If you miss the gastronomic experience, the national cuisine of Puerto de la Cruz will shock you as much as the huge ocean waves on the city's coastline. Papas arrugadas and mojo sauce are the hallmarks of Canarian cuisine.
The former is a young potato boiled in a baked potato in sea or very salty water. The peel does not let the salt inside, but because of this it shrivels up a lot, so tourists have dubbed the dish "shriveled potatoes". The mojo sauce has four varieties for different dishes, but in each of them the obligatory component is garlic. By the way, almost all national dishes in Puerto de la Cruz include this seasoning. Local garlic is a bit milder and does not leave that special aftertaste that people in other countries are used to.
What is worth trying in Puerto de la Cruz is the seafood. They are always fresh, so they have a delicious flavor wherever they are cooked. Meat is cooked here with special love. A must-try dish for anyone who wants to get an idea of Canarian cuisine is rabbit (conejo) in salmorejo sauce.
Paella - rice with seafood, with meat or chicken, vegetables - is often eaten in the Canary Islands. They also serve appetizers with wine and beer, but they are not traditionally called "tapas", as in mainland Spain, but in the local way "enyesquez".
The traditional dessert is bienmesabe, a sweet cream made of egg yolk, almonds and cinnamon.
From alcohol we will mention a strong and sweet amber wine - malvasia (produced since the beginning of the XVII century), which in recent years is gaining well-deserved, but once lost popularity. Among strong local spirits, white and dark rum stand out.
