Tuesday, 10 March 2015 16:16

The Eight Types of Gran Canaria Restaurant

Gran Canaria restaurant Gran Canaria restaurant

You find them in caves, hanging out over the sea and clustered together in shopping centres but most Gran Canaria restaurants belong to one of these eight kinds.

Chiringuitos

A chiringuito is technically a snack bar but in Gran Canaria the word refers to any scruffy looking little restaurant. They serve everything from burgers to the freshest fish and often have the best value food in town.

Chiringuitos deliberately don't spend money on decor beyond the minimum (plastic tablecloths and flowers). The message is "we care about our food not our looks".

The best ones often have a corrugated iron roof, tatty chairs and tables and threadbare menus. And crowds of locals queuing out of the doorless doorway. Canarians love good value food and will spend a fortune on petrol to drive to it. Follow them!

Coastal chiringuitos serve all sorts of fish and squid along with papas con mojo and gofio escaldado (gofio mixed with fish soup and mint). Inland chiringuitos focus on fried pork, goat stew, rabbit and big chunks of cow.

Tourist grills

Often with masculine words like Toro or Gaucho in the name, these large restaurants are a tourist resort staple with vast menus in multiple languages. However, their main purpose is to serve big chunks of rare cow along with potatoes baked in foil, grilled peppers and chips. Everything else on the menu is a starter or a garnish and the waiters (always male and wearing a red sash) will only take orders for them with a condescending sniff. Vegetarians may struggle for respect.

Desserts are flambeed, icecream comes in tureens, cocktails and beer in buckets. An apres-cow ron miel or three is obligatory.

Most Gran Canaria grill restaurants are good value and serve quality meat from Argentina and Uruguay (where it's all grass fed). Don't expect refined cuisine or experimental recipes (unless you count pineapple in the coleslaw) and you won't be disappointed.

Canarian restaurants

Canarian restaurants only serve traditional Canarian food and local favourites. There are some in the resorts, but most are in local towns and rural spots. Distinguish between the real deal and tourist trap facimiles by the decor and menu. Genuine Canarian restaurants have Spanish menus, tatty signs and no flags or welcome signs. They don't have buses parked outside.

Most people order some potaje soup to start, followed by papas con mojo, pimientos de padron grilled peppers, a selection of cheese, calamares (fried rather than in batter), fried aubergines with honey, and more papas con mojo. All time-honoured Canarian food except for the aubergine, which has only recently become a traditional food.

Canarian restaurants are excellent value for money and often packed at the weekends.

Lex says: Arrive at any local restaurant at 13:00h and you'll get a table. Canarians can't imagine eating lunch so early in the day.

National cuisine restaurants

We once counted 25 national food restaurants during a twenty-minute walk in Las Palmas and you'll find specialist restaurants from across the globe in the resorts as well. From the standard Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Mexican and Indian restaurants to more exotic choices like Lebanese, Balinese and Korean, there must be 50 cuisines on offer in Gran Canaria.

Look out for places catering to visitors from countries like Sweden and Finland if you feel like a Scandinavian treat, or seek out the island's Iranian and Russian restaurants. If you go Italian, choose one with a wood fired oven ("horno de leña") for the best pizza.

The new The House Fusion Thai restaurant in Puerto Rico resort is excellent.

Spanish restaurants

Tapas can mean almost anything in the resorts but Gran Canaria has plenty of traditional and modern Spanish tapas restaurants. Even in the resorts, if you know where to look you'll find the perfect pinchito, montadito or salmorejo.

In Las Palmas, the streets behind Las Canteras beach, between Playa Chica and Olof Palme are a hotspot but Vegueta offers rich pickings as well, especially on tapas Thursdays when lots of places offer a tapa and beer or wine for two euros.

Posh restaurants

Posh Canarian restaurants specialise in expensive seafood, expensive steak, and in making their customers feel lucky to get in. The American concept of service is alien and waiters, dressed up to the nines, adopt the attitude of a disapproving tutor.

Expect no allowances for poor Spanish and a snooty glare if you order from the cheap end of the wine menu. To balance this out, the food is almost always excellent.

For a posh restaurant with a difference, because it's set in a gorgeous medieval courtyard, we recommend the Casa Montes De Oca in old town Vegueta.

Location restaurants

From the cave restaurant at the end of the Guayadeque Valley to the treetop and lagoon-side Samsara in Maspalomas, Gran Canaria's location restaurants all have one thing in common: A spectacular setting.

Most offer good food and wine to go with the views and the atmosphere: seafood by the shore, meat everywhere else. We'll be covering all the best Gran Canaria location restaurants soon.

Buffet restaurants

For visitors who don't have a hotel buffet to attack every day, buffet restaurants are a good way of feeding the family for a fixed cost.

Most Gran Canaria buffet restaurants are Chinese and they've gone upmarket in recent years. The days of eating all you can for 6 euros have given way to the 12 euro buffets with chefs on standby to stirfry your choice of seafood, steak and fresh veggies.

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Tip of the day

  • How To Choose A Legal Gran Canaria Airport Transfer
    How To Choose A Legal Gran Canaria Airport Transfer

    Gran Canaria's hotels have to be licensed and offer a quality level of service as well as having insurance and complying with fire regulations. The same goes for the boats that take people out to watch dolphins, the companies offering jeep safaris, and even the holiday let apartments. 

    However, not everybody in Gran Canaria follows the rules. For example, there is a significant industry running illegal and uninsured transfers between Gran Canaria airport and the island's resorts. These cars, driven by locals and foreign-residents, are just private vehicles and the drivers are unregulated and uninsured. They don't pay tax and there is no way to hold them responsible if something goes wrong. 

     At Gran Canaria Info we believe that all people and all companies offering services to tourists should legal and above board.

    So, how do you know that your airport transfer service is legal and registered with the Gran Canaria authorities?

     Using legal Gran Canaria airport transfers

    It is quite easy to know if your airport transfer service is operating in a legal way because all registered transfers have the following...

     A blue license plate: Taxis and other public service vehicles in Gran Canaria all have blue plates.

    A VTC sticker in the window: This stands for Vehículo de Transporte con Conductor, the official designation for licensed transfer drivers ans chauffeurs.

    An SP sticker on the car: This indicates that the car offer a Servicio Publico or public service and is therefore allowed to pick up and transfer members of the public. 

    Parked in the transport zone: Official airport transfer vehicles don't park in the public car park of the airport. Instead they have their own parking zone right by the arrivals gates at the airport (next to the taxis and package tour buses). Your transfer driver therefore should not have to pay a parking fee before leaving the aiport. 

    How to spot an unlicensed transfer service

    Unlicensed drivers get away with offerring their service because they claim that they are just members of the public picking up a friend. They are allowed to stand at arrivals with a sign (just like any member of the public can).

    However, they also have to park their car in the public car park and will walk you there with your luggage, stopping to pay the parking fee at the meter. A licensed transfer driver does not need to do this because they have their own parking zone right by arrivals.

    Some unlicensed drivers don't even wait at the arrival gate because the official drivers recognise them and get annoyed. Instead they have to stand further away (often by the Spar supermarket or the car rental desks). 

    When an unlicensed driver drops you at the airport they will not want to be paid in a public area because this proves that they are charging rather than "transporting a friend" for free. 

    An unlicensed car will not have a blue license plate, or a SP or VTC sticker, and will often look like a private car (because it is a private car). 

    What's the problem with unlicensed airport transfers?

    Some people use unlicensed cars because they are the cheapest option and don't realise that they are unlicensed. 

    There are several problems with unlicensed services. The most obvious is that they are uninsured so if something goes wrong or there is an accident, you are not protected. The price that unlicensed drivers offer is only low because they cut corners (hopefully not literally). You have no way of even knowing if your unlicensed driver has a Spanish driving license, insurance and a good driving record. Licensed drivers are vetted regularly and must be fully insured and licensed to work.

    Another problem is that unlicensed transfers undermine the legitimate transfer drivers and businesses in Gran Canaria. Local drivers make a living from transfers and offer a legal, regulated service with minimum standards. Every time an unlicensed service undercuts them, it is effectively stealing from local people and the island economy.

    We believe that everybody in Gran Canaria deserves better!

    Gran Canaria Airport Transfer Services

    To find out more about the Gran Canaria airport transfer, see our Gran Canaria airport transfer article which explains the three different models; man/woman from pub with car, online transfer websites, and local transfer services.

    Or you can book a legitimate Gran Canaria airport transfer at a great price right here. Our service uses local drivers and supprts the island economy because all the money you spend stays in Gran Canaria.

    Alex Says: Using our service also helps the Gran Canaria Info team to keep providing quality local information here and in our Facebook Group

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