Chago's back room, calm Canarian spirit

The glasses of Firgas sparkling water arrive - you have to try it in the Canary Islands - and as soon as Nereida starts to tell what Carmelo Múgica has cooked today, or in other words, what the Altos, the orchards, the caves, the pools and the coast of Gran Canaria offer at this time of year, the pace slows down thanks to the calm that she transmits with her voice and he with his gaze, which they project in every corner of this space.

They describe it as a restaurant. "Our dream when we opened it eight years ago was to make our customers feel like they were coming to our home."

A corner that embodies the spirit of the Canary Islands through its contemporary local cuisine with creative touches, always rooted in tradition, for the enjoyment of 18 people inside and another 18 on the outdoor terrace. Open Wednesday and Thursday at lunchtime and Friday and Saturday for lunch and dinner.

Nereida explains that they spend Sundays visiting farmers' markets to buy their produce. "We need to get to the producers, talk to them," Carmelo says. Another option is to go to the local market in Galdar, where many of their producers sell their harvests.

With these and other ingredients, they've created a menu that includes dishes that, thanks to customer praise, are permanent fixtures, such as the spunta potatoes, ropa vieja with fried egg, and dressed tomato. "They've been around for eight years now, so we keep changing some details, but we maintain the concept we started with because people ask for them," the chef explains.

But other favorites are being added, such as the fake party meat or a chicken thigh cooked for 16 hours at low temperature, mashed with salmorejo and boiled and confit potato tip with thyme and wild garlic from the Altos de Moya and salt from the south of Gran Canaria.

Among the most popular dishes are the creamy wheat with Canarian black pig and piquillo pepper mayonnaise, the cream of mushrooms from Bandama, the portobello wok with smoky notes, the confit mackerel on pickled red onion with tomato foam, and the Canarian black pig rib with sweet potato cream from Lanzarote. For dessert, don't miss Carmelo's love letter to the traditional sponge cake from Moya.

The selection of Canarian wines and cheeses is another winning feature of La Trastienda de Chago. Each week, Nereida selects a dozen cheeses from the midlands (made by shepherds who practice transhumance), including Flor and Media Flor cheeses from the Altos de Guía, Moya, and Galdar, along with some fresh and aged mixed cheeses, always made with raw milk to ensure the seasonal pasture is represented.

When you're profitable, but you don't feel at peace

Both have found peace through the hospitality industry, although they came from very different worlds: Nereida worked in business administration and Carmelo was a quality engineer at a graphic design company. "I worked well, it was profitable, but I wasn't happy or fulfilled by what I did. Cooking was always on my mind; I took courses, I enjoyed cooking for others, but it was just a hobby."

In 2015, two years after meeting, they decided to "jump ship together" and open La Trastienda. "We didn't think about it too much, we liked the idea; we liked being together; we liked being in contact with other people, and besides, I knew that Carmelo would only be happy cooking for others, sharing all those memories he had inside."

Memories forged by his mother Josefina and his grandmother Eugenia, whose work he used to observe, which is why he argues that "cooking is a sum of memories, survival and respect. You can learn details in books or from others that will help you round out the dish, but the essence has to be yours."

And he has based his own cuisine not only on those memories but also on nature. “Whenever I can, I go out into the countryside to remember those lost traditions, to relive those memories of the past, and then I try to express them in my dishes. My cuisine is a tribute to my grandmother's and mother's cooking and to those dishes that were cooked over wood fires.”

Those smoky notes move some of his customers to tears, because they transport them back to the kitchens of their childhood. "For me, smoking isn't a technique, it's about remembering," he maintains.

Their commitment to their island is also reflected in the tableware, made up of handcrafted pieces by Rocío Torres and Gustavo García Cruz, from Mira Cerámica.

Before I leave, Carmelo takes a phone call from a customer who visited La Trastienda last week and felt something special after tasting the authentic Canarian food served on such unique plates. She'd like to contact the ceramic artists to bring back to Madrid the Canarian flavors, the memories, and above all, the peace she felt while tasting them.