Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
1
Sitting at the port end of Av. De Suecia, Jamon y Mojo is a deli with a few tables for eating in or, to be more precise, eating out, as most are on the pavement. The “eating in” bit is from a short menu of tapas dishes – top quality products that are a far cry from the tapas meals of the tourist restaurants. The plates of meats and cheeses come in full or half sized portions – we had a half sized one of each. For the meat, there’s slices of morcilla with pumpkin and chilli, salami, chorizo, pork loin and pork neck. The cheese plate brought slices of Manchego and three Canarian goats cheese, drizzled with a little local honey to offset the saltiness. We also had a plate of fresh artichokes simply dressed. They may have been the best thing we ate. A quarter portion of tortilla was delicious and left us wishing we’d ordered the half portion. Or more. We also had a portion of bread and tomato.
For the one of us who drinks alcohol, there was a short list of craft beers and wines by the glass. A beer from La Palma was full of malty loveliness – perfect with the food.
I notice there are usually this kind of delis in Spain even in the most touristy areas of the town. Costs a bit more, but quality is also higher.
The partner wanted to go to Tenerife, I wanted to go to Lanzarote but ended up going to Sicily last Christmas. Maybe this Christmas. Who knows.
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
3
I have an ambition to be in Tenerife one Christmas, to escape the traditional British “turkey and tinsel” affair. I see us sat there in our shorts, having a big steak for Christmas Day lunch in a very touristy place, overlooking the ocean
Mrs H says current family committments make that impossible for the time being. I remind her that I’m 70 this year, so time starts to become a bit limited. Not that I have any plans to be kicking the bucket any time soon.
