Olympus World

This little strip of bars, restaurants and shops (pictured below) is one that all Club Olympus members and guests should know about, particularly in view of todays economic climate.

It doesn’t look much but on this little strip are a couple of restaurants that are of outstanding value. They are typical Canarian restaurants so tend to be short on looks but great on food.

These are the restaurants that all the locals use in the area. They may not be the most salubrious but their food quality is outstanding and the prices are phenomenal. Ranging from 5 Euros to 12 Euros for excellent main courses including sirloin and fillet steaks. Firstly we will feature The Maraju.

 Again, not much to look at on the outside but the interior is pleasant enough. You will be shoulder to shoulder with taxi drivers, lawyers, builders, police officers and a wide variety of local workers.

The “Menu del dia” runs out at between 6.50 Euros and 8.50 Euros for a 3 course meal. As a little hint the “Veal Escalope” with fried eggs is 5.50 Euros and is superb. I keep forgetting to take a shot of the food before I get halfway through it! - Ivan

I called in today with Hildegard my German friend. Hildegard is 85 years old and has no family so I keep an eye on her and she enjoys lunch here.

It’s a great deal, Hildegard gets lunch and I get a German lesson!

However, you will find Maraju a five minute walk away from Club Olympus in Garden City. Simply go left on the main road in front of the resort, walk past the Bus Station, across the next junction and you are there. We will next feature the restaurant “El Gomero” which does a fabulous leg of lamb but all of the restaurants on this little strip are fantastic value and worth visiting.

Always feel free to ask for directions to these places from any of our team down at Club Olympus.

Bon Provecho - Ivan

Good food is good food, no matter the location. For a quick snack we enjoy an occasional visit to “Don Kebab” in the Gran Sur shopping centre. The boys use it more than we do but still it’s a great little spot for a traditional Donner Kebab.

The new Gran Sur Shopping Centre is only a few minutes away from Club Olympus in Garden City. It boasts a 7 unit cinema, shops, bars and restaurants and of course Don Kebab!

This new shopping mall is quite an attraction for Club Olympus owners and residents alike. There are some other terrific restaurants which I will review shortly but in the meantime the kebabs are great! At Don kebab the owners and staff are from Bulgaria, the traditional home of Turkish kebabs??!

 Vess and Ali of Don Kebab say hi!

The Gran Sur centre is well worth a visit. There are some really lovely shops apparently, just ask Jane! Seriously though, our owners do report that this modern shopping mall is superb.

All tastes are catered for and the cinema shows English films throughout the week.

Anyway, enough shopping, good grief what’s wrong with me, back to Don Kebab where the food is brill and the beer is ice cold! This is the view (below) from the terrace taken at lunchtime today! (Thursday)

When you are in Tenerife next and visiting Club Olympus, if you really need a kebab (and sometimes you do) remember Don Kebab. You will love it.

All the best and Bon Provecho!

Hedley

The Cafe Epoca in the El Camison area of Playa De Las Americas is a terrific place to stop for coffee. They have a variety of coffee’s and it has a very continental atmosphere.

Cafe Epoca was originally opened by Giovanni Lecci from Sicily and has been a popular meeting place ever since. Cafe Epoca also prepare light snacks and have a wide variety of pastries, cakes and delicious things that go with coffee!

Coffee is serious business in Tenerife and there are a number of different coffees to choose from. Try the world famous “Barraquito” coffee of Tenerife shown above. This is made with condensed milk, an espresso coffee, milk, a shot of ‘Liqueur 103′, a tiny slice of lemon and then all sprinkled with cinnamon and it is outstanding!

Legend has it that “Barraquito” is an obscure word for camouflage. When the family was on their way to church on a Sunday morning they would stop for a coffee. Dad would ask for a Barraquito with a wink to the barman, so his coffee would have a little shot of alcohol in it (Licor 43). The tiny slice of lemon was to indicate which coffee had the booze in it! Or so they say……….?

Cafe Epoca is well worth a visit and do try try the “Barraquito”!

Damary’s completes the trio of restaurants that specialise in “Adeje Spicy chicken”. The other two being Oasis and Otello’s. Each one is brilliant in its own right for various reasons but all have one thing in common, fabulous spicy chicken.

Damary’s is a family owned restaurant and is situated towards the top of Adeje. It is only a 15 minute taxi or car ride from Club Olympus. The chicken pieces here are a little smaller than at Oasis or Otello’s but there are more of them and the sauce is particularly tasty.

Not only do Damary’s specialise in “spicy chicken” but they also do “garlic chicken” which is different again. Their house wine is also very good but we tend to have a Marques De Caceres Rioja when we are here.

Cheers all, we hope that you come and give Damary’s a try, it’s well worth the run out. Recommending restaurants is always a bit fraught because every place can have on off day but we are confident that you will not be disappointed with Damary. You can eat out on their terrace or inside if it is a little cooler or busy.

This little place is certainly one of our favourites and deserves its place in my “Good Food Guide”.

If you look at the categories on the top right hand side of the blog page you will see the “Hedley’s Good Food Guide” section. Click on this to see all of the restaurants currently on that guide. There is also a section in the main website that has even more restaurants highlighted. We are very blessed in Tenerife by having some tremendous restaurants which are great value for money. If you need to know more then please speak with me, Ivan, Sedge or any of our staff and we will point you in the right direction. Do also feel free to comment on this restaurant or on any others that you like by clicking on “comment” below right.

Bon Provecho and have a wonderful time when you are in Tenerife - Hedley and Jane

‘Adeje spicy chicken’ is part of the staple diet for anybody coming to Tenerife especially Club Olympus owners and guests. There are three main restaurants to visit to enjoy “Adeje Chicken”.

They are Oasis (which we featured recently), Damary’s and Otello’s. Each place has its own unique recipe, style and ambience. Having said everybody has their own particular favourite.

Otello’s can be found right at the top of Adeje town (entrance shown above). It is situated at the beginning of the “Barranco Del Infierno” walk so to get to it, just follow the signs for the walk. Their chicken is a little drier than Oasis or Damary’s but is still very tasty and packed full of the typical spicy flavour. Their local wine is also very good. Their ‘House Salad’ is to be recommended and is usually had as a starter.

What really makes Otello an outstanding place is its location and views. Such as this view below of our ‘Tabletop’ Mountain to the right of the terrace. It’s official Spanish name is “Conde” but many locals call it “Montana Mesa”.

From their terrace pictured below, we have views up to the mountains, the “Barranco” and right out over the sea.

 Here we can clearly see the beginning of the famous “Barranco Del Infierno” or “Hell’s Gorge” walk.

Which then leads right up into the dramatic scenery of the Barranco. Of course everybody who goes on the 3 to 4 hour walk ends up back at Otello’s for lunch or dinner.

A regular visitor to Otello’s is this beautiful black Crow who injured his wing some years ago. The staff feed him regularly and he drops in several times per day.

 The town of Adeje can be quite difficult for parking so a great feature of Otello is its large car park at the rear of the restaurant.

The restaurant also has a lovely interior with giant windows to take advantage of the views if the weather is a little cooler or for the evenings.

The food, the views, the atmosphere of Otello’s make it an absolute winner especially at lunchtime when you get the full impact of the panoramic vista’s. The next time you are visiting Club Olympus in Tenerife, you might give it a try. Please comment if you have been to Otello’s or enjoy any other restaurant that you have tried in Tenerife.

Bon Provecho - Hedley

If you love Paella, then you will love Raymonds. This has long been one of the South of Tenerife’s “must go” places. Raymonds is a traditional old style Paella restaurant. The surroundings are not the most salubrious but the Paella is out of this world.

And yes, that is a bottle of water that you can see next to my plate! Doesn’t it look good? The Paella not the water! Stuffed full of different seafoods, chicken, rabbit, vegetables, everything goes in and is cooked to perfection. Jane told me off for not smiling for this photo but she took me a bit by suprise, anyway…..

Here below, number 1 son Ivan demonstrates how Paella should really be eaten, with a Mussel shell.

and he told me he was on a diet again!

Jane and I have been using Raymonds for about 30 years and the food quality is still the same. We usually have the local house wine which is terrific. The whole place is great value for money.

You will find Raymonds on the main street of Los Cristianos opposite the CEPSA Petrol station. This is on the road into Cristianos heading down towards the Church Square. It’s about 10-12 minutes away from Club Olympus by car.

If we can, we try to sit outside and watch the world go past as we enjoy lunch but there are not many tables outside.

Number 3 son Sedge was with us recently too and he is definitely on a diet.

As I have said on a number of occasions, we are blessed with an abundance of superb eating places in Tenerife. Most of them just a short distance from Club Olympus.

When you are next in Tenerife and if you enjoy Paella, give Raymonds a try. You will not be disappointed.

Please let us know your favourite restaurants and feel free to comment by clicking on the comment box below right.

Bon Provecho and all the very best - Hedley

I have featured Masia Del Mar on my Good Food Guide before, but after a recent visit I thought we would briefly re-visit this terrific restaurant for the blog. Masia Del Mar is at the little fishing village of La Caleta, about a ten minute car drive away from Club Olympus.

The restaurant is right on the seafront and specialises in fish and seafood. To begin with we normally enjoy a selection of several different types of shellfish (such as the Langostinos shown below) and then follow it up with a nice large fish divided between us, usually an Abadejo, which is very similar to Haddock and a fillet or two of fresh Bonito (Tuna).

The Mussels in Marinero sauce are a particular favourite, look at the photo sequence below to see how my Granddaughter Dominique demonstrates how to scoop up the sauce with a mussel shell as it should be done!

The scoop!

The lift!

The sip!

The tip! - Outstanding.

Somebody has already snaffled one fillet of Bonito from the dish above but this local fish is absolutely delicious. Pan fried on a plancha (hotplate) with garlic and a squeeze of lemon juice over the top, wonderful! We find that an ice cold bottle of Vina Sol by Torres is an excellent accompaniment.

The view from the restaurant terrace is shown below.

Tenerife is blessed with an abundance of superb restaurants and Masia Del Mar is certainly one of them. Great eating and great value for money are a feature of Tenerife as you all know. If you get a chance to visit Masia Del Mar at La Caleta I am sure that you will love it.

All the best - Hedley

Restaurante La Vieja at La Caleta is an up and coming fish and seafood restaurant. It is quite a new venue but is building a very solid reputation.

It is not the cheapest of places but the food quality is terrific. The star attraction for many is the salmon lasagne. “You can’t have a salmon lasagne” I hear you say, but yes you can and it really is terrific, just ask my daughter-in-law Janette pictured below.

La Vieja is smack on the seafront at La Caleta (10 minutes in a taxi) with fabulous sea views, it has a constant supply of the freshest local seafood and a very comprehensive wine list. If you fancy a bit of a treat then give it a go.

‘Bon Provecho’ - Hedley

Recently I took our In-House and Reservations Team for lunch as I like to do quite often to say thank you for their hard work. As you know, there are no shortages of terrific restaurants to choose from in Tenerife. We are blessed with quite a few excellent fish restaurants in the south of the island. One of our favourites is ‘Masia Del Mar’ at La Caleta. I have been coming here for decades and know the owner and his family well.

Pictured above is the entrance to the restaurant on the little road going down into La Caleta. I can remember when this tiny fishing village was literally a tiny fishing village with just one scruffy little bar on the seafront.

Over the years La Caleta has become a sought after residential area and is now home to some great bars and restaurants. Masia Del Mar with its sister restaurant ‘Pisces’ underneath, has always maintained very high standards and quite reasonable prices.

My team always love to have a real ‘picky and pikey’ lunch (is that a Yorkshire expression?). They love to have lots of little bits and pieces and that’s where Masia Del Mar excels. We usually just have a big selection of different shellfish including Mussels in Mariners sauce, Clams in white wine and garlic, Cockles, Limpets, King Prawns, Boquerones (anchovies in vinegar and garlic), Chipirones (baby squids in batter) and so on. We normally have a bottle or two of Vina Sol, which is an outstanding dry white wine by Torres, and it goes with seafood superbly. One of our favourite red wines is Marques De Caceres which goes with just about anything!

The team are pictured above just finishing off ‘deep fried baby squids’ and shown below is the interior of Masia Del Mar.

One of the fabulous things about this restaurant is its location. It is right on the seafront and has a beautiful terrace area overlooking the sea and the views are simply wonderful, just look at this!

This is the view at about 3 o’clock in the afternoon on a day last week. No wonder the team enjoy this instead of work!

Just below is a great shot at lunch of 3 generations of the Rhodes’s at Club Olympus.

On the left is Ivan’s daughter Cassie who is in the Reservations team, then number one son Ivan, and I am on the right.

We all had a lovely lunch at Masia Del Mar in La Caleta. If you get a chance then do go and try it yourself. Ask any member of staff how to get there or email us for directions. Drop a line to info@olympusworld.com or call 0034 922 795606 (Sue or Cassie).

If you have tried this restaurant and enjoyed it let us know. Simply click on ‘comments’ below. Indeed if you have any other favourites or suggestions drop us a line by clicking on ‘comments’. Your feedback is always appreciated.

All the best - Hedley

A classic Tenerife eating spot is “The Oasis” restaurant in Adeje. It is a taxi journey or drive from Club Olympus of about 10 to 15 minutes or about 2o minutes by bus. This was the original “Adeje Chicken” place where the Canarian speciality of spicy chicken became famous.

 

There is great debate in Tenerife about which is the best ‘Adeje Chicken’. The choice is usually Otello’s, at the top of the village, Damary’s at the left hand side of the village or Oasis at the right of the village but on the main road.

Each restaurant is unique in its own right but today I am concentrating on Oasis. The spicy chicken here is terrific, the salad consisting of tomatoes, iceberg lettuce and thick cut onions smothered in wine vinegar and olive oil is, I think, the best.

Two of my boys, Sedge and Ivan were assigned to get photographs up at Oasis but confessed that they totally forgot until they had eaten the lot except for one last chicken leg pictured above, so apologies for the abysmal food photography, I will have words with my sons later! The local wine here is of really good quality and Oasis is always great value for money which, as a Yorkshireman, is always noteworthy. For example:- spicy chicken, salad and chips for two people plus 1 litre of local wine and a couple of bottles of Dorada beer works out at less than 20 Euros, which is pretty amazing I think you will agree. You can sit inside as shown by Sedge below.

Or, as most people prefer, you can sit outside under a tree and enjoy the sunshine (and Diesel fumes from buses and cars going past, but that’s half the fun!) as seen here.

I am definitely going to have a word with both of those lads as they were supposed to just get a couple photo’s and get back to the resort and do some work asap!

Anyway, Oasis is a superb restaurant to try out next time you are in Tenerife. For directions just ask any member of Club Olympus staff when you are on the resort and I will see you when you are next out on your hols.

All the best

Hedley.

Ps. please comment on this restaurant or any others that you like by clicking on “comments” just below, we would love to hear from you.