Coming to visit my girlfriend’s brother Antonio and his wife Marta who live in Tenerife I had some things in my mind what would I like to do there and so on. And yes, you are right, I was really excited to try the local cuisine, delicious fresh fish and some wine. Coming not as tourists but as guests of local inhabitants both me and my girlfriend Maria knew that we would visit just the true Tenerife restaurants and bars and not any tourist traps.
For our first dinner I was really excited to try some local foods and visiting a truly traditional Tenerife restaurant in Spanish called ‘Guachinche’ was a way to go. Cuevas Mama Antonia is a typical ‘Guachinche’ a place where is served typical food and Vino del pais and which origin comes from some kind of shop where food, fruits and vegetables were sold to locals. The restaurant was very nice with typical rounded tables and chairs. We sat down and started to order some specialities. Tuna salad with vegetables and olive oil called ‘Salpicon de Atun’ is an amazing starter. Avocado mixed with onions and tuna all put back to avocado was one of my Guachinche favourites. In any Guachinche you never go badly with local cheese with different toppings called ‘Queso asado’. As to change our vegetarian menu we order sirloin, which like almost everything in Spain comes with French fries. ‘Vino del pais’ means ‘Wine from country’ where by country they mean an island of Tenerife so basically a homemade wine from Tenerife which you definitely have to try. I visited at total 3 Guachinche restaurants and all of them offered a delicious food for really good price and tasty wine for a price of water in some countries. Guachinche is a must-visit type of restaurant while staying in Tenerife, but be aware that the real deal you get in the north part of the island where locals live and most of the restaurants are still unspoiled by tourists.
Second, but as delicious as the first type of restaurant is a place called La Cofradia, which offers different types of fresh fish or sea food. I must say that when Antonio took me and Maria to ‘La Cofradia de Caletillas’ for the first time I was in a food heaven. The food there was so fresh and tasty that in just 4 days and all possible restaurants on the island we returned to this one for more. Caletillas is a very beautiful village with some nice beaches and restaurants along the coast with a beautiful sea view.
One of my all-time favourite food also from Seville or other parts of Spain is fried calamari and fried squid, which if you did not know is not the same thing. In La Cofradia de Caletillas I tried the most fresh and the best tasted calamari ever. In every typical Tenerife restaurant upon arrival you are automatically served bread and Picos (Spanish people just love to eat bread with everything) and two most famous and typical sauces from Canary islands called Mojo Picon and Mojo Verde. It would be a sin not to order ‘Papas’ typical small rounded potatoes which taste amazing with both sauces. Then it is just up to your preference whether you order a fresh fish which you can just point at in the restaurant’s fridge or you go for a different types of ‘mariscos’ sea food in Spanish. More north you go less tourists and it wasn’t different this time as well. But if there is no tourists it doesn’t mean there is no people in the bars or restaurants. As you may know a Spanish culture is based on dining out of the house whether there is crisis or not. So for such a good restaurant like La Cofradia de Caletillas you have to wait in the line to get a table unless you show up before a Spanish lunch time which is set to be at 3 pm.
Overall we had an amazing time in Tenerife, especially me with 2 kilograms more, but the food was worth it. As being a huge Andalusian Tapas fan and lover after visiting Tenerife and trying some of the best local bars and restaurants with its simple, but fresh and delicious foods I have to think twice before choosing a winner.
