José Carlos García moves back to his parents' Café de París
The Málaga chef leaves Muelle Uno after 15 years for the family restaurant where he won his first Michelin star, with a smaller room, an à la carte menu and a star still to be confirmed.
José Carlos García opened AHORA, LIBRE in Málaga on 28 September 2026, moving his Michelin-starred restaurant from the Muelle Uno port development into the Café de París, the family restaurant where he trained with his parents and won his first star in 2001.
The new address is Calle Vélez Málaga 8 in La Malagueta, beside the Centre Pompidou Málaga and about 300 metres from the dock where he cooked for 15 years. According to Andalucía Económica the dining room is smaller than the old one; no cover count or menu prices have been published.
Lourdes Luque, García's wife and business partner, runs the room and the wine. The couple bought the Café de París from his parents; it had been closed since the pandemic and was refurbished for the move, El Español reported in June.
A smaller room, a carte and the family address: García is betting his star on going home.
Why José Carlos García left Muelle Uno
The Muelle Uno restaurant opened in 2011 on a 1,000-square-metre site after an investment of around €2 million, García told the food site 7 Caníbales in June. Only about one in ten guests lived in Málaga, he said, and the restaurant had already cut back to a single daily service in January 2026.
He framed the decision as personal, not financial: "Por una necesidad vital, volvemos a casa" – out of a vital need, we are going home. Over the summer the old dining room served a retrospective menu of dishes from its 15 years, some of which, he told El Español, will not be cooked again.
An à la carte menu under a new name
The biggest change is on the page. The Michelin Guide entry for Muelle Uno describes two tasting menus and no à la carte. AHORA, LIBRE offers both: a tasting menu and a carte in four chapters, Entrantes, Mar, Tierra and El Momento Dulce, according to El Español.
Opening dishes include Motril shrimp with roasted pepper juice and yoghurt, sea bass with liquid potato gnocchi, sole meunière, beef tenderloin with Café de París butter and a roasted reineta apple tart.
The star does not travel automatically. Michelin inspectors agreed to visit the new address and will decide whether to keep, raise or withdraw it, El Español reported. Relocations are not always kind to stars, as Deliranto's move away from Salou showed last week.
For a chef whose first star came 25 years ago in the same building, the verdict arrives with the next Michelin Guide Spain selection. Until then, the confirmed change is on the door: a smaller room, a carte and the family address back in use.
