Food Trail In Tenerife

This May, I made a trip to my family home at Tenerife, Canary Islands. I have lived in this town for over 10 years and I am fond of some of the Canarian Cuisine. Initially it was difficult for me to eat their bland food. Spanish don’t eat chillies at all, the closest they come to spicy food is garlic and capsicum. But over the years I have developed a taste for some of the well known dishes. I decided to try only my favorite ones during this one month trip.

I called my brother and told him that I would like to go directly from airport (before going home) to the Venezuelian restaurant (Carejita, my favorite) at Los Realejos, where I enjoy their Areperas. Interestingly, areperas are like big sandwiches , the bread is made of corn, it is deep fried and stuffed with different patties (veg or non-veg), cheese, tomatoes, lettuce and serve with chillies sauce and avocado sauce. My journey from Mumbai to Tenerife was quite long of three flights and transit at two stops. I was too tired to enjoy this meal of Chicken arepera, tequienya and yuca.

Went to visit my family (who were living on other side of the island) after few days and the dinner is must. Da Canio Pizzaria Italanio atSantaCruzDeTenerife has a typical Canarian and Italian food. Papas arugadas, padrones pimentos and championes a la ajo are typical Canarian cuisine enjoyed by locals. Whereas Pizzas, Rissoto campesia, brinjals with tomato and queso and buenueli de avocado gambas aand pollo are italian cusine.

On the day when I went for a drive with my nieces up the narrow slopes of Icod de los Vinos, and then drive down closer to the shores during sunset, we decided to stop by the petrol pump that also has a restaurant with a beautiful view called Mirador. We stopped by for cappuchino, sandwiches and a plateful of french fries dripping of cheese sauce, tomato sauce and ham

Then the day arrived, which was the main reason for making this trip. My nephew’s graduation day celebration at La Ecologia at SantaCruzDeTenerife. Pizza is the favorite of my nephew and the pizzas served in this restaurant were all organic. There were four different types of pizzas like pizza de louigi, capsicum egg plant, basil cheese and almonds and they all were amazing. Besides that I even loved the crispy fried brinjals in caramel sauce.

Las Rosas at LasEspernza is the restaurant where we celebrated the mother’s day. Although we had booked the table, we still had to wait for more than a hour. It was very crowded and this restaurant is well known for roasted meat and tapas (snacks) I specially enjoyed the cheese platter that had different types of cheese and coated with tomato sauce, avocado sauce and cheese sauce…so very rich. Their meat was so tender and juicy. And of course their lovely salads. Since the restaurant did not have much variety for vegetarians, we had taken vegetarian food for some members that were heated in their ovens.  

My niece was particularly eager to have some sushis, so we went to this Asian restaurant at SantaCruz called Daresashu. This seemed to be run by one close knit family with all members working in the restaurant. The service was quick and food was excellent and they even had in-house chilli sauce. We had Phillipino spring rolls. Sushi tempuras. Chicken ramen japanese and chicken tonkatsu.

One day I spent at Corte Ignes mall, shopping all day and tried some typical Canarian cuisine at their food mall on their top floor. Enjoyed the sardines sandwich and tortilla. And that wonderful churro chocolate.

How much can one eat outside if food cooked at home is also equally delicious? Tried my hand on various cuisines that my family enjoys in the evenings. I started going to the store with my brother every morning. There is a restaurant just opposite my brother’s store (Bazar Tejban, thats my brother's shop). Everyday I would see lots of tourists visiting this restaurant opposite our shop, called La Parada. They had Canarian cuisine. I went alone across to taste their food. Just ordered one dish (Squids in Ink with rice and potatoes) for me and the chef prepared specially for me. He understands that Indian prefer spicy food so he added few chillies too and gave me some hot mojos.

Just outside my brother’s store, Bazar Tejban, is a walking plaza. Every Saturday, farmers and natives come with their local produce of breads, sauces, cakes, herbs and fruits. There is cultural program held here with people in traditional dresses singing togather. It’s a tourists attraction and there is some local street food too. I bought papas arrugada and carne de cordero. The gravy was bland but the meat was quite tender.

My family enjoy asian cuisine and they wanted me to try one Chinese restaurant near their house that they frequent a lot. So one evening we went to Tian Li Asiatic Restaurant. They have good vegetarian variety and the vegetarian Sizzlers that had soya chunks, shallots and mushrooms. They were really good. I had my chicken in almonds and noodles. They serve prawn crackers to munch on till the food arrives. Loved those crisps.

There were many invites too where I had free food…lol.. Friends were happy to serve Indian food..mainly fried food and snacks. And we went to this Indian restaurant at Puertodelacruzcalled Indian Express Tandoori and Curry. We had chicken tikka masala, butter chicken, tandoori express platter, bombay aloo and some vegetable cutlets. I would suggest that if you are Indian travelling abroad, don’t bother dining in an Indian restaurant. Their food is cooked to suit the resident’s and tourists taste and is equally bland. It cannot be compared to Indian cuisine back home..so please don’t.

There was good food everywhere. At the restaurants and even at home. The trip was good and am back now..tummy happy.