[Playa de las Americas, Tenerife] Gula

It hadn’t been the plan to eat here but the vile weather meant we wanted somewhere that was, literally, a quick dash from the apartment. It’s a restaurant we’ve visited several times over the years and, in fact, the only place along the “Golden Mile” that we think of returning to. The menu has an appealing East/West fusion running through several dishes, although for one of us, there’s sufficient choice to remain totally in Spain for dinner.

So, that involved croquetas to start – ham bound with a thick béchamel, formed into a sausage shape, breadcrumbed and deep fried. You order by the piece – three was about right. That was followed by a whole sea bass, baked in a salt crust. It’s always a showy order, with the waiter breaking open the crust at the table, taking the flesh off the bone and presenting the plate. It came with Canarian potatoes and a mixed salad.

For the fusiony one of us, there were gyoza to start. Five dumplings filled with flavoursome oxtail. They were served in a light, very savoury broth with a little wilted pak choi leaf. That was followed by duck breast, perfectly cooked as requested. It’s served with a potato puree and a couple of slices of apple. Very Northern Europe, so far but the fusion continues here in a really nice teriyacki sauce, enhanced by a little finely grated truffle.

For desserts, there was an OK apple tart – circle of puff pastry, caramel sauce and apple, with a dollop of ice cream. Anyone who has watched Masterchef on British television will know that chocolate fondant has been the undoing of many a contestant. Not here. This was a perfect example. The sponge fully cooked, but still light and airy, and the chocolate oozing out onto the plate, just as you hope it will. And good chocolate, at that – nicely bitter – and again set off with ice cream.

This had been a lovely dinner with efficient service in minimalist, modern surroundings.

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Gula has long been a favourite of ours. It’s been the several dishes on the menu that were of the East/West fusion sort that made it a standout for us. Of all the places along the Golden Mile, this was the only one we returned to. Unfortunately, those fusion dishes have all but gone, leaving Gula without a “unique selling point” for us. And, coupled with that, our experience this time suggests the standard of cooking may have dropped off a bit. That’s not to say that we didn’t enjoy our meal on the first night of our holiday but, frankly it was enjoyment without much enthusiasm if you see what I mean.

There was a small freebie bowl of vegetable soup to start, which was really nice. I ordered the calamari which were disappointing. A bit too chewy and the coating not really crisp. A couple of decent dipping sauces though – alioli and tartare. That was followed by pork “pluma” – a cut of meat you don’t see that often. It’s got lots of marbling and is very flavoursome. I’d asked for it to be cooked to “medium” but it came quite rare. I can eat pork that rare, so no need to send it back, but I suspect many wouldn’t choose to eat it like that. It was, indeed, really tasty having been cooked as a steak, before slicing. The slices sat on a bed of fried potatoes and peppers.

Across the table, there were excellent ham croquettes. You could taste the ham. You could taste the rich béchamel sauce. And, unlike the calamari, these were properly crisp and there was a lovely tomato sauce to dip them in. For a main course, two fillets of sea bass were perfectly cooked in the Bilbao style, with slices of garlic across the top (but none of the expected chilli). But the accompanying veg let it down. Undercooked Padron peppers and bitter aubergine but broccoli and tomatoes were OK. As were the ubiquitous Canarian potatoes and mojo sauce.

We didn’t fancy a dessert so just ordered very good café solo.

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Yay! You and Mrs. H made it back to Tenerife. I have a lot of catch-up reading to do.

Despite less-than-stellar meals, hope you had a wonderful holiday.

We did. Really restful. We’d originally planned just to go for 1 week and had booked an apartment that we’ve stayed in before. Then decided to go for the week prior as well but had to find somewhere else. Fortunately, we found another nice place just 5 minutes walk away. So, two weeks of eating, sleeping, reading and strolls along the oceanside paseo. And a bucket list Christmas Day lunch - see review of La Barca.

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You and Mrs. H ate much better than we did last year up north. And we would go back in a heartbeat. Inspired by another thread, maybe we’ll also check out Lanzarote, which we’ve considered.

Thanks for taking the time to write up your notes and sharing with us.