Els Tinars restaurant is currently run by the third generation of the Gascons-Lloveres - Palagós Vergés family. Its story goes back to 1918 when the parents of Elena Gascons Vergés, the grandmother of Marc and Elena, ran a bakery. Elena Palagós was married to Eduard Gascons, who at that time worked in the cork trade, one of the few industries which existed at that time. Without having the least idea of how to run a restaurant, in 1950 they rented premises situated on the promenade in Sant Feliu de Guíxols and decided to open an establishment, the Restaurant Bahia.
Tourism had not yet arrived on what was to become the Costa Brava. The arrival of the first (very few) tourists in 1953 led the Restaurant Bahia to become a well-known night spot, to which people came from all over the area. La Chunga, Gades and others started out there and its clients included Ava Gardner and Elisabeth Taylor, who stayed in the Hostal de la Gavina in S´Agaró. The restaurant was so spectacularly successful that over 800 meals were served in a single day.
The night spot became the number one establishment in Spain in sales of cava. The father of Marc and Elena, Eduard, joined the restaurant in 1963 as an assistant waiter, after attending different catering schools (Girona; Sant Pol de Mar and a stay in Switzerland, at Lausanne). The tourism boom was now in full swing, and they bought a house at the end of the promenade in 1965, which became the Hotel Bahia. Because of its position and as it was a family hotel, the hotel was full up for nearly six months of the year, which was the length of the tourist season in those days. In 1970 Eduard and his future wife Maribel began working together, which they did until 1975.
This was until the opening in May 1978 of the modern Restaurant Els Tinars, where they both started working. Today the Eduard and Maribel’s children run the establishment, which has become a modern, up to date restaurant with high-quality cuisine which is at once contemporary and traditional, taking as its principal theme seasonal local produce. Els Tinars has become a restaurant frequented by regular, local clients, many of them foreigners who have lived in the area for several years.
