[Los Cristianos, Tenerife, Spain] Casa Tagoro

Casa Tagoro is one of only two restaurants in the Arona/Adeje area to be mentioned in the Michelin Guide. It’s a recognition of the quality of the place.

Bread was a good start – a white roll and a wholemeal one with olives baked into it. They came with butter, olive oil, sea salt and a delicious crab cream. That was followed by a freebie shot glass of a cold beetroot and horseradish soup . Absolutely bang-on for flavour with the sweet, yet earthy, taste of the beet heightened by a little kick from the horseradish.

The horseradish made another appearance as an accompaniment to smoked salmon –much more potent this time. There was also a potato cake and a little micro salad. A well put together plate of food in the traditions of northern Europe, reflecting the owner’s Austrian nationality. The other starter was a version of “gambas pil-pil”. Three big prawns cooked in the hot oil, along with tomatoes and garlic. It missed the hit from chilli that you get in the classic version but, in itself, it was delicious.

For a main course, there was a generous serving of pork fillet. It was cooked just to medium which was fine, but you wouldn’t want it any rarer. There was a little honey and mustard sauce – classic flavours with pork. To accompany the meat, there was a well made potato gratin and courgettes. Duck breast was cooked perfectly to medium rare but was a little chewier than you might expect (presumably an elderly bird). It was dressed with a lovely sweet/sharp “fruits of the forest” sauce and came with some spuds and veg, as the pork.

Desserts were excellent. A single ball of “fruits of the forest” sorbet sat in a glass and was then surrounded by a sweetish Prosecco. Apple strudel was advertised as being to the recipe of the owner’s grandmother. Granny had done a good job here and it’s not her fault that I’m not as big a fan of cinnamon as she was. There’s whipped cream and ice cream to make sure that, to misquote the John Lewis stores, you’re never knowingly underfed.

Service had been excellent throughout. It’s the sort of place where, as soon as you walk in, you know everything is going to be fine. Things will happen when they should and you don’t really notice that it is happening.

So, there we are. A lovely dinner eaten by two Britons in a restaurant in Spain, owned by an Austrian that’s mentioned on a French website, with food cooked by a Russian. Very European, eh?

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