Never did I consider visiting Lanzarote, or any of the Islas Canarias, in this lifetime, and doubt very much if its would be entering my mind in the next. But watching the Jose Andres episode about the island piqued my interest, so when a chance opened up for me to take a trip in May, I began doing some reading of which there is not much other than where to buy the cheapest beers, or see the obvious sights. For at least I’ve not found any…
If anyone here knows the island, and has an interest in local dishes and restaurants geared to fairly serious (that does not mean not fun!) diners, your comments would be most welcome. I’ve booked a hotel in Puerto del Carmen for about a week and am willing to hire a car or take taxi to great eating spots. I’ve already put EL RISCO on my list…never had limpets or fried Moray eel before and it looks like a lovely spot on the sea…
Hi erica1,
As you know, I won’t visit until Nov. for the SABOREA LANZAROTE gastro event in Teguise, but this is one I have at the top of my list-
SeBE by Santi Benéitez. José Andrés is a fan (see article below) and it’s said to prepare the best rice dishes on the island. It’s in Costa Teguise. Also Repsol recommended.
You can see the places where Andrés dined while filming here
We leave the US in about three weeks, first to Galicia and then on to Lanzarote.
I did some reading about Lanzarote and have come up with a list. The starred ones at the top are the “essentials,” unless I hear scathing comments here or once I arrive. So if anyone has been, please feel free to comments yay or nay!!
I have very little idea where any of these are located on the island, ( I know the names of their towns but not location on the map yet) but the distances seem well under an hour from anyplace to x place…
Of course I won’t have time to try all of them…I think we have 12 nights or so on the island, so have to narrow down.
**EL RISCO (featured in Jose Andres’ newest tv show which I no longer have access to)
**SEBE…already booked; they are closed part of May but we will make it
*LILIUM
*PALACIO ICO
*TABERBNA A DE LINO (meat)
*CESAR LANZAROTE (in hotel; not much info online about this as there are other places with similar names; now supervised by JuanJo Lopez Bedmar of TASQUITA DE ENFRENTE, Madrid; gracias, como siempre, Maribel!!)
KAMEZI
TACANDE
EL HORNO DE LA ABUELA
AMURA
BODEGA DE SANTIAGO
MAJO PICON
LA CHALANA (in Puerto del Carmen, location of our hotel, so marked this if we do not want to drive. Unfortunately, most of the restaurants in town seem very tourist driven.)
Will undoubtedly gather more info once we arrive.
Only enough, in Lanzarote and in many, many other areas I looked at in Spain, many the “top” TripAdvisor restaurants are Indian. Can someone shed some light on this…I have my own thoughts but would love to learn if anyone has noticed this…
My sister-in-law’s family is from the Canary Islands, and she and my brother went. She brought back a slim cookbook, and we shopped and made a dish with gofio, a kind of toasted wheat. It was super delicious. We found a small sack in a market in Miami. I recommend you bring a bag home if possible. We made a porridge using homemade chicken stock and added pancetta.
We have been fortunate to have visited Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, and Tenerife and Lanzarote is the next island we are planning on checking out (probably next year as our summer travel is already planned). I will be following along (and hoping that my 9-year old’s tastes will have evolved by then).
