Roda Golf Debuts New Clubhouse Restaurant Menu for Summer 2026

You could smell it before you saw the new menu board. Wandering up from the ninth green last Thursday evening, sun still hanging stubbornly over the Sierra de Carrascoy, I caught the char of something grilling on the clubhouse terrace that I didn't recognise from the old card. Turned out to be octopus, blistered and smoky, resting on a bed of Murcian potato that had clearly seen a lot more than boiling water. My usual patatas bravas order suddenly felt like old news.

Roda Golf's clubhouse restaurant has quietly swapped out most of its menu for something with far more local backbone, and after eating there three times this week (purely for research purposes, obviously), I think it's the best change the resort's made to the dining side in years.

What's actually changed on the plate

The old menu wasn't bad, it just played it safe. Burgers, club sandwiches, a paella on Sundays if you asked nicely. The new summer card leans hard into what's grown and caught within about twenty minutes of the clubhouse doors. There's a chilled tomato and almond soup that owes more to Jumilla than gazpacho purists might expect, a marinera that actually uses proper Cartagena anchovy rather than the tinned stuff, and a rice dish finished with prawns from the Mar Menor that turns up glistening and slightly smoky from the paella pan.

What struck me most was the tomato. Rosa de Muchamiel, sliced thick, dressed with nothing more than good oil and flaky salt, served as a starter on its own. It's the kind of dish that only works if the tomato is genuinely excellent, and this one was. Simple food done properly, which is harder to pull off than a menu full of sauces and foams.

Puddings haven't been left out either. There's a version of torta de calabaza that a few of the greenkeeping lads swear tastes like their grandmother's, and paparajotes appear as a summer special on Friday and Saturday nights, dusted with cinnamon sugar and served warm enough to fog your sunglasses.

Terrace dining for the July heat

Timing matters more than the food this month. Nobody sane wants a hot plate at 2pm in July, and the kitchen seems to know it. Lunch service now runs lighter, salads, gazpachos, cold cuts, the kind of food you can eat in the shade without it fighting the heat. The real shift happens from around 8pm, when the terrace catches a breeze off the Mar Menor and the course empties out for the evening.

That's when the grill comes alive properly. Book a table for 9pm and you'll watch the sky over the fairways go through about four different shades of orange before it's fully dark, which does wonders for a plate of grilled lamb chops from Jumilla. It's become the spot several of us head to after a late nine, when the heat's dropped and the course lights start flickering on across the fairways you can see from Roda Golf's championship course.

A word on booking

Word's already got around. Friday and Saturday terrace tables were fully booked both weekends I tried, so if you're staying nearby and fancy the new menu, ring ahead rather than turning up hopeful. Guests staying in holiday rentals near Roda Golf get priority booking through reception, which is worth knowing if you've got a group coming out for a golf week.

Why it matters beyond the food

There's something bigger going on here than a menu refresh. Roda's clubhouse has always been a decent place for a post-round beer, but it's never really been a destination in its own right, somewhere you'd drive to on purpose rather than just end up because you'd already played eighteen holes. This new direction, leaning on Murcian produce and proper technique rather than trying to please everyone with a bit of everything, feels like the first real attempt to change that.

It also fits neatly with what's happening around the wider Los Alcázares and San Javier area this summer, where a fair few restaurants have started doubling down on regional ingredients rather than chasing the generic Costa Blanca tourist menu. Roda's just caught up with what Santiago de la Ribera and Lo Pagán have known for years: you don't need to reinvent Murcian food, you just need to stop apologising for it.

If you're out this way over the coming weeks, whether you're playing the course or just passing through on holiday, it's worth building an evening around. Get a tee time that finishes as the light starts to soften, then wander straight up to the terrace. Ask what's fresh that day rather than reading the whole board, the kitchen seems happiest when you let them decide.

Worth mentioning too, if you fancy checking availability for tables or want details on staying on site during the change, the team's easy enough to reach through the resort's contact page. For more on what else is happening around the resort this summer, our resort news updates are worth a browse before you book.