This is certainly a different dining experience on a traditional wooden tall ship nestled in the shelter of San Miguel Marina along south coast of Tenerife. It is billed as a culinary journey, an opportunity to sample 12 courses with dishes inspired by “People we’ve met and ports we’ve visited”. The menu covers a fascinating range of foods all prepared on board by the owner.
We started with Moroccan ‘tres colores’ dips with olives. Next came a large platter of bite-size pieces of deer, boar, bull salami-style meats; Italian Serrano ham stuffed rolls; small creamy-cheese balls; rich mushroom-filled balls deep fried; Spanish green pimientos sprinkled with flavoured rock salt. As you can see from the photograph, there was more than enough to keep you going while the next course was prepared. She did say there would be gaps in service every now and then as the food is freshly cooked, so plenty of time to work through the first litre carafe of white wine (each carafe after this one is €14.50).
The French vichyssoise soup was thick and creamy, delicious with crumbled blue cheese, quail egg and a swirl of crème fraiche. A very welcome break then before the next course so we had a chance to chat with two young men at the next table, German and Italian, both of them staying overnight on board in the B&B accommodation. We had a look around the ship before dinner, mainly bunk-bed rooms with facilities plus a guest lounge below decks.
It is a fascinating old ship, has taken part in the Tall Ships races and regularly sails to further destinations with 3 crew. Clearly, it needs a lot of maintenance and upkeep, so the dining experiences help to generate funds to keep it going.
Back to food with Alaskan salmon followed by a fragrant jasmine rice with wild mushrooms. The refreshing small glass of granita can be made with rum or gin mixed with ice-cream, lemon and cream. Surprisingly, two more meat dishes next. We are not generally keen on rabbit or veal, but both were an interesting mix of texture and flavor. We finished with pears in red wine and ice-cream and our second carafe of wine, red this time, now approaching 11pm.
Overall, it was a very pleasant evening sampling lots of dishes we wouldn’t otherwise choose. Dining is outside on the foredeck so if you get a bit chilly, there are some lovely fleecy blankets to snuggle into. It is a pity there were so few of us onboard this evening as you can imagine a great, friendly atmosphere. It was an unusual dining experience that was worth trying, and very easy to book online and pay through PayPal.
Email: tallshipexperience@gmail.com