Sun and beach, art and culture, and delicious tapas. What more could I want for a wonderful trip? We got all that and more from Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands off the coast of Morocco. It was far and away my favorite trip of the year.
I’m not a food blogger, a good cook, or even all that interested in food (I know, crazy, right?). Despite my lack of culinary interest, I found the tapas in LZ soooo amazing that I just had to share with you. So even though I will not be able to describe what we ate with the precision of a total foodie, I’m certain this post will have your mouth water for some fresh seafood. Here’s what and where we ate while in paradise:
Andalucía 1960 – Arrecife (capital)
Andalucía 1960 is a tiny, out-of-the-way Spanish tapas restaurant. The adorable hand-written menus on mini clipboards were in Spanish and English. At 7 pm we sat alone on the homey wooden chairs at a marble top table. We were early for dinner, since it’s typical in Spain to eat dinner upwards of 9 pm. As we were finishing our meal, people were lining up for free tables.
Beginning with a glass of red wine and garlic aioli on warm bread is a happy start to any meal. Eventually, we learned that aioli and bread normally assisted the meal. I’m not sure if it was just that this was our first experience with the creamy garlicky goodness or that it was actually that delicious, but this was my favorite aioli of the week.
Then we ordered several tapas. They’re so great for getting to try several dishes at once. We ordered croquettes, tortilla Española, eggplant and pepper gratin, and warm red bean and onion salad. We also got a fish salad by mistake. On the first day, I was just warming up my Spanish skills and kinda nervous, so that was probably my fault. Whoops! At least it wasn’t weird pickled herring salad like in Sweden (sorry if that’s your thing!). It was more like fish and mayonnaise (am I making this sound better?). Anyways, it was really good, as was everything else we ordered.
Croquettes are similar to tater tots but they can be filled with various delicious things like fish, cheese, or jamón (ham). The ones we had at Andalucía 1960 were prepared with fish. Just order them every time you eat tapas; they’re always delicious. Tortilla Española is not like a Mexican tortilla in any way. It’s more like an omelet made with onions and thinly sliced potatoes. When it’s done it comes out looking like a pie, and it’s normally served in slices. It can be eaten hot or cold.
Oh, and I just remembered we had chocolate cake at the end. Chocolate mousse cake and a glass of white wine. It was our first night out on Lanzarote and I would’ve been content to eat here every night, but I didn’t know how much great food awaited us all around the island!
El Rincón Granaino – Arrecife
The following evening we walked much further from our AirBnB in Arrecife to get to this locale. We showed up for dinner much later than our first night and the place was already busy. The night was a little chilly, but we decided to eat outside on the old fishing wharf anyways.
The wine we had was from Yaiza, a village we had stopped in earlier in the day. Since it is difficult to grow much in the volcanic soil/rock on the island, it’s quite amazing that techniques have been developed to make prosperous vineyards. The wine was nice, but not our favorite, and was outdone by the incredible tapas we ordered.
We ordered fried eggplant fries which were topped with a cane sugar and honey sauce, shrimp sautéed in garlic butter, queso asado (grilled sheep’s cheese) with green (cilantro) and berry sauces, papas bravas (fried potatoes with red sauce), and then a second order of shrimp (not sorry!). If ordering these fried eggplant strips was as easy as ordering French fries, I could definitely see myself making this “healthier” choice more often. The shrimp with garlic and the grilled cheese became new ones to add to the favorites list.
By the time we were done feasting, it was late and I was cold, but we checked out the whale bones in the harbor before heading in for the night.
El Mercado – Haría
Day three consisted of a large, late lunch at a local market instead of going out for dinner. Boy, was this meal the antithesis of breaking the bank. Unfortunately when we arrived around 3 pm, the market was beginning to shut down. The natural herbs store was closing, the fish and meat counters were long gone, and the cake shop promised to remain open for just a little longer. Luckily the lunch counter was still taking orders.
We looked at the food in the counter and watched others place orders to try and figure out how this place worked. I asked what there was available for vegetarians eating fish and tried to translating for us as best as I could. Ready, I placed our order, and then we hung out on the side of the market waiting to be given a table. As soon as we were seated, the food came out. We had (of course) bread and aioli, marinated seafood salad, fish croquettes, and fried fish – all for under 10 euros! The food was fresh, simple, and cheap.
Before heading out, we stopped by the pastry shop to get some oatmeal cookies for our next hiking adventure. Sadly, we were too full to eat cake.
Hamburgeusería – Caleta de Famara
The following day we had hiked for several hours up a huge cliff overlooking the sea. It was beautiful and peaceful. We had the trail to ourselves except for a brief section when a high school class was more or less running down the mountain towards the beach.
During the hike, we hardly ate, so when we arrived in Caleta de Famara, we were ravenous. Not even bothering to go inside, we seated ourselves on the large outdoor patio along the quiet street. This place is, as the name suggests, mainly a hamburger joint. As vegetarians we didn’t have hamburgers, although we saw lots of people around us order them. We just ordered a TON of tapas, and it was cheap.
The enormous hunger led to this enormous order of tapas: pimientos de Padron (fried salty peppers), queso asado con mojo verde (grilled cheese with green sauce), tortilla Española, croquettes, papas arrugadas, shrimp and octopus with garlic butter, and a mixed salad. Like I said, we were voracious. The food was satisfying, but not as terrific as other places. But it was quick, plenty, and well-priced. We left roly-poly and happy.
Vino + – Puerto del Carmen
a.k.a. our favorite restaurant on Lanzarote
After a mere 5 minutes on one of the several main drags in downtown Puerto del Carmen, we were happy to not have planned much (umm…any) sightseeing in this town. It’s uber touristy. There’s a surplus of restaurants with names like The Flying Dutchman and Buccaneer’s and a plethora of Irish pubs. But tucked away in little square with Burger King and a few local bars and restaurants is Vino +.
The local El Grifo wine was suggested when we asked for a white wine. It was so good, we ordered a bottle to take home with us. Everything on the menu sounded so appetizing that we had a hard time deciding what to order. And everything we ordered on the menu was so tasty that it was hard not to order more!
For round one we had fried eggplant with honey balsamic dressing. Berenjenas is my new favorite Spanish word. If we replaced French fries with fried eggplant fries, I might be able to ditch potatoes altogether.
We decided to order tuna fish, which came out on roasted red peppers and was gone so quickly there is no photo evidence to speak of. Next were croquettes. Ours were filled with cheese and fish, but you can also get them with jamón (ham). We had three of each. After trying the cheese ones I thought I would try to bargain with C so that I could have the third cheese one. But then I tried the fish ones and couldn’t decide which ones were tastier. Did I really have to share them?
I didn’t think that the food could get better, but it did. Next we had slices of fried octopus on top of wedges of papas arrugadas (boiled Canarian potatoes) topped with sweet corn aioli. The display was so beautiful that we hardly wanted to disturb it. But knowing how delectable the previous plates had been made it easy to dig in. It was mouth-watering perfection.
I was a little sad that I couldn’t have more terrific wine since I was driving home. With a little room left and in absolute food heaven, we had to order more. Round two consisted of shrimp in butter and mushrooms. Sweet and savory goodness all in one.
Had we not been stuffed to the gills, we definitely would have tried more tapas. I could’ve eaten here every day thereafter, even if we did have to drive through tourist trap town. And the prices were good, as long as we didn’t order the whole menu.
Vino + (again!)
For our final evening on Lanzarote, we just had to eat here again. Our waiter from a few days before recognized us and welcomed us back. We sat in the room next door with high top tables and tall chairs. Even the owner, Miguel (recognizable by his photo in our guidebook), checked in on us.
The second time to Vino + we had a hard time choosing between things we knew we already loved and trying new amazing dishes. This time around was a weekend night, so there were a lot of specials and we went all out for our last evening on the island together. To start, we had the mussels special. It was my first time having them and they were sooooo good! Of course, we also had to have some of our favorites like croquettes and shrimp. Lastly, we had the Cherne special, a local fish. The name in English is wreckfish which is also known as bass grouper or stone bass. It was great to try a local specialty and a wonderful end to our vacation!
Even though we only had a short time to test out a smattering of restaurants, everything we tried was excellent. I wonder why tapas is just a Spanish thing? Sharing allows you to try more (although most of it I wanted to keep for myself after the first bite!). It’s so awesome to get to try a little of this and a little of that. With such amazing food and culture, it will definitely not be our last vacation on Lanzarote.
**I make $0 writing this blog, so all of these opinions are completely my own and have not been sponsored by anyone.
Photo credits: C.O. and myself