El Cine Restaurant, Los Cristianos
Tucked into a side street two blocks back from the Los Cristianos harbour, El Cine is the kind of no-frills Canarian restaurant that regulars guard jealously — a tiled dining room with handwritten daily specials, generous pours of local Tacoronte-Acentejo red wine, and a kitchen that treats papas arrugadas and mojo rojo as a serious culinary art form.
What to order
Start with the papas arrugadas — small, salt-crusted Canarian potatoes served with a bowl of house mojo rojo (a brick-red sauce of dried chillies, cumin, garlic and vinegar) and a cooler mojo verde made with fresh coriander. They arrive piping hot and are dangerously addictive.
For a main, the rancho canario (a hearty chickpea, meat and pasta stew) on Thursdays is a local institution, as is the fresh vieja a la plancha — grilled parrotfish caught that morning in the waters off Los Cristianos, dressed with nothing more than olive oil and sea salt.
The atmosphere and wine
The room is modest — formica tables, framed film posters, a television showing football — but the welcome is warm and the kitchen is clearly proud of its craft. Lunch service (1 pm–4 pm) is the main event; many tables are occupied by workers from the nearby fishing cooperative.
Ask the waiter for the house wine: it is usually a young, slightly rustic red from the Tacoronte-Acentejo DO in the north of Tenerife — earthy, low-tannin and perfect with anything from the grill. A half-litre carafe costs around €4.
Practical tips
El Cine is a 15-minute walk from Playa de las Américas along the coastal promenade or a 5-minute taxi ride. Arrive by 1:15 pm to secure a table without a wait — by 1:45 pm it is reliably full.
The menu del día (weekday lunch set menu) typically runs to three courses with wine and bread for around €11–13 — one of the best-value lunches on the south coast.
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