The Princesa Yaiza Suite Hotel Resort in Lanzarote doesn’t take its food offering lightly. This king-sized property gathers a Japanese teppanyaki restaurant, Italian trattoria and gelateria, a tapas bar, al fresco Mexican feasts and expert mixologists under its roof.
But for serious foodies, there’s one restaurant that rules them all: the award-hogging Isla de Lobos. The head chef works hand-in-hand with Finca de Uga – a local farm that inspires the all-Canarian menu. Here’s a little taster of what to expect…
Love, Lanzarote
Lanzarote might be small, but its list of home-grown food is mighty.
Canarian black pigs, Majorera goats and free-range hens wander Finca de Uga, which supplies the chefs at the Isla de Lobos restaurant. The 17-acre farm also comes with a dairy complete with Jersey cows that produce small-batch artisan cheese that rake in trophies at the World Cheese Awards. Fruit orchards are ripe with oranges, avocados, pineapples and melons, while greenhouses grow everything from papaya to peppery salad leaves.
All in all, Finca de Uga is a bit of a chef’s playground, so you’ll find these fresh, local ingredients popping up all over the menu at Isla de Lobos.
Zero-kilometre menus
The menus at Isla de Lobos change with the seasons, so you’ll have the chance to try something different every few months. To experience a real cross section of Canarian cuisine, go for the chef’s special: the zero-kilometre tasting menu. It’s only available once a month (usually on the last Saturday) and includes a tour of nearby Finca de Uga.
Here, you’ll get to meet some of the 1,000-plus farm animals. Keep a special eye out for the Iberian-Canarian pigs. They’re such a unique breed that they’re named after the farm – Cochino Finca de Uga. These VIPs are almost as well looked after as the hotel guests, left free to roam landscaped gardens with private pools and a soundtrack of chill-out music.
Farm to table
If you don’t happen to be staying at the Princesa Yaiza Suite Hotel Resort when the monthly tasting menu is on offer, then don’t worry – the main menu at Isla de Lobos is just as tasty.
It’s also stacked with dishes made from ingredients sourced from Finca de Uga and the surrounding Canary Islands, so expect things like net-fresh barbecued prawns and scallops, along with artful papaya salads and coconut cream desserts. It’s award-winning stuff – even the Michelin Guide has given Isla de Lobos a nod.
The food is best washed down with a local Lanzarote wine. The tough volcanic soil around here gives birth to super sweet varieties like Malvasia and Pedro Ximénez.
