Villaverde - El Horno

[SoCal]

Location: from Corralejo, drive due south to Villaverde. On the main road as you enter Villaverde, look left (east) and in the back of a small parking lot is El Heron, just below the bar/cafeteria.  The sign includes the Pepsi and Schweppes insignia. Not terribly classy.

Atmosphere:  Make sure you turn your chair toward the inner part of the restaurant because the exterior is not worth looking at:  a parking lot and some new construction for toilets and a small patio.  But the interior is quite interesting with a pond, yes a pond with a small waterfall, in the middle of the main seating area.  Lots of features on the wall to discuss.

Food: the bread is more interesting because it isn't just white bread, but has some herbs to it. The singular sauce served is a white garlic based mayonnaise. Pretty garlicky. For wine, I tasted both the sangria – especiali version and the house red/tinto.  I could drink the sangria, which is champagne based, all day.  Very yummy.  I chose the tinto when I was served the house special: baby goat.  Given some of the comments on this forum, the expectations where pretty high.... And the food cleared it with ease.  The serving was huge and could have been for 2 people. It was basically a quarter of a kid. It was served with onion, potatoes, peppers and possibly other vegetables in a rich butter and what I suspect was white wine sauce. It was spectacular.  The clay dish was exceedingly hot, "Hallelujah!" which meant my meal stayed hot the entire time I was eating it.  The skin of the goat was beautifully seasoned, maybe a bit saltier than I would like, but with choice herbs – do I detect rosemary? It was also very crisp. The meat, while grey in color, was extremely flavorful, rich in fat, but not overly fat, and tender. It was a joy to eat.  In fact, if there is any real complaint it is that the meal is too much, even for a 100 kg person. Many hours after I finished, I was still quite full. Glad I ordered nothing else. The dish alone was truly a memorable meal.

For a second meal, I selected the lamb (baby sheep).  Also delicious. Fortunately, from my experience the first time, I ordered only the main. I couldn't finish it.   Again with only a bike, I left about 20% in the clay pot. However, I felt the amount of meet on the sheep was less than that of the goat. Wonderful seasoning.

If you order either of these two items, I believe you will be very happy. 

Service: while I was the first person to arrive for lunch (they open at 12:30), my server was pretty quick with me – not rude, but not personable.  However, by the end of the meal and after talking to him about attitudes in service, we parted good friends. He made an effort to yell goodbye as I bicycled away.  His theory is that the clients should feel relaxed and not rushed.  He never said to anyone "do you want another beer", but rather waited until the client requested it.  (He would have been fired in America – I now dread returning.)  Even when the place had filled up, a server was easy to flag down when I was ready for the la quinta.  The experience at El Horno was antithetical to my experience at La Marisma.

Overall: For me, El Horno (the oven) is simply superb; a place I look forward to returning to.  Is it the best restaurant in the north, or in all of Fuerteventura? I don't know, but it is certainly in my top 3.  If the rest of the food is like what I tasted with the goat – look out.   And if they could be at the location of La Marisma, they could double their prices and still be packed.  Highly, highly recommended.

So, what should I order next?


An appropriate addendum:  I usually eat alone. I am very comfortable by myself. Yes, occasionally people will invite me over to their table and we will talk, but most meals consist of me and my e-reader.   Now if the food is okay or I'm feeling pretty full, I will read as I eat.  If the food is very good, I will concentrate only on the food. And if the food is spectacular, I will start eating very fast, trying to sustain the flavorful experience. One could say I am "shoveling" my food and I have to remember to slow down.  This was the case with my goat stew – the meat, the vegetables and the broth were so good I simply ate too much and too quickly.

So after my meal I was sitting at my table, quite content, sipping the rest of my special sangria when a German speaking couple in their fifties arrived. It became clear this was the first time they had been do El Horno and, like me, simply didn't know what to order since the menu is quite extensive.  Feeling bold, I walked over and suggested the goat or cabra.  I had to point to the pictures on the wall.  After quite a while both the goat and her lamb were served and I was concerned they would be put off by the long wait. But no. He was so impressed with the dish, possibly a bit shocked, that he took a photo.  He looked at me for a moment, and then ate his first bite. And then he paused and I thought, "Uh, oh – he hates it." Nope. He was savoring the flavor.  While I may have been shoveling my serving, after his first taste,  this guy was inhaling this food. I was stunned how quickly he was eating his meal.  As I was leaving, we had a short conversation in bad English. I sensed he liked it.

Updated to include results from second visit.

[KWC]

Glad you liked it and our opinion was matched by that of your own.
We will be back there a couple if visits when next over in August.

[SoCal]

Sorry we will not cross paths. So what else should I order at El Horno? And where else should I visit?

[KWC]

Sorry we will not cross paths. So what else should I order at El Horno? And where else should I visit?

One other establishment to try is the canela cafe in Lajaras.
Been a few times now and their food, at least to us! is very good and inexpensive when compared to others.
Their steaks were Devine, pulled pork something else. Oh and they muster up some devilish mojitos.

Just our opinion from food addicts!!

[PHo]

Two other recommendations for your next visit SoCal, from El Horno regulars -
Pato al porto is two duck breasts served with a port wine reduction. Fabulous.
Presa Iberico is two pork tenderloin steaks from pigs fed only on acorns, also delicious, and hard to find elsewhere on the island.
Both these are best ordered medio hecho, rather than well done, and if you have a small appetite you can order a small portion.
They also serve the Iberico as Milhojas, a sort of pile of layers of pork, Serrano ham, cheese and vegetables.
Gambas al ajillo is great to start, but one huge portion is enough for the two of us, given the size of the mains.
If you have room, try the signature dessert - Couland - a chocolate pudding with a liquid chocolate centre, elaborately served with cream, ice-cream and raspberry coulis.
Undoubtedly on the best restaurants on the island, but lots of tables even at busy times. I think they may sometimes get fully booked on Sunday lunchtimes, when they serve Punchos Canarias, a canarian stew of meat and vegetables.

[SoCal]

I am getting a sense I may have opened Pandora's box.

[PHo]

"So, what should I order next?"

I was only answering your question, SoCal

[SheilaW]

The "problem" we had when we went there one lunchtime was that we ordered the mixed grill for two persons. Really, you could have fed a football team on what they gave us! Yes, it was superb - well chosen, well seasoned, well cooked; but I'm afraid I rather lost my appetite the moment I set eyes on it. I'll have to try a "small pato" when we go next. They really serve TWO duck breasts normally? That's gross (as I believe the Americans would say). One should be enough for any grown man. In fact, hubby and I normally share one when we do it at home, though I daresay he could manage a bit more.

Portion size is something we're constantly having problems with on the island, but most reviewers seem to think that's one of the best things about the place, so I guess we're in the minority for wanting to leave a restaurant without feeling uncomfortably full. Only at the French restaurant in Corralejo, L'Atelier des Saveurs, do you get sensible-sized portions that look and taste fantastic and fill your stomach yet leave you able to walk away comfortably.

BTW, SoCal, I think the Spanish tend to use salt more liberally than us Brits, and perhaps you Americans, are used to. We love it, but find the food in the British-run restaurants rather bland (though we do like the roasts, including the one at Chablis - seemed standard British cooking to us ) and wish they'd season their food more. Unfortunately, putting salt on your plate really doesn't have the same effect as seasoning before/during cooking.

[PHo]

I agree with you about the salt, ShielaW, though they do seem to be learning.  We have eaten paella at Los Pescadores in Pozo Negro for many years.  It used to be quite salty but in the last few years they have cut down considerable, and the paella is better for it.  The best on the island in our opinion, full of little bits of squid and mussels, as well as the usual big bits. 
And yes, El Horno does serve two duck breasts, and quite large ones, as a normal portion.  I have got through them on occasion, but it really is too much, at lunch time particularly.  Many restaurants will serve a smaller portion if asked, but it rarely says so on the menu.

[SoCal]

 

"So, what should I order next?"

I was only answering your question, SoCal

Sorry.  It was a complement of your wonderful description of the dishes.  Now everyone will want to eat here and el horno will be packed continuously.

[SoCal]

Well put Shiella.  Even a big boy like me at 100 kg finds the portions so large I take a significant portion of it home. Hence i rarely  leave stuffed. Unfortunately, I did not have the option while on my bike with 12 km to ride.

As for salt, many places seem to be at one extreme or the other. However I prefer a bit over seasoned than completely unseasoned.

[SoCal]

Another thumbs up for El horno. The cabriuto is still so special, but so intense I took half of it home even though I had no starter.  In addition, the place becamed packed and yet the older male server made sure I felt comfortable with the remainder of my wine.  No need to rush.  So un-american!   

Note, also excellent WiFi.

To PHo, I wish I could double thank you for the suggestions, but the software limits it to one.

[SoCal]

A third or fourth visited confirmed, if you desire a memorable dining experience on the island, this is it.  The duck in the reduction port dressing was incredible. My favorite is still the straight forward baby goat in vegetable sauce, but with the exception of the lamb (insufficient meat), all meals have been memorable.  This has become my first choice for the Fuerteventura experience....

[KWC]

We called in last Thursday and it was sublime as usual.

Food was top notch and the service - excellent.

Highly recommend this Restaurant if your in the area, or worth a trip to it if not too far away.

kc

[bevlos]

Went last night after seeing great reviews here and on TripAdvisor.
Maybe we caught them on a bad night?
Very quiet only half dozen tables of guests. We ordered fillet steak and baked lamb. The lamb was incredibly tough and we thought maybe had been cooked at lunch or day before and then reheated. The steak was 
Very poor quality and pretty tasteless.
The service was nonexistent and I couldn't get anyone to get me a second drink. At 65 euros I had expected more and when I explained about the lamb dish all I got was a shrug of the shoulders.
Will be trying the other restaurants in town this week and am hoping for a better result.
who knows may have been a bad day in the kitchen.

[SheilaW]

Goodness! That certainly doesn't sound like the El Horno I know.

[spongebob squarepants]

We've always talked about having a meal there every time we drive past on an outing, but have never got round to it due to having to drive back to Corrie afterwards which obviously rules out having a drink.

[PHo]

We've been going there for  over 20 years and never had a bad meal. Just bad luck I guess bevlos.