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.
