of 5 on Tripadvisor; 8 out of 10 on Kayak; 8 out of 10 on Momondo...
Quality products
The basis of his philosophy at the helm of Mandy is to offer quality products that are 100% Moroccan: ‘what I like is what I want to give to my customers. I do all the purchasing management personally. I try to vary the menu little by little. It's a menu that's a bit Spanish, a bit Mediterranean, a bit Basque... The truth is that the customers are very grateful and the Moroccan is adapting to eating things he hadn't eaten before’, says Iñaki Villaluenga.
Among the new features he has introduced for this season are new and exquisite dishes such as caramelised foie gras, or new additions to the downstairs dining room, such as a whole range of different tortillas in the form of pintxos and various tapas, reminiscent of those served in bars in the Basque Country.
All this, with products of the highest quality: meat of Moroccan origin (steaks, sirloin, fillets...), prawns from the Rincón area, sea bass and spider crabs from the Mediterranean.
Added to this is the cider house menu, with cod and other products, and an extensive list of Spanish wines, which is an additional attraction, as the establishment has the required licence to serve alcoholic beverages.
30 years in Morocco
Villaluenga has applied his three decades of knowledge and experience of the Moroccan market to the Mandy Hotel, in various establishments, including a restaurant business in Tangier.
As he points out with regard to the experience of working in Morocco, ‘to work here you have to be professional and know what you are getting into. And then, work in the same way as you would in Spain or any other country in the world: you have to do things well and be direct’.
Now that the summer season is approaching and with the May bank holiday already in sight, it may be the ideal time to visit the Mediterranean coast of Morocco and make a stopover in a place where every visitor feels at home: the Mandy Hotel.
