La Tegala, una creación fugaz

Daniel Jiménez is a shy and seemingly unassuming man who has just turned forty and is thrilled to have opened his own restaurant in the same place where he did his internship after graduating from Le Cordon Bleu in 2015. While his classmates opted for the country's biggest names to continue their training, he returned to his native island of Lanzarote for love. At that time, the restaurant La Tegala, under the direction of chef Germán Blanco, was a hallmark of the burgeoning haute cuisine scene on the island of volcanoes.

Located in Mácher, La Tegala has since passed through several hands and undergone various transformations. It is an impressive building that its owner designed starting with a traditional Canarian house, to which he added several exposed concrete structures, respecting the interior architectural elements and extending the wooden floors throughout the rooms, culminating in endless windows that invite you to connect with the surroundings: lava, sky, and sun… and on the horizon, Fuerteventura.

Daniel started working at Kamezí, Lanzarote's only Michelin-starred restaurant, in 2020, where he met Colombian chef Loren Layos and Sardinian chef Sergio Mulas. Then the pandemic hit. There, amidst hours of sheer tedium, they realized they were kindred spirits, inspired by "the same crazy ideas." A year ago, they embarked on this adventure.

Mulas, an experienced sommelier, serves as head waiter, passionately showcasing a cuisine he clearly believes in deeply. Two tasting menus feature Daniel exploring the most popular Canarian dishes, refining them with meticulous techniques that culminate in elaborate gueridon work, complete with surprises, tricks, and trompe-l'œil, sometimes excessive, that are highly effective and provocative.

Ajul is a fascinating volcanic Malvasia (300 bottles) from the Cohombrillo micro-winery. From a shimmering amber color emerge and develop aromas of compote, ripe fruit, and fresh herbs, which sparkle throughout the menu with balanced minerality and a profound finish.

And nothing beats the bread with cheese - only those from Finca de Uga work with it - to whet your appetite: Cornbread filled with a fried La Pluie blue cheese, tomato chutney, guanciale and dates, accompanied by a clean, refreshing and spicy drink made from cow's milk buttermilk with ginger and lime, served from a tofio (traditional pottery) to a clay bowl.

Let's get down to business. Prawn tartare from La Santa (a town on the island that has made these crustaceans famous for their high quality) pickled with alimojos on fried moray eel chip and tomato foam, succulent; and grilled scarlet prawn from La Santa with peas and secret broth (more than 50 ingredients), impeccable if it weren't for the very low quality of the peas.

The popular "limpet broth" is presented as a clean ramen, with squid acting as noodles, limpet tartare, potatoes, cilantro, sea urchin ice cream, and mushrooms. And suddenly… the afternoon snack. A playful homage to the local dog sausage (a type of sobrasada), made by Chacón, but prepared by Daniel with eel collagen, served with beetroot bread filled with Finca de Uga ricotta and paired with a shandy made with homemade Clíper soda (a Canarian brand) and Pelete beer.

A pure display of precision: the Aquanaria sea bass cooked at low temperature, smoked butter and watercress cream, as well as the fritter of its belly, veil of pork guanciale and beetroot hummus, with a tasty and crispy fried gofio ball.

The selection of goat meat, highly prized on the island, is certainly unique. On one hand, there's the perfectly cooked barbecued ribeye with chimichurri and parsnip, very flavorful; on the other, the slow-roasted leg glazed with Japanese-Canarian BBQ sauce, sweet potato, and sour cream, which is a bit dry. And finally, the juicy and sensual sirloin steak tartare in a corn tortilla with 24-month aged Don Nicolás cheese.

Next up is the donut filled with glazed goat's osso buco, served on a bed of bittersweet sugar. Finally, the attempt to emulate Tirma's ambrosia with coconut, banana toffee, chocolate, and goat's liver falls short, lacking both crunch and a defined flavor.

Sergio Mulas is a huge fan of Finca de Uga cheeses, and with good reason: the company boasts countless national and international awards. The selection is top-notch: semi-cured cow's milk cheese; Secreto del Majo goat's milk cheese; El Pañuelo de Uga, a blend of sheep and goat's milk cheeses; Don Nicolás, aged for 24 months (reminiscent of Parmesan); Bodega, aged for 8 months, a blend of goat and sheep's milk cheeses; Alegranza, an aged cheese; Flor de las Nieves, made with vegetable rennet and with a bitter aftertaste; Blue sheep's milk cheese; and a potent and spicy almogrote (a type of Canarian cheese spread).

During the meal, Sergio placed a small stone still on the table (these were traditionally used to filter the scarce rainwater). He combined water and a peeled piece of natural aloe vera, cut from the centerpiece of the table, into a hand blender. He poured this mixture into the still, and by this point in the meal, the bowl was filled with pure aloe vera water, which he garnished with a touch of lime and palm honey. Clean, serene after such intensity, and refreshing.

It is the transition to the sweet ending, which begins with Mama Rosa, a tribute to Daniel's mother who passed on to him the taste for pastry, a chocolate mousse, peanut ice cream, palm honey and coconut coulis.

The siphon coffee machine heralds the warm, fruity aroma of Arabica coffee from Agaete (Gran Canaria), leading to a grand finale that actually takes us back to the beginning: the “perfect breakfast.” The coffee is accompanied by homemade condensed milk made with cow's milk whey, and then comes the final course: a light and airy bread roll filled with bread ice cream and butter crumble…an invitation to dip it in the coffee with milk.

Daniel, Loren and Sergio breathe the same air and are willing to continue bringing to the plate the great metaphor that is the building that houses the restaurant, a perfect symbiosis of tradition and contemporaneity.