Leisure Lanzarote

Note: Non-smoking seating is available.

La Tegala is one of Lanzarote’s newer restaurants, which has really raised the bar for dining on the island. The sophisticated building is in a pleasant and quiet location and provides a nice atmosphere. Its décor stands out for its modern style, its walls combining reds and whites with volcanic rock. Strategically located on the Mácher highway, it combines modern and traditional styles, reflecting nicely the quality of its cuisine. The dining room is divided into three different parts: the main room having three glass pane walls with a spectacular view of the coast, and two smaller, more private, interior rooms.

The selection of appetizers and house specialties provides a huge variety for the palate, including appetizers such as: foie with a quince jelly typical of the Canary Islands and vinaigrette of palm honey, traditional cuttlefish stew with garbanzo beans, cod with a variety of Andean potatoes called papas bonitas, goat cheese with a reduction of sweet mojo sauce, and raw tuna in a cold soy sauce with salad and mashed sweet potatoes. The taco with the smoked local cheese, queso herreño, with puréed figs and green mojo sauce is excellent, while the octopus salad with lentils and Canary tomato sorbet aren’t up to par as far as appetizers go. As it has become the fashion in fine dining in recent years, these dishes definitely follow the pattern of small portions on big plates.

The entrees focus on fish and meat. On the menu you can find marinated grouper, calamari with asparagus, and red snapper or sama. The bacalao smoked cod filet is excellent. Fish plates are accompanied with traditional Lanzarote sweet potatoes. The tuna taco with a boiled mojo sauce reduction and kneaded ground wheat flour with honey and almonds calledpaella de gofio is always a favorite among guests. Meats served at La Tegala include pork, rabbit, pigeon, lamb, beef tenderloin, and other common cuts. The boneless rabbit is quite delicious, and the pork is superb.

Keeping in mind the wine selection in most Lanzarote restaurants, the wine list at La Tegala is excellent, with wonderfully aged Spanish red wines from Rioja and Ribera del Duero, along with Malvasia wines, white wines from Rioja, Somontano and Bodegas Torres. All are reasonably priced according to their quality.

When it comes to desserts, the kitchen at La Tegala goes out of its way to provide a variety of delicious flavors, like the rich white chocolate ice cream with a special pepper-syrup, yogurt topped with a flawless warm, milk-based foam, the excellent coffee soufflé, and a wide variety of desserts typical of the Canaries with black sweet bread and caramel sauce.

The restaurant provides excellent service from the moment you enter. The atmosphere in the main room and the two interior rooms is pleasant and relaxed, with smooth music providing a relaxing background to dinner conversation. There is room for improvement as far as the speed of the kitchen-the wait for appetizers and between courses is too long.

What to do before and after: A few miles from Mácher is the lively tourist destination of Puerto del Carmen, where you can find a multitude of bars, clubs, nice outdoor terraces, and cafes.