Where to eat at and around Parador de Cruz de Tejeda

Close by, on foot or by car

• Restaurante Asador Grill de Yolanda

  3 min walk

  Mountain grill on the pass · €€

  The old roadhouse on the pass, a couple of minutes from the Parador's door, in a spot that began as a posada for muleteers, walkers and traders on the royal road between Tejeda and San Mateo. The present dining room dates from a 1976 refit, with heavy woodwork and an oven from the same years, and the house is known for its roasts and grilled meat; it also serves a plate of cheese and a coffee for a quick stop. It opens at 9am and closes at 5pm on weekdays and 7pm at weekends, and it is shut on Tuesdays, so it is lunch, not dinner.

  Walk inCalle Cruz de Tejeda s/n, Cruz de Tejeda

• Tajinaste del Refugio

  4 min walk

  French home cooking a few minutes away · €€

  The dining room of the small Hotel Rural El Refugio, a few minutes down the pass, run as a French kitchen with a short daily menu and a carte cooked slowly from local produce. Diners single out the quiche, seafood crêpes, fish in green mojo and chocolate cake. It is open to non-residents and serves dinner every day, from 6.30 to 9pm in winter and 7 to 9.30pm in summer, which makes it the one alternative to the Parador's restaurant without getting into the car. Lunch is for booked groups only. Book by phone.

  Reserve aheadHotel Rural El Refugio, Cruz de Tejeda

• Casa del Caminero

  11 min by car

  Canarian cooking in the road-menders' house · €€

  On the road into Tejeda, in the house where the camineros who built and kept the island's royal roads once lived, now a casa de comidas with art on the walls. The menu is the island's: a board of Canarian cheeses, papas arrugadas with mojo, gofio escaldado, goat in sauce, pork knuckle from the oven and the fish of the day, with bienmesabe over ice cream, and mains from €10.50 to €18.50. It opens from noon, keeps the kitchen going into the evening from Tuesday to Friday and is closed on Sundays and public holidays. Book, and ask for a table inside, as the terrace is beside the road.

  Reserve aheadAvenida de los Almendros 5, Tejeda

• Dulcería Nublo

  12 min by car

  Almond sweets and coffee since 1946 · €

  Tejeda is famous for its almond trees, and this is where the almonds become bienmesabe, marzipan baked in a wood oven, almond tartlets and the palmeras that have become the symbol of the house. It began in 1946, when Dolores Navarro made marzipan and bienmesabe with her sister and father and sold them outside Mass; the third generation runs it now. There is coffee, ice cream and a terrace facing the Roque Bentayga. It opens every day from the morning (8am on weekdays) into the evening; expect a short queue, and buy a jar of bienmesabe to take home.

  Walk inCalle Doctor Domingo Hernández Guerra 15, Tejeda

• Restaurante Las Lagunetas Tierra Guanche

  12 min by car

  Village lunch above a produce shop · €€

  In Las Lagunetas, the hamlet on the road down towards San Mateo, a family restaurant beside the church, upstairs from a shop of island produce. Diners praise the chickpea stew, the plain good cooking and the view from the dining room, and groups and island tours stop here, so it can fill at lunch. It serves lunch only, from noon to 4pm Monday to Thursday and to 5pm at weekends, and is closed on Fridays. Look round the shop downstairs on the way out.

  Reserve aheadCalle José Gil Rivero 16, Las Lagunetas, Vega de San Mateo

• Tasca Bar La Dorotea

  13 min by car

  Tapas tasca by the church · €€

  A small tasca on the Plaza del Socorro, beside Tejeda's church, with the mountains in the windows. Order Canarian tapas to share: grilled local cheese with honey is the one diners keep naming, with slow-cooked pork, tuna belly and the stew of the day. Lunch is from noon to 4pm Wednesday to Sunday, and dinner on Thursday from 7 to 9.30pm and on Friday and Saturday from 8 to 11pm; it is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Book if you want a table with the view.

  Reserve aheadPlaza Nuestra Señora del Socorro, Tejeda

• Bar Restaurante Roque Nublo

  16 min by car

  Walkers' bar under the rock · €

  In La Culata, the hamlet below the Roque Nublo, a plain local bar where walkers come down to eat and the terrace looks up at the rock. The cooking is home-style Canarian in generous portions, with half portions at about €5 that let you try several: garbanzada, croquetas, meatballs, papas arrugadas with mojo and goat. It opens from 9am to 6pm Wednesday to Sunday and is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. It fills at weekends, so go early.

  Walk inGC-608 27, La Culata, Tejeda

• Restaurante Cueva del Molino

  21 min by car

  Lunch in a cave in Artenara · €€

  Artenara, at 1,270 metres on the western rim of the caldera, is known for houses dug into the rock, and this restaurant is one of them: a dining room cut into the hillside on the main street, with tables outside facing the mountains. Diners recommend the steak from local cattle, the grilled cheese with tomato jam, papas arrugadas with mojo and the croquettes, and the owner steers the order. It serves from noon to 5pm every day, so make it lunch on a day spent on the western side of the caldera.

  Reserve aheadAvenida Matías Vega 32, Artenara

Breakfast