Villa de Paz

Eating out in Lanzarote is a must while you are on holiday here. There are a wide range of restaurants that cater to everyone’s taste from Japanese to French cuisine but it is the local seafood and fresh produce that is well worth sampling whenever you have the chance.

At lunchtime why not find a tapas bar where you can sample small portions of different dishes. The local grown wrinkly salty potatoes ‘papas arrugados’ that come with several dipping sauces or ‘mojos’. The fresh goats cheese from Lanzarote and the neighbouring island of Fuerteventura has one many awards and makes for a delicious starter. The tapas bars typically serve dishes like garlic prawns ‘gambas alajillo’, deep fried baby squid ‘puntillas’, fresh mussels ‘mejillónes’ as well as salads, goats cheese and potatoes.

All local restaurents offer fresh fish daily usually served with local potatoes and a little salad. These are normally white fish like parrot fish or snapper and usually grilled ‘a la plancha’. Some of the best fish restaurants are located in the small village of El Golfo in the south of the island.

Another of the more traditional dishes served in restaurants in Lanzarote are the stews. Made often with local goat and rabbit, with chickpeas or lentils also locally grown, these stews will give you a real taste of Canarian cuisine.

To accompany the food why not try one of the many local wines. El Grifo, La Geria, Mozaga, Bermejo and Stravs are all award winning wine producing bodegas and perfect to compliment the local food and to really enjoy all Lanzarote has to offer.

Canarian Wrinkly Potatoes (Papas Arugadas)

An accompaniment to any canarian meal are wrinkly potatoes (papas arugadas) referring simply to the appearnce of the skins of these small potatoes which are boiled with sea-salt to leave a fine crust of salt on the skins. Papas Arugadas are often served with Mojo sauce which you add as a condiment.

Lanzarote Meat

Canarians eat selection  of meat dishes although most of the larger livestock is imported rather than reared locally. The main exceptions to this are goats (cabra) which are raised for their milk for the production of fresh and cured cheeses and rabbits (conejos) which are a favorite for stews.

Pork, particularly ribs (costillas) are widely eaten and you can order are great steak in most restraunts. Most meat dishes are cooked on the grill (plancha).

Lanzarote Fish & Seafood

Fish has an important role in the island’s cuisine and a wide variety of fish are  eaten by the islanders and visitors alike. The fresh fish  include Combtooth blennies (viejas),  red porgy (bocinegro), gold lined bream (salema), grouper (mero), Tuna (atún) Atlantic mackerel (caballa), and sardine (sardinas). Fish is typically baked in see salt or grilled on a planch and dressed simply with sea-salt, garlic and lemon.

Seafood such as prawns, langostines (langostinas), mussels (mejillones) and octopus (pulpo) are also very popular. Large Canarian Green Mussels from Fuerteventura are typically steamed (al vapor) or cooked with a garlic dressing. Octopus is served Gallego Style (Pulpo Gallego) bolied and sprinkled with paprika served hot or cold with garlic, onion and peper salad in a vinegrette .