Plankstek is a Swedish Restaurant on Av Finlandia at the beach front in the Los Boliches area of Fuengirola where the speciality of the house is the Plankstek (Steak on a Plank)

This is a Swedish classic that many thought had been consigned to the 1970’s, but here in Fuengirola and elsewhere like many retro foods it’s popularity has returned (maybe it never waned)

From the outside the restaurant does not look much, perhaps just like any other beachside cafe selling pizza and burgers. Yet once inside viewing the menu you see a few Swedish classics and you realise that there is a much more to this place than first thought.

PLANSTEK BLACK AND WHITE

I have to admit that I am not normally a fan of any food served on a board (or a plank), I am a firm believer in plates. Today though I was turning my whole belief system on it’s head by joining the people happily eating their Plankstek dinners.

I chose the Plankstek Black & White which was a ‘Piece of Fillet of Beef and Piece of Pork Fillet with Bearnaise & Red Wine sauces served with mashed potatoes and vegetables.’

I had seen people eating already with their boards laden with meat and piped mash potato and just knew that I had to have one as well.

The Fillet of Beef (medium rare) and Pork Fillet were both cooked just right for me, juicy and tender, falling apart as I cut through easily. The sauces were thick and rich and alongside the grilled vegetables, peppers and onions were a perfect combination.

It was actually a pretty amazing boardful. In many ways the star of the show being that piped mash which was smooth, buttery and creamy, and really quite divine.

Apparently traditionally Plankstek is served with pommes duchess (duchess potatoes) and maybe that it what these were. I am just common enough to call them piped.

I would certainly eat this dish again and /or any other Plankstek even it is just steak on a plank

FILE OSKAR

If you didn’t want your food on a plank there were other excellent options that did come on proper plates. We also had the File Oskar (Solomillo de Cerdo) which was a Pork Fillet Steak served with red wine sauce and a Bearnaise sauce

This was another really well cooked piece of meat and came with a decent pile of vegetables and salads. It could have done with a bit more of the red wine sauce which seemed to have been added more as a decoration than something practical.

GRATINATED POTATOES

There were options to have the Pork Fillet with mash or with chips but we chose to have it with a bowl of Gratinated Potatoes which were quite unexpectedly good, almost sublime.

I confess that even though I had enough mash on my Plank to feed the many, I also dug into this bowl of cheesy topped deliciousness more than one or two times.

As good as that mash was who can turn down the opportunity to get a big bit of baked cheese on a garlic scallop potato? Not I 🙂

The prices were pretty reasonable both for the quality of the food and for the amount of food. I had the Black and White Plankstek which was on offer at 16.90 Euros, the other dishes were around the same perhaps a little more depending on what meat you chose.

If you didn’t want any of the Swedish dishes you could get a Pizza and a Beer for 9.90, Hamburgers for around 7-8 euro, Pasta, Fajitas, Chicken and Fish were all available for the less adventurous or perhaps less hungry.

In the day I also see that you can get a brandy and a coffee for 3 euro or just sit outside in the sun with a beer and a sandwich. It was a quite chilled out and friendly spot.

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Plankstek is located at

Avenida Finlandia 12, Los Pacos, 952 466 928 Paseo Maritimo 86, Los boliches

You can check them out on their Facebook Page