Mesón Alegría

Granada · Since 1979

The house Carmen lit

What began as a place to make whoever sat at the table happy has been cooking for forty-seven years, without a single day's pause. This is the story.

Timeline

Forty-seven years, day by day

  1. 1979

    The first fire

    Carmen López Morales and Manuel Fernández Vílchez open Los Mariscos on Plaza del Carmen. The beginning.

  2. 1995

    The Mesón is born

    On Calle Moras, next to Teatro Isabel la Católica, the holm-oak charcoal oven is lit for the first time. The family's masterpiece.

  3. 1998

    1st Tapa Fair

    We launch the gastronomic fair that changed the way Granada eats tapas.

  4. 2006

    Lyric dinners

    Glasses clink with arias. The Mesón fills with music and with Estrella, Enrique, El Cigala.

  5. 2014

    Corpus stall

    We bring the embers to Granada's biggest fair. Every year since.

  6. Today

    Always loving, never forgetting

    Carmen, the daughter, continues her mother's work. The fire has not been out a single day.

Manuel Fernández y Carmen López, fundadores del Mesón Alegría

In memoriam

Carmen López Morales

Founder · 1979 — eternal

She was the secret behind the flavours that have charmed every guest since 1979 — yet she never wanted to leave the kitchen to collect a medal. By five in the morning she was already kneading the migas, cleaning the fish, mapping out the day. A woman who will live forever on the palates of those who loved her cooking.

«She was a woman of the house. Always inside the kitchen. The maker of everything, but never one to take the credit. By five in the morning she was already preparing the migas, cleaning the fish, organising the day. A patient soul, devoted to her family's faith.»

Carmen, daughter of Carmen López Morales · Ideal

Always loving

Always loving, never forgetting

More than a slogan, it is our way of seeing life. We still cook with the same excitement as on the first day.

In the press

What's been written about the Mesón

Five articles in Diario Ideal capture what this house means to Granada — from the lighting of the oven in 1995 to the farewell to Carmen.

Mesón Alegría