Casa Nila is in El Sauzal, on the north-east coast, about forty minutes from San Marcos. Of every recommendation in this guide, it is the one our hosts are most direct about: it is their favourite restaurant, and they drive across the island for it.
What makes it the pick
The cooking is Canarian produce handled with modern technique, served as dishes for the table rather than plated courses. Our hosts describe the quality as exceptional and the format as built for sharing, which are the two things they consistently look for.
It is worth saying what this is not. It is not the most expensive meal in this guide — that is El Taller Seve Díaz, with its Michelin star. Casa Nila is the one they actually go back to.
El Sauzal is worth the trip anyway
The drive east takes you past Puerto de la Cruz and into a quieter, greener stretch of the north coast that most visitors never see.
El Sauzal is also home to Casa del Vino, the island’s wine house — a restored estate with exhibitions, tastings, a shop and its own restaurant. Tenerife’s wine is unusual: the vines here escaped the phylloxera epidemic that destroyed most of Europe’s in the nineteenth century, so many still grow on their own ungrafted roots in volcanic soil.
Doing both in one afternoon is the sensible shape of the day. We have written more about the wineries of the north.
Practicalities
Forty minutes each way, so this is an evening rather than a casual dinner. Book. And check the hours — that rule does not stop applying just because a restaurant is good.