Stews, stocks and Canarian seafood cuisine

Bésame Mucho also devotes a dedicated part of the menu to Canarian cuisine, with recipes centred on stews, rich stocks and seafood.

Squid in sauce is part of Tenerife’s traditional repertoire: it is slowly stewed until tender, allowing the sauce to concentrate much of its flavour. The fish, seafood and black potato stew follows the same seafaring tradition, with a stock that gains intensity as it cooks.

The octopus, squid, chickpea and papas bonitas casserole brings back another of our cuisine’s most familiar forms: the hearty spoon dish. Seafood casseroles are part of Canarian culinary tradition, and potatoes are their natural companion; here we use papas bonitas, one of the heritage varieties still grown on the islands.

Octopus appears in two different preparations. The Canarian-style octopus, stewed and served with its own juices, vinegar and fresh pepper, is rooted in a traditional recipe. The chargrilled octopus with boiled potatoes and La Vera paprika introduces fire, an essential element in much of Bésame Mucho’s cooking.

Stews are part of the Canarian culinary tradition, and at Bésame Mucho we adapt them to our style without losing their essence.

What to pair it with

To start, something fresh and light: a Russian salad or a ceviche sets the stage nicely before such an intense rice dish. If it’s your first time at the restaurant, we go into more detail in what to order at Bésame Mucho on your first visit.

To drink, a white wine with good acidity cleanses the ink and leaves your palate ready for the next bite. Canarian volcanic whites work beautifully. You’ll find the full list in our wine cellar.

Black rice in Costa Adeje: baby squid, socarrat and the sea

The paellas and rice dishes that never fail

At Bésame Mucho, rice dishes and paellas play a major role. They are all made with Molino Roca rice and served at the table, respecting the perfect point and personality of each recipe.

For a first visit, our house special rice with baby squid is a firm favourite of ours. It has great produce, character and a clear link to the Canary Islands. If you prefer something more convenient, the “Senyoret” rice with prawns and cleaned fish is perfect: everything arrives ready to enjoy, without giving up on flavour.

These are two clear recommendations if you want to try our paellas in Costa Adeje and understand why rice dishes are such an important part of Bésame Mucho.

The best rice dishes and paellas to try at Bésame Mucho on a first visit

To finish with something sweet

The ending is just as special. The “Beso” tart, with creamy cheese, biscuit and red berries, fits perfectly with the restaurant’s identity. If you prefer something fresher, the lemon tart with meringue, lemon ice cream and cinnamon crumble is a great choice. And if you want to finish with a dessert prepared at the table, the Crêpes Suzette with vanilla ice cream also work really well for a first visit.

If you want to know what to order at Bésame Mucho on your first visit, this would be a good route: something fresh to start, seafood if you feel like sharing, a paella served at the table, grilled fish and a dessert to finish.

Crêpes Suzette with vanilla ice cream

Whites: the kings of the house

When the main event is a seafood rice dish, white wine isn’t an option: it’s the natural path. That’s why it’s the deepest section of the list, and the most ours: almost all of it is Canarian. Listán blanco in all its forms — from the fresh, direct Tágara to Vidonia, a single-plot wine that holds its own among Spain’s great whites — volcanic malvasía from Lanzarote, albillo criollo, and rarities like marmajuelo or La Gomera’s forastera.

Prefer familiar territory? A Chardonnay or the Tamerán verdelho — the project of David Silva, yes, that David Silva — will take your hand before you cross over to the volcanic side.

Old high-altitude vines in Abona: the Trevejos white that fits a seafood rice like a glove.

Reds:
from Vega Sicilia to the volcano

White may rule here, but red is far from benched. The list brings together names that need no introduction: Vega Sicilia Único, Valbuena, the Protos range from Ribera del Duero, the greats of Toro — Numanthia, Pintia, Termanthia — and even a Château Margaux for the occasions that make history.

And alongside them, the reds of these islands: high-altitude listán negro, carbonic maceration from Tacoronte-Acentejo and baboso negro from Abona. Atlantic reds, fresh and light, which — spoiler within the spoiler — work far better with a rice dish than you’d imagine.

From the volcano to Ribera del Duero: a Canarian vijariego negro and the legendary Vega Sicilia Único, on the same list.

The one thing you won’t find anywhere else: Canarian wine

If anything sets this list apart, it’s the island chapter. The Canaries are a wine territory unlike any other, for three reasons that simply can’t be copied: soils of ash and lava, which give an unrepeatable minerality; pre-phylloxera vines, growing ungrafted as Europe hasn’t seen in over a century; and a handful of grapes that exist only here. Drinking Canarian wine is, quite literally, drinking a landscape.

Our advice: leave at least one bottle of the meal open to surprise. The grapes you’ve never heard of are the reason this list exists.

From Gran Canaria to Lanzarote without putting your glass down: Tamerán’s marmajuelo and El Grifo’s volcanic malvasía.

From the display counter to the grill

One of the dishes that best represents the proposal at Bésame Mucho is the grilled fish from the display counter. The display allows guests to see the fresh product available that day and choose the piece before it goes to the kitchen.

The selection combines local produce and the best ingredients from across Spain, always depending on availability. Each fish has a different texture, fat content and cooking point, which is why choosing the right piece is just as important as the work on the grill.

Once selected, the fish is cooked whole in the Josper, aiming for a juicy result, marked skin and the right point. For those looking for grilled fish in South Tenerife, the display counter at Bésame Mucho is one of the clearest options on the menu: fresh product, good technique and a simple way to enjoy fish.

Without good raw ingredients, no fire can save a dish. Fresh fish of the day, hand-picked every morning.

Beyond fish

The grill also appears in other parts of the menu. The grilled octopus with boiled potatoes and La Vera paprika plays with the contrast between a more marked exterior and a tender centre. Among the seafood options, the grilled Mediterranean red shrimp, the grilled lobster and the grilled La Santa carabinero stand out as products that need very little to work beautifully.

There are also grilled clams or cockles, depending on availability, and grilled vegetables as a side dish. Even the Tosta del Beso, made with char-grilled bread, butter and caviar, follows the same idea: recognisable product, technique and a clear identity of its own.

Same fire, different products. Here the technique stays the same, and the ingredients follow the market.