Santa Cruz de Tenerife
in Canary Islands

A culinary-meets-anthropological deep dive into the history of El Hierro, chef Marco Tavío’s 8Aborigen restaurant is setting a new benchmark for Canarian cuisine. Roughly 90% of the ingredients are sourced locally, and more than half are personally foraged by Tavío and his team. Expect enyesques (Canarian tapas) made from indigenous ingredients like corn, figs, and arugla-like haite or octopus blood sausages served on cornbread topped with crispy fried pork rinds — plus wines from local producers like Uwe Urbach and Viña Frontera. 

The Canaries’ proximity—geographical, cultural, and otherwise—to North Africa finds expression at Muana Mboka, an open-air gastronomic restaurant by Equatorial Guinean–born, Spanish-raised chef Roger Ekope. Set in the fertile Fimapaire Valley, the setting is as memorable as the dishes, which draw on the flavors of his homeland, as well as Cameroon, Senegal, and Ethiopia. Highlights include mafe stew with dried shrimp, plantain fufu, and crispy cassava—served with expressive Canarian wines.