Eat Wave

Don't be fooled by Lanzarote's lunar landscapes, the volcanic island is bursting with food and wine to try, says Fiona Sims. Photography by James Bedford

I’m staring at a big pile of dung in a field in Yaiza, south-west Lanzarote. Goat, sheep and cow dung to be precise – and it’s not the most appetising way to start a gastronomic trip to the island.

“Look how rich it is,” says Francisco Fabelo, referring to the dung. “It’s because we add the whey left over from the dairy.” The island’s best cheesemaker insists my tour begins here at his farm, Finca de Uga. The manure goes back to fertilise the farm, which alongside cheese produces everything from avocados to aromatic loquats.

I know what you’re thinking – a foodie trip to Lanzarote? Good cheese from the Canaries? Well, believe it. The cooking here is as good as anything to be found on the Spanish mainland, and there are plenty of regional twists. Dishes such as papas arrugadas (“wrinkled potatoes”, small, unpeeled potatoes boiled in sea water until it has evaporated), and mojos rojo or verde (a sweet red pepper sauce and a coriander and/or parsley green sauce) are defiantly Canary Islands, and every restaurant has its own recipe.

Particular to Lanzarote are dishes such as cabrito en salmorejo (young goat in sauce) and caldo de millo (sweetcorn soup), and the island has plenty of award-winning cheeses, too.

Yet I was as surprised as anyone to hear that much of anything grows on this volcanic island. Having suffered devastating eruptions from 1730–1736, and with more than 100 volcanoes, Lanzarote is known as the Island of Fire. The centre is a sea of petrified black lava covering the ground like cartoon tar, while many of the beaches resemble piles of instant coffee granules instead of golden sand. However, volcanic soil is rich in nutrients, and packed with minerals perfect for crops.

At Finca de Uga’s dairy I sample what I came for, the cheese, including Secreto – one of nine different cheeses Francisco creates. It is creamy indeed, with a pleasing acidic tang, but the best is the Parmesan-like year-old Bodega, made with sheep’s and goat’s milk. Both are available to buy in the winery shop at Stratvs (Ctra La Geria, km 18, tel: +34 928 809977, www.stratvs.com, tours by appointment) in Lanzarote’s only wine region, La Geria. Situated entirely on the black volcanic slopes and covering just 52km2, the region is home to almost all Lanzarote’s 18 bodegas, bottling 2 million litres annually.

More than 10,000 funnel-shaped hollows called “zocos” each contain one vine. They are filled with soil and covered with a thick, porous mulch of volcanic granules that absorbs moisture from the night air to feed the plants. Protecting the vines from the constant winds, a horseshoe-shaped wall of lava rock surrounds each hollow – it’s some sight.

White wines rule here, full of seductive fruit and that sought-after minerality. Malvasia is the main grape, accounting for 75% of production, and used for dry whites and to make the sublime, honey-coloured sweet wines. Stratvs, which opened in 2008, produced my favourite bottle of the trip, the 2009 Malvasia Seco. We drank it over lunch at the vineyard’s restaurant while eating a bowl of papas arrugadas, slathered with almogrote, a Canarian cheese paste – traditionally made with unpasteurised goat’s cheese, paprika, chilli, olive oil, sometimes tomatoes, and always lots of garlic. Dessert was a sweet wine and, with its baked pineapple and tropical fruit nose with a honeyed, dried apricot finish, Stratvs’ highly prized Malvasia Dulce was excellent though pricey at €45 for a 50cl bottle.

After walking it all off on Famara beach – a bracing stretch of golden sand underneath brooding cliffs – dinner was scheduled at chic boutique hotel La Casona de Yaiza, where I was staying. Here, chef Mariano Arganini turns out dishes that would be worthy of a Michelin star – yet the Canaries are surprisingly thin on food guide accolades. First was more of Francisco’s freshly made goat’s cheese fried in tempura batter and served with a fig jam – followed by local black pudding laced with cinnamon and stuffed with almonds, on an apple puree. And then the best version of classic Spanish scrambled eggs with fried potatoes and Jabugo ham drenched in olive oil I’ve ever had.

Our main courses were just as good – a slow-cooked stew of pork cheeks with piquillo peppers, and some superior salt cod cooked at a low temperature, served on roasted vegetables. To accompany them, a Malvasia Seco from the oldest vineyard in the Canaries, El Grifo, established in 1775 – bright and fresh, and salty with a citrus tang of preserved lemons.

The hotel’s owner, Jose Ignacio Amigo, a wealth of local food knowledge, suggested a couple of excellent restaurants to try. Casa Emiliano (1 Femes, tel: +34 928 830223) in the hill town of Femes just above Yaiza served a wonderful garlic soup and rabbit stew basking in local ingredients. With breathtaking views over the coast towards Playa Blanca, the place is a rustic dream. His second recommendation was Costa Azul (7 Avenida Maritima, tel: +34 928 173199), one of a number of fish restaurants in the picturesque village of El Golfo on the west coast. Surrounded by black lava and cacti, chairs nudging up against a well-weathered fishing boat, I tried a bream-like local fish called sama, split in two Canary Island-style and cooked on the grill with copious slivers of garlic.

Visiting north Lanzarote I stayed at the atmospheric 200-year-old Caserio de Mozaga, once the holiday home of its owner and now a restaurant with eight rooms. Here, the potato soup with salt fish, slow-cooked young goat stew, and local specialty bienmesabe (a sticky pudding of chopped almonds and honey) hit the mark.

The prettiest town on the island has to be the old capital, Teguise. Sunday is market day – mostly handicrafts, but with some food stalls, including great cep mushrooms and jamon pinchos (ham on toasted bread) to snack on. For lunch, we drove east to the little fishing port of Arrieta to try local favourite El Amanecer (46 Calle La Garita) – a restaurant serving perfect food at less than half the price of the more touristy joints elsewhere along the shore.

However, prize for the most eccentric meal goes to the difficult-to-locate Bodega Uga (“Central Uga”, tel: +34 928 830147), on the main road to Yaiza. This tiny, four-table restaurant has been going about 18 years, and serves delicious fish or meat of the day, with no menu and no prices. Interior decoration ranges from a classy still life to a kitsch puffin lamp. And for the most stunning restaurant interior look out for the César Manrique-designed restaurant at Castillo de San José (Museo International de Arte Contemporaneo, Carretara, Arrecife, tel: +34 928 812321). With its stunning views over Arrecife harbour, filled with huge cruise ships, it’s a must-visit.

César Manrique was the Lanzarote artist, sculptor, architect and legend whose 1970s James Bond-style designs and whimsical sculptures dominate the island landscape.

Also worth checking out is his Monumento al Campesino (San Bartoleme, tel: +34 928 520136), a museum celebrating local culture and farming practices – pushing plenty of island produce and frequented, comfortingly, by locals. At the very least they will stop short any sniggering you might encounter after declaring that you are on a foodie trip to Lanzarote.

STAY AT: LA CASONA DE YAIZA IN YAIZA, TEL: +34 928 836262, WWW.CASONADEYAIZA.COM AND CASERIO DE MOZAGA IN SAN BARTOLOME, TEL: +34 928 520060, WWW.CASERIODEMOZAGA.COM. FOR MORE INFO ON LANZAROTE, VISIT WWW.TURISMOLANZAROTE.COM AND WWW.LANZAROTEGUIDEBOOK.COM. FOR CAR HIRE AT LANZAROTE AIRPORT GO TO THE HERTZ DESK OR VISIT WWW.HERTZ.COM FOR SPECIAL OFFERS