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MISS JENNI PENNI
& ROG, ON A PROMISE
La Taberna is one of the restaurants that never changes its quality of food. When you order you know exactly what you will be getting – each course has been perfected over the years and the standard never veers away from anything less than near-perfect. Each main course is served with a small bowl of side salad – finely shredded cabbage and accoutrements in a very light dressing - BUT the pièce de resistance is the most divine sauté potatoes – just like in England – no Canarian potatoes or chips here.
Over the last four and a half years I have eaten a number of things off the menu. Starters such as leeks in vinaigrette, endives with Roquefort sauce, some delicious vol-au-vent with mushroom sauce, a superb prawn cocktail and also avocado. Today´s choice of starter was prawn soup which I hoped would also help to warm me up. It came nearly boiling with an abundant supply of prawns – it tasted absolutely delicious and my inner body temperature increased immediately - a clear winner that I will definitely be choosing again. Roger chose the prawn cocktail which is always wonderful. La Taberna is very well renowned for its superb steaks but there is also a huge choice of other main dishes. The fillet steaks or solomillos are served in a number of different sauces – mushroom, pepper, Diana or La Taberna. There are a number of fish dishes, baby goat, paella, veal escalope (either breaded or in mushroom sauce) and, if you order 24 hours in advance you can order baked seabass or the roast lamb (an absolute must). There is an choice of about eight desserts which I have to admit I have not yet sampled. Juan attends to your needs personally and holds court over the eight inside tables and four outside with charisma and flair. We were served with the usual nice big wine glasses for our wine and warm rolls with the most smegma-bollocks tasting alioli – from which I sadly now have to abstain from – due to my ever expanding girth! Juan is helped by a very handsome guapo behind the bar (who has recently taken over from Sebastian) and the kitchen must be the only one in Corralejo which is staffed by women only – headed up by Juan´s wife. They all seem to work together like a well-oiled steam engine that has been chugging away happily over the years. The restaurant is decorated very simply but classily with mahogany-coloured beams on the ceiling and walls and wooden furniture with dark red upholstery. There are handpainted pictures of local landmarks such as windmills on the walls and the large bar takes precedence in the centre of the restaurant. I would highly
recommend this restaurant as a perfect venue for anyone who likes to
dine in a relaxed and intimate atmosphere, relishes on being waited
on by a hugely professional team and enjoys tried and tested, well
cooked and beautifully presented food. A simple combination that
does not seem to
fail. |
LA TABERNA!
I always remember Roger telling me
about La Taberna when I first arrived on t´ island. Apparently, Juan
always took a fancy to his “ex´s” legs. Well, it took Roger a fair
while to take me to see this “Juan bloke” and I was beginning to
think that maybe I was to be not displayed in public (looking back,
over the years, maybe this is not such a bad thing! Nothing to do
with seeing Juan mind you – just “being seen out in public”). Well,
I was reliably informed by Rachel, a colleague of mine at the time,
that Juan seemed to take a fancy to every woman that passes his
threshold! I have to say he is one of the most charming and
flirtatious restaurateurs in town and one is greeted with a kiss on
both cheeks each time you visit (only the women!). 
Last Monday we arrived at about 8.30
p.m. and, due to the extreme drop in temperature that evening,
no-one was using any of the tables outside. We couldn´t face eating
al fresco so we waited at the bar for a table to become available
(just inside the door – so I really didn´t warm up much prior to
sitting at our table). Half an hour later at our table, I
immediately ordered a bottle of red wine (Viña Alcorta Temperanillo)
to warm me up.