The reasons for this flight to the sun will become clear next weekend.
It was just over 10 years ago when we first ventured to Tenerife, to the north of this Spanish Atlantic island that is beautifully warm even in winter. I left impressed by its natural beauty; the views; El Teide volcano, the highest point on Spanish soil; the relentless sea on all sides; by its wines and its food; and especially by its small potatoes (pictured above).
We revisited recently in search of warm, dry air. And of course there are the restaurants and the island’s wines which seem to get better and better – although there are of course exceptions … read on.
First, however, to two long-established, well-run restaurants – La Torre del Mirador and Asador La Camella – which could not, in style, menu and location, be more different from each other.
It would be entirely justifiable to recommend the former, albeit in one of the busiest stretches of the island’s south-western coast, simply for its view. This popular restaurant, divided into two with the upper part where we sat, is perfect for enjoying the sun setting over the Atlantic.
Our table next to the reception desk gave us an extra pleasure: of people-watching. Watching the crowds heading back to their hotels after a day on the beach, and the customers queuing patiently to check anxiously whether they had a table. There were babies in pushchairs, several women leading their husbands on walking sticks, entire families, and several couples seemingly on their honeymoon. This is a restaurant for everybody.
It was easy to see how well-managed the seaside establishment is, in this case by the Sides family. The waiting staff in their green-braid jackets know the drill and, like the staff at J Sheekey in London, Zuni Cafe in San Francisco and Union Square Cafe in New York, know when to intervene, when to offer advice and when to leave well alone. It all fits – sitting here is like putting on a pair of comfortable gloves.
Often a bad sign, the menu comes in several languages, including Russian. It is well thumbed and is full of enticing dishes. We began with a serving of padrón peppers and of chopitos fritos (fried baby squid), and we followed this with a fillet of turbot and a carpaccio of langoustine. It seemed only sensible to add an order of the famous local potatoes, papas arrugadas, small, crisp and with just the right amount of salt and served with the customary two sauces, mojo verde and mojo rojo. I followed this with a crema catalana, its top neatly grilled, the cream underneath not too sweet.
With all this we drank an appetising bottle of 2022 Trenzado from Suertes del Marqués, extremely good value at €41, and I paid a bill of €154 for the two of us.
And now for meat lovers. Asador La Camella is in an unglamorous village high above the tourist centre on the coast. It’s located in a row of shops that includes a Chinese restaurant called Hong Kong and a sports bar called Blackpool. There is no doubt about the Asador’s speciality. There is a poster of a huge rib of beef by the entrance, a bull’s head is fixed over the door to the dining room from the terrace, and several legs of ham hang across a blown-up photo of pigs cavorting in a field. Just by the entrance to the spotless and spacious kitchen is a glass-fronted maturing room with the numerous varieties of beef named in red ink above.
The service is extremely friendly – as it was wherever we went – and their wine list is extensive. We chose a Roda Rioja that was an excellent accompaniment to the meat. There is talent in this kitchen – Jancis enjoyed a bowl of escaldon (a local dish of vegetables with maize flour with slices of onion round the side to use as spoons, pictured below) as a first course and well-seasoned thickened chickpeas (garbanzas) as a main.
I took full advantage of the grill via my choice of South American-style butifarra sausage and a generous platter of grilled lamb chops with excellent chips. The heat of the grill, the salt and the sweet fat could be tasted in the meat. My bill for two came to €85.70 but we did not really do justice to Asador La Camella, which is undoubtedly a restaurant for larger tables and for those with large appetites.
And now for the restaurant I do not recommend, Jardin at the Royal Garden Villas. The best thing about it was my glass of Tio Pepe sherry.
Massively over-designed with shiny porcelain leopards on every surface, the menu needs considerable attention from its chef, Bruno Lorenzo. A leek pie constituted less than one leek, its sauce was meagre and there was no pastry topping. And for a dark meat such as a cooked shoulder of goat, there has to be a better-looking sauce than a reduced and even darker jus? A waste of €147.17, not least because Jancis had to take an Imodium just before leaving the restaurant.
Finally, on the last night and sadly without JR, to a restaurant that I would happily return to, at least once a week if I lived in Tenerife. Asador Goxoa – goxoa being Basque for delicious – is the creation of restaurateur Aitor Martín.
He would be first to acknowledge, however, that he owes a great deal to growing up in the family restaurant, the well-known Mesón Castellano, which just happens to be next door. Five years ago, Martín decided to branch out and opened Goxoa, which looks radically different: clean and modern in design, with a bar and glass wine fridge along one wall and an open kitchen in the corner of the other.
Behind the kitchen are of course the chefs and an impressive looking open grill. But the real show is between where the waiting staff stand and the chefs work. In a large display cabinet were large carabinero prawns fished off Lanzarote; expensive white strawberries (€18 a punnet!); and a huge basket of green, yellow and red tomatoes. All this plus a vast array of meat.
I let Martín (pictured above, at work) choose what we were to eat. We begin with a refreshing salad of various tomatoes and melon followed by a tuna tartare served on a piece of bone marrow. This preceded what is for me the highlight, a perfectly grilled, huge carabinero prawn that was absolutely delicious.
And then for a main course came grilled abadejo, a pollock, whose sweet flesh was accentuated by a sweet, pil pil sauce. With all this we drank an excellent bottle of footballer David Silva’s wine, Tamerán, a Baboso Blanco 2022, made on his native Gran Canaria.
From Señor Martín I learnt a great deal, not all of it encouraging. In the Canary Islands, thanks to higher demand and far more restaurants than before, the price of all the main ingredients, particularly fish, is increasing rapidly. And even papas arrugadas, the local potatoes, which apparently should be black on the outside and yellow in the middle, are today far more expensive and harder to find than they once were. But they are well worth looking out for, and paying for.
La Torre del Mirador Centro Commercial El Mirador, Avenida de Bruselas, 38678 Adeje, Santa Cruz de Tenerife; tel: +34 922 71 22 09
Asador La Camella Carretera General La Camella, C/Cerraja, Edificia Miana 68, 38627 La Camella, Tenerife; tel: +34 922 72 07 28
Asador Goxoa Av Antonio Dominguez, Residencial El Camisón locales 35 y 36, 38660 Playa de Las Américas, Tenerife; tel: +34 922 88 39 95