It was with sadness that I received the news that and old friend and a friend of those of us involved in the theatre at the beginning, restaurateur Juan Sanchez recently passed away. Juan used to have Meson de Juan behind the bus station in Fuengirola and after there moved to Los Boliches (Juan’s Bistro) A carpenter by trade and a great chef by gift (and hard work) Meson de Juan was the go to place after rehearsals, cast parties and a lunch for 450 pesetas that could never be beaten. Helped by his then wife Christine they were the most popular couple. Although Spanish (with perfect English) he cooked classic French/English dishes. I had a reason to have my friend Gary Rhodes second chef visit me to take on a new project and we went to several restaurants including Meridiana, La Fonda and La Hacienda. On the day we were going back to the airport we had lunch at Meson de Juan and Chef Mark said it was the best meal we had eaten since he had been here. Not a bad compliment from a Michelin trained chef! Sadly Christine also died some months ago and his long term girlfriend Belinda as well, both from Cancer. Juan died of a heart attack from an enlarged heart; that’s probably because he always had a big heart. My thoughts are with son Mark and daughter Veronica. RIP Chef.
