The Guachinche of Tenerife
The authentic gastronomic heritage of the island!
Guachinche: Origin and Singularities
Officially, the guachinche is “that establishment where the activity of temporary marketing of homegrown wine is carried out, regulated by Decree 83/2013 , of 1 August”.
It doesn’t matter if what you have just confirmed or discovered here, the origin of the guachinche has nothing to do with the restaurant or the food but… With wine!
Guachinches are informal – and very inexpensive – home cooking restaurants located in the north of the island of Tenerife. More specifically, you will find most of them between La Orotava and La Esperanza in the municipalities of Santa Ursula, La Victoria and La Matanza.
Guachinches are much more than simple country restaurants where you can go to eat. Beyond what you can eat there, the atmosphere is perhaps the most characteristic of these places that are the envy of all of Spain!
The guachinches were initially created to provide an outlet for the Malvasia wine produced in the north of Tenerife.
What is an Authentic Guachinche?
Be aware that it cannot boast of being just any guachinche, and it is that order has been put in this matter since many establishments did not respect the regulations, the Ministry of Agriculture of the Government of the Canary Islands has recently regulated (2019) through the new agri-food quality law to determine who can use this denomination.
Below we detail the requirements to be officially recognized as a guachinche in Tenerife, surely you know some of the criteria, but surely one or another will surprise you!
Don’t be surprised to see the most regular customers of the place who will end up taking out their guitar or timple to enjoy the after-dinner conversation and have the last glass of wine!
Requirements to be an “Official” Guachinche
And it is that whoever wants to be a guachinche cannot be a guachinche, but the minimum requirements that must be met to enjoy such an appeal are the following:
-Have their own wine production demonstrable through parts of coscha and production;
– open for a maximum of 4 months a year or close the establishment as soon as the wine runs out;
– only a maximum of 3 prepared dishes can be offered, the rest must be pickles, natural preserves and fruit and vegetables from the area;
– drinks offered to customers should be limited to water and wine (no soft drinks or coffee for example)
And it is that the authorities intend to carry out more controls – they should have started in the middle of the pandemic so we understand that they will have been somewhat delayed – to prevent any restaurant from proclaiming itself guachinche when it is not.
Los Guachinches de Tenerife: a Marketing Tool in the Peninsula
There are some cases of fraudulent use of the name that we obviously find in Tenerife, where premises located in the heart of Santa Cruz or La Laguna, have proclaimed themselves “guachinches”. Apparently, these establishments have their days numbered.
But what is really surprising here is to realize that the very name of this type of restaurant has been exploited beyond the Canary Islands archipelago for marketing purposes.
And it is that we find both in Madrid and in Barcelona – and more Spanish cities – a couple of restaurants such as “El Guachinche” in Madrid, where the advertising claim is precisely to have managed to transfer the traditional culinary flavors of the Canary Islands to the peninsula….
In this particular place you will find your wrinkled potatoes with 2 mojos as always and much more….but neither the environment nor the prices can compare with what we are lucky enough to have here in the Canary Islands.
Guachinche Tenerife
Very nice everything… but what do you really eat?
It would be impossible to give you the details of the menus of each establishment on the island but in this section we try to give you an idea of what you can find in the majority of cases.
In general, the guachinches of Tenerife usually offer a traditional Canarian cuisine that focuses on the following outstanding dishes:
Appetizers and Starters
Many times the appetizers focus on the “chorizo perro“, which comes from a chorizo whose skin burns just at the time of consumption and which is a kind of sobrasada.
Another dish that is not usually missing in season are limpets (from May to November, since their capture is prohibited the rest of the year) which are usually cooked on the grill and with green mojo on top.
On the other hand, white cheese it is not usually missing either. It can be made with more or less lehce from cow, sheep or goat, but it is characterized above all by being a very tender and fresh cheese.
Spoon Plates
The most traditional dishes that we find in a guachinche are usually based on chickpeas. Call yourself “ropa vieja” or in any other way, the dish consists of a mixture of chickpeas with carrots, shredded meat, chicken or rabbit and potatoes, apart from the occurrences of the kitchen.
Grilled meat
Although this is not always the case, it is very common for the place to have a barbecue outside where they make all kinds of grilled meat, and especially you should find almost always: chicken, rabbit, ribs, pork or veal chops and steaks.
Always accompanied by their wrinkled potatoes with mojo or of course french fries!
An alternative to these grilled meats are the “potatoes with ribs” which are steamed pork ribs with their potatoes and corn boiled and lined with a quantity of mojo.
The Dolorosa doesn’t hurt so much!
Another characteristic that should be noted about guachinches is that they are very cheap. The value for money is usually excellent and it is normal to eat well for 10 euros and very well (or a lot!) for about 15-20 euros per person more or less, and depending on each establishment
Logically, if you need a couple of steaks to feed yourself, the bill will go up but in general, the approximate price you can expect is the one we indicate.
In any case, if you want to avoid surprises – and although it sounds like cheap advertising – we recommend you look for closed menu offers in our gastronomic section.
- Relaxed
- Gastronomy
- Family Sharing
- Various locations
- Difficulty Level: Easy
- Between 1 and 2 Hours
- Economic
Guachinches You Must Try Without Fail
Our Favorites
Here is a list of places that we like on a private basis, and that as always in Tenerife Pass, we recommend because we have already tried them and we liked them a lot, and that regardless of whether we work or have worked directly with them:
- Ana & Eva’s Orchard
- The Cuban
- The first
- The Gomez
- The Farm
"Don't ask what you can do for your country. Ask what's for lunch" Orson Welles
Final Details to Keep in Mind
Book a Guachinche
Keep in mind that in most cases it is impossible to book since the family infrastructure of the guachinches and the shortage of their staff often make reservations unfeasible.
Some last advice
Try to arrive early (before 1:30 p.m.) or late (after 3:30 p.m.) to avoid queues that can sometimes be very long and heavy, especially for the oldest and youngest members of the family.
As we always tell you from the Tenerife Pass: the important thing is that you can enjoy the experience to the fullest, so do not hesitate to contact us in case you need any kind of clarification.
Bon Appetit and be Scandalously Happy… with a full belly!