Today, I am taking you all to the Canaries.
With its beautiful black volcanic beaches, ancient little villages on the foot of majestic mountains, and a UNESCO world heritage volcano located center stage of the island, surely no one would be able to resist its natural beauty and rustic charm.
My husband and I partook on a memorable holiday in Tenerife, a gorgeous island that belongs to Spain just off the African coast near Morocco. We were mesmerized with its shimmering waters and wondered to ourselves what took us so long to venture our way here. I’ve always been curious about the landscape of Africa and nothing is as exotic as this place, the principal and most inhabited island of the seven Canary Islands.
Style Details
Outfit | H&M
Belt | Abercrombie & Fitch
Sunglasses | CELINE
Shoes | UNISA
Watch | c/o LA MER COLLECTIONS
“La Tosca is guaranteed to satisfy your cravings while you soak up the view of the glossy sea.”
Our first stop was lunch at La Tosca located in Playa Fanabe, a popular beach in Costa Adeje in the South West region of Tenerife. What a wonderful view to see the ocean and beach from the front of the restaurant. Though we were nervous driving in a new country, the drive itself was easy and we didn’t run into any traffic or complicated road situations. We noticed that parking was a challenge when we arrived in town. It took us approximately 20 minutes to find parking yet when we walked around the shops, there weren’t really a lot of pedestrians. You wonder whose cars those are that are parked along the streets. We didn’t see many parking structures and the free one, which is essentially a large dead-end road, was full. I can only imagine what it would be like at its peak time in Tenerife. We were enthusiastic to finally see La Tosca as it was much cleaner and modern in comparison to the other cafe and restaurants we saw while we were walking around Playa Fanabe.
We arrived at 3 P.M. where we were greeted by Stefan and were quickly seated. They served warm bread with butter immediately after we ordered our meal. Our servers, Andre and Jose, were very prompt and polite. The menu was simple as it was the smaller lunch menu which featured four different options for each course: appetizer, main, and dessert. This makes it very easy for people to order as the options are concentrated to the key items. I also remember, upon ordering their signature spaghetti carbonara, that we were asked whether we preferred it with or without cream. Of course, it was recommended to have it without cream as that one was the authentic Italian style.
We started with the Galician octopus with paprika and potatoes with rosemary focaccia. The octopus serving, I’d say, is enough for one with seven bite-sized octopus pieces. Fortunately, the octopus was quite meaty. The paprika contributes most of the flavor but the textures of the potato and octopus is evident. Personally, I prefer eating the octopus only when I know I have other succeeding courses coming up. The rosemary focaccia was quite big, like a medium pizza. It looks good for sharing as it was cut in 6 slices. The rosemary is good and flavorful. This makes for a perfect conversation dish.
As I mentioned earlier, I ordered the spaghetti carbonara without cream. It actually made me happier and less guilty as the cream would have made this dish significantly heavier. I’ve had the spaghetti carbonara from many other countries and, I must say, that the ham used in this dish is very different. This version has the ham a bit chunkier and flavorful which made it stand out more, a noticeable difference but still very delicious.
The other key dish we had was something we were curious about. Since this restaurant caters to the tourists that visit in the area, the squid and soy sauce wok would certainly attract the Asian crowd. I confess that this was surprisingly good as I usually expect anything wok-like to not be as decent as Asian cuisines served in authentic Chinese and Mongolian restaurants but this one was enjoyable. The dish feature grilled carrots, cucumbers, red bell peppers and cilantro leaves.
For sweets we had the caramel cheesecake from the dessert cart and the banana flambé. As expected, the caramel cheesecake was a very sweet cake. It was a rich, pleasurable, decadent cheesecake that truly satisfies the palette. The banana flambé represented the classic combination of hot and cold, a healthier option (in comparison to the cheesecake, of course) yet still indulgent. The bananas were quite hot under the cream served with vanilla ice cream.
You certainly can’t go wrong with dining at La Tosca when you find yourself on a trip to Playa Fanabe in Costa Adeje, Tenerife. Assuredly, they are guaranteed to satisfy your cravings while you soak up the view of the glossy sea.
Thanks to Restaurante La Tosca | Calle Londres, 7, 38660 Costa Adeje, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain | +34 922 71 50 02