Where shall we go for dinner? Those staying in one of the many all inclusive resorts lining the south coast of Tenerife may not need to ask that question. But if like us, you’ve opted to stay in the beautiful hilly north of Tenerife, then you are in for a wonderfully authentic island experience, and the same can be said for the cuisine!
On our trip we almost exclusively visited the northern part of the island (see our one week itinerary in Tenerife) where the island experience is dramatically different to the south, and we had the chance to try out a number of fanstasic local restaurants and bars.
We’ve given you a run down of our favourite, and a bit of an insight into what local Canadian delicacies you can expect to see on the menu.
Canarian Delicacies
Patatas Arrugadas – or are they are fondly known – Wrinkly Potatoes, are one of the delicacies which you should be sure to add to your tapas order while visiting the Canary Islands. Although they don’t look particularly appetizing or interesting, they were one of our favourite dishes. The potatoes are simple new potatoes, but they are boiled with their skins on in heavily salted sea water. Once the potatoes have boiled, they are returned to the heat until the salty water has evaporated from them – this produces both the wrinkles and the white salt crust on the skins.
Canarian dishes are often accompanied by two sauces, the Canary Islands’ answer to Italy’s red and green pesto; Mojo Rojo (red sauce), made from chili pepper, paprika and garlic; and Mojo Verde (green sauce) made from cilantro, parsley, green peppers and garlic. They are a popular accompaniment for wrinkly potatoes or as a side dish to a main meal such as a traditional Canarian rabbit stew. Generally red mojo goes with meat and green mojo goes with fish. We liked how each restaurant had its own take on their homemade mojos – the sauces varied in taste quite dramatically from restaurant to restaurant. The mojo rojo can sometimes be extremely spicy, so watch out before dipping things in to it too exuberantly.
A Barraquito is a popular multi-layered coffee liqueur drink which comes from Tenerife. It is typically served in layers; working our way up the glass we have a layer of condensed milk, then Licor 43 (a popular Spanish coffee liqueur), espresso, frothed milk and topped with cinnamon and lemon peel. The layers are just for show however, and the proper etiquette it is to mix them all together before drinking it. They are extremely nice.
Restaurante Miramar – Garachico
Restaurante Miramar is a beautifully simple restaurant on a terrace over looking Castillo de San Miguel (Garachico Fortress) and the famous Garachico rock pools. This makes it the perfect place for people watching as coach tours flock to the pools as part of their itineraries organised by their package tour operators. The pools were closed due to rough tides when we visited, but I would expect this restaurant becomes reasonably busy for lunch due to its prime location on the sea front. That said, the place felt very local, with very few frills to impress tourists and a menu of fresh fish caught that morning and some classic Canarian dishes. The staff added to the local atmosphere, with refreshingly limited English and an extremely friendly service.
We chose some wrinkly potatoes (accompanied by the best mojo we had all trip), some fried fish balls and a gorgeously tender beef entrecote. This was all priced extremely reasonably as well.
Mirador de Garachico– Garachico
Mirador De Garachico was a much more upmarket affair than the simple tavernas we favoured throughout the trip. If you’re looking for a fancy meal out in northern Tenerife we would certainly recommend this restaurant. It was extremely nice inside; the dining room felt like we were eating in a very posh, flagstone street with two very neat parallel rows of tables along each wall. As well as being a restaurant, Mirador is a wine bar and offers an extensive list of wines, including local Canarian wines and imports.
The food was extremely nice and the chef clearly took a lot of care in his/her presentation of each dish. The tableware was all very extravagant and a big step up in style from everywhere else we had eaten on our trip.
LA PARADA CASA DE COMIDAS – ICOD de Los Vinos
This little gem is on the corner of Icod de los Vinos high street, Calle San Sebastian. We got there at a reasonable time of about 7:30pm when the restaurant was still reasonably quiet and it was a good thing we did; the locals poured in at around 8 o’clock and the place was rocking. We would recommend booking to make sure to avoid disappointment, we were just quite lucky. The restaurant itself has a homely chic to it with tiled floors and wooden paneling; the staff are welcoming and seem to really enjoy their jobs; and the traditional food is hearty and extremely tasty. It’s easy to see why La Parada is so popular with the locals.
We chose a selection of tapas dishes followed by a couple of main courses, eager to try as many different dishes as we could. Our favourites were some local grilled cheese accompanied by red & green mojo and some delicious sugar cane honey, honey fried aubergines and traditional rabbit stew with wrinkly potatoes.
This was another local restaurant where we got a huge amount of food and ended up pleasantly surprised at how cheap it was.
La Casa del Drago – Icod de Los Vinos
This gorgeous little cafe under the famous Dragon Tree in Icod de los Vinos is the perfect place for a drink before dinner. We came here on a couple of occasions to watch the sun go down behind the great tree.
Unless you know this place exists, it’s not particularly easy to find however, as there is no sign on the street indicating that it exists. We hadn’t done our research but luckily stumbled upon it. We thought we were going into a museum as the entrance has some dragon tree mouldings in a glass case and some soft museum-like music playing. We continued down the stairs to a shop stacked with some very nice arts & crafts and artisanal products. Only once we had passed through this shop did we find this quaint little secret garden cafe, with its fushia bougainvillea climbing the wall and the instagramworthy steps which light the way up to the dragon tree.
The cafe does do meals, most of which are targeted at brunchers, but mostly it is a place to come for some cake, wine & cheese or just a casual drink. They have a good selection of local wines and beers and can whip up a Canarian barraquito – which we loved.
Restaurant Tasca Tu Rincón – Alcala
This delightful little restaurant in the main square of Alcala, by the sea front was a great find for lunch. With only a few tables on a parasol shaded terrace, Tasca Tu Rincon is an extremely simple and local dining affair. There are a few different dishes on blackboards in front of the terrace to lure in hungry passers by, but apart from that, the menu is a chefs selection of mixed tapas and that’s about it. The only customisation you can make is to ask to focus the tapas more on meat dishes or fish dishes. The result is that the restaurant cooks a limited number of dishes, but each one is real quality – simple but effective. This also makes it a very reasonable price.
We ordered a mixed tapas and our table got loaded with croquettes, wrinkly potatoes, a skillet of shrimps sizzling in garlic, calamari and a Russian salad.
Restaurant el guanche – Masca
Masca, Tenerife’s answer to Peru’s Machu Picchu , is a little village in the stunning Masca valley of the Teno mountains. El Guanche restaurant is housed in an old school and, perched on the steep mountain side facing directly down the Masca valley it has some of the best lunch time views you can find. The food isn’t bad either. It was our last day in Tenerife when we visited Masca, so we got our last fix of Canarian tapas which included some wrinkly potatoes (obviously), some fried cheese and a Mascan fried omelette. Not the healthiest of meals, but certainly very tasty. The mojo rojo we had here was the spiciest we encountered on our trip, perhaps why they also served us a very nice homemade apple sauce which offset the heat very well.
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