This week is my last working week of the year, and as things are starting to quiet down a fair bit with the upcoming Christmas holidays and everything, there will be some light blogging coming along for the next couple of weeks, where perhaps I will be writing some more about non related work items than anything else, and since I have got already the ‘Gran Canaria – A Mini-Continent to Rediscover’ series going on at the moment, I thought for today’s blog entry I would share a few thoughts about my next recommendation on the list of wonderful places to eat and dine for your upcoming holidays in Gran Canaria, or if you already live here perhaps have another noteworthy option to consider. The next one I can describe it with a simple, short, rather evocative sentence: ¡Viva la Tapa!

La Tapita Los Jose’s is one of those unforgettable places you just can’t miss out, specially, if you are looking to enjoy some rather creative, genuine and scrumptious Spanish tapas. Off the beaten track from the main touristic spots, it’s a rather busy bar / restaurant located in San Fernando where I always typically advise people to arrive a little bit early either for lunch or dinner, so you get still get a table without having to wait much, or at all. So arriving there around 13:30 or 20:00 would be just perfect. Then be prepared to be wowed! 

It’s been recently refurbished (earlier on this year) with a rather modern look with good tables and comfortable chairs and overall very spacious considering the constraints of a relatively small place. The lighting has been greatly improved and that’s a good thing, because your eyes typically end up eating before you do, so the first thing you will see upon entering the place is a wonderful landscape display of rather enticing and appetising Spanish tapas to choose from. Yes, I know, at this point in time, and before you even seat down further you will be drooling big time. Don’t worry, it’s all right. We all do it. Every time. It’s normal. That’s part of the ritual of having a gorgeous meal waiting for you just a few more minutes.

After you have looked at the rather varied and diverse selection of tapas available for you to choose from, you could either sit inside of the restaurant, or outside at the terrace. If you can, sit outside to keep enjoying the lovely sunshine while a rather cool glass of beer heads your way. Let life pass by slowly. Take your time. No rush. Remember, you are in Gran Canaria, where time slows down a fair bit to help you live in the moment. Take it as it comes…

All of the staff members, including the owners (Los Jose’s), are incredibly good at their jobs, very competent, amicable, rather friendly, with a smile and a few kind words always ready to make you feel rather welcome while at the same time providing you with a really good service. You will get to experience the power of their smile and, believe me, it makes a whole lot of a difference in what you are about to experience next: the food. 

At La Tapita Los Jose’s there is one single thing you have and that is choice. Tons of amazing choices, actually. There is always a daily menu with good prices and really interesting suggestions of both fish and meat (along with vegetables, of course!), if you would want to go economical. Then there are tapas, half portions and full portions, which is when you enter the wonderfully suggestive world of ‘el picoteo’ (i.e. the pecking) as you nibble through multiple small dishes scattered around your table as you will be able to see from the attached pictures I have included in this post to give you a rough idea of what’s waiting for you… Yeah, I know, I’m drooling already myself (again!!) 😋

But it gets way better than that! Because after enjoying the many rather delightful and mouthwatering tapas, you would need to make some more space for the desserts, just because. In a word, they are just exquisite! My personal favourite is the homemade ‘natillas con galleta’ (i.e. custard with a cookie), which, in terms of different types of custard out there at other places, it’s as good as it gets! Seriously, I would challenge anyone out there who tries it that they won’t be able to find anything else that tastes like it in the whole island. It’s that good! Love it!

Yes, I think you may have realised by now how I haven’t shared any picture in this post about the different desserts they have on a daily basis. I know, it’s done on purpose, don’t worry. That way you prepare yourself, through that wonderful mental exercise, for the many luscious dessert options you will have at your disposal after your meal, so much so it will be tough to make a choice. They are all very good choices altogether, so I know you will be back for more over and over again! Just like all of us keep doing already over the course of time.

Everything at La Tapita Los Jose’s is homemade, just like mum’s own cooking, for the day, with rather fresh ingredients and tons of love and care, as it should be, and, best of all, at incredibly reasonable prices reminding you each and every bite why Spanish Tapas have been ever so popular, after all. So much so, I know next time you come to Gran Canaria you will repeat again. Oh, and if you already live here, it will become part of your weekly or monthly pilgrimage to, by far, one of the best tapas bars in Gran Canaria. All of us, eventually, end up going there.

[Friendly reminder: Don’t forget to make space for the heavenly desserts! You won’t regret them a single time!] 

‘Calma chicha’, as you may well know, would literally translate into dead calm, you know, when there are no waves, nor wind and everything out there in the ocean is completely dead still, either ahead of a typical storm or right after. However, whenever someone would say ‘Calma Chicha’  over here in Gran Canaria, they are also referring to one of the most stunning experiences of the culinary sort that the south of the island has got to offer to different visitors. It is not only a treat to your eyes and ears with such a soothing ambience, but also to your tastebuds. If you were to redefine contemporary Spanish cuisine, that would be it. 

Right in the city centre of Playa del Inglés, and within a very short walk away from the wonderful Dunes of Maspalomas, Calma Chicha is one of those places that, unless you pay close attention, you may miss it as you walk by. Because, at first sight, the only thing you will be able to see and distinguish is its chill-out area, very nicely camouflaged with all of the different plants, comfortable sofas, chairs, big umbrellas and so forth. Despite being very centrical, it’s incredibly tranquil though, you would hardly notice there are people there hanging out, enjoying the odd cocktail or two while dinner is getting ready, or, of course, enjoying that lovely after dinner drink before you get started with the rest of the evening. 

It’s not a very large place, but it’s better if you book in advance from their own Web site (it won’t take you more than a minute or two tops), even though it has got two different sitting spaces for dinner, which makes it all very cozy and comfortable altogether as if you were just home. Well, you are. That’s the overall treatment you will get from the super friendly, amicable and competent staff. Oh, and if you are planning a rather romantic dinner while you are in Playa del Inglés, enjoying your holidays, Calma Chicha will do the trick, too! Just the perfect setting altogether for you to make the right impression(s). The rest will be up to you … 

As you will be able to see from the different pictures I have attached to this post, the food is rather elaborate, prepared with all fresh ingredients, and plenty of tender, loving care. One thing you can see clearly is that it is not the typical Spanish tapas bar you may be used to. Quite the opposite, it’s more a rather scrumptious glimpse of what contemporary Spanish cuisine looks like AND tastes. And depending on how hungry you may well be, or rather what kind of budget you may have at your disposal, there are different types of menus you can chose from, as well as a la carte, making it a rather special place where there is a bit of everything to suit everyone’s many needs and cravings. There is a great chance you will be going back multiple times, so that you can try the many different options available, just like I have done over the years…

The portions are rather generous and all the prices adequate enough with plenty of great value for your money. If anything, I can guarantee you right away you will not be disappointed by both the diversity of enticing Spanish dishes you can choose from as well as the menus. To give you an example, the attached picture below is Cecina de León, one of my favourite starters from the Spanish cuisine that comes from where I was born and raised, León, and that I haven’t been able to find anywhere else in the island, although I’m sure there may be some other places I haven’t been to just yet that may have it as well. Either way, if you have ever tried it out already, you will know there is nothing like it, and in case you may not have tasted it yet, allow me to recommend you to give it a try when you order your next starter in there. Mouth watering already as we speak! 

I guess I wasn’t anticipating much of this when I first got things started with this new series of blog posts around ‘Gran Canaria – A Mini-Continent to Rediscover’, but the truth is that the holidays are just around the corner and I’m starting to have a hard time deciding which places I would be booking first to come back and pay another visit, but, if anything, I will tell you now that Calma Chicha would be one of them for real. Why? Well, because, to me, it’s literally like coming back home over and over again but without leaving the island altogether, which is, as you can imagine, as good as it gets, as opposed to have to travel over 2.000 kms and back. 

I don’t need to anymore. Calma Chicha is just around the corner to continue making me feel right at home.

This week there will be a bit of light blogging from yours truly since it’s one of those wonderfully weird weeks where multiple national bank holidays happen throughout the week, almost one after the other and for different reasons, so there is a great chance I will be spending most of the time offline rather than online. Perhaps, for those odd moments when I’m back online it may well be also the perfect opportunity for me to continue with the series of blog posts around ‘Gran Canaria – A Mini-Continent to Rediscover’ that I mentioned recently I would be writing about every weekend from then onwards. Well, this week already feels a little bit like a massively long weekend with this so-called ‘macro-puente’, so to get things going I will go ahead with the first recommendation of places to eat and dine in Gran Canaria and I will go for one of my favourite restaurants in the island that if I were to describe it with a short sentence it would be just this one: ‘A Treat to All Senses’.

Welcome to Samsara! That incredibly amazing place that, once you try it out, it will trap you for good with plenty of unforgettable and intoxicating memories, enticing you to keep coming back over and over again! 

It’s one of those places where you would need to book a table well in advance, because it gets really busy pretty quick. Once you are sorted out with the booking, what you would want to do is arrive way early, so you have a good opportunity to enjoy one of the most amazing long walks around the Maspalomas Lagoon that will definitely help out open up your appetite. And now you would be ready to enjoy an amazing experience. 

While going up the stairs you can already sense you are off to experience something pretty unique on its own. The atmosphere is very different to whatever you would find in the rest of the island. Something I could pretty well define as exotic, maybe even a tad mystical. Both the exquisite lounge area as well as the capacious restaurant are decorated in an oriental style that, at times, can be pretty overwhelming, but that, once you let your sense adjust accordingly, it’s as if you have just been taken into a completely different world even before you sit down. 

If it is the first time you go there, understand the world may have just slowed down a fair bit for you, because the owner (usually) will take his time to explain how the restaurant works. Pay attention, because that’s where it gets pretty interesting. Samsara’s mantra is that one of sharing the food with the people going along with you. The portions are usually rather large, sufficing a single dish for two people and rather generously, as you can see from the pictures I have shared in this blog post. So asking for a starter, the main course and the dessert for two people would be a rather good option on its own and, believe me, you would have plenty of amazing food on the table. Be prepared to be wowed and multiple times! 

To describe the food experience would be a bit preposterous from my side, as I would probably spoil it all for you, so I won’t. But I will probably add Samsara is a rather special fusion place of the West with the Far East, and getting it just right, meaning the wonderful and rather delicate mixture of western ingredients with oriental flavours, cooked with both pause and tender, loving care, becomes, on its own, a work of art you are just about to enjoy and be mind-blown altogether.

That’s where all of your senses will go through a massive wake up call almost instantly: the intoxicating smells, the gorgeous colours, the  flavours, oh, my goodness!, the scrumptious flavours, the chill-out rather suggestive background music, the always attentive service making you all feel rather welcome at their home. Whoahhh! Did I say already how wonderfully overwhelming it can get? Well, it gets better. The desserts!

You may have noticed how throughout this post I have shared three different snap shots of various dishes I have tried a few times already, but you would also notice how I haven’t shared any picture about the desserts. Such a teaser, right? Well, that’s the best part of entire evening meal. Believe me, I am not exaggerating a single bit when I share over here the desserts are just out of this world AND back! Their presentation alone (As creative as you can possibly get!) would just make you take a picture and forget completely about enjoying the rather suggestive mix of both western and eastern flavours. If you ought to be left with a first good impression about the whole experience I can tell you now it will be the desserts. So make space for them! You will need it. You will thank me later, too! 😋👍🏻

Now I can imagine at this point in time you may be wondering about how expensive the restaurant is, right?, specially, after all of what I have mentioned above. Well, for what you get, it isn’t. It’s very good value for money. Not too expensive, not too cheap, just perfect. So much so you will realise, upon paying the bill, you will already start thinking about when you would be coming back again and at that point that’s when it will hit you: it’s not yourself who would want to come back to Samsara, but all of your senses, because they just had such a dumbfounding experience they would want to repeat it again. I can’t blame them. It’s a real treat for all of them. I know. 

I, too, can’t wait to come back! Fancy joining me next time around? 🙌🏻