Fuerteventura Restaurants: El Moral Villaverde Review

Just on the outskirts of Villaverde, a village to the north of Fuerteventura, is the authentic tapas restaurant El Moral. Villaverde is our usual go-to stay on the island and we have family that live there for part of the year, but this restaurant was relatively new and we of course wanted to sample the food.

Jack and I had two meals in El Moral during our stay this summer and were thoroughly impressed on both occasions at the flavours, excellent service and value for money. Let me tell you more about our first visit, which we used to commemorate six years of being together.

Eating at El Moral Villaverde

The Restaurant

Homed in a beautiful authentic Canarian building positioned on a hill just off the main road from La Oliva to Corralejo, the restaurant certainly gives a good first impression and is a wonderful place to watch the sun go down.

After securing a reservation with our very broken Spanish (necessary as it gets very busy), we wandered up the hill towards the entrance.

Address: Carretera General, 94, 35640, Villaverde

Phone: +34 928 86 82 85

Open Wednesday – Sunday 12:30 – 23:00 (Closed Monday & Tuesday)

The road up is surrounded by different farming enclosures, with goats on the left and emus (?) on the right. Naturally we stopped to say hello! The sun was just setting and the mountain of Escanfraga lived up to its namesake and glowed a brilliant orange. You could also see the tip of Lanzarote and the famous sand dunes to the North. On entering a friendly waiter led us to our table and took our drinks orders. Naturally, when in Spain, I couldn’t resist a Fanta Limon and Jack went for a glass of the local beer, Tropical.

The Food

We were then provided with the menu, written on a chalkboard in both Spanish and English. The restaurant mainly serves tapas style dishes, and they recommended three dishes between two people (obviously leaving room for dessert). The waiters spend a good amount of time explaining each dish so that you fully understand what you are getting. All of them sounded delicious, and the hardest part of the night was deciding what to choose.

The different dishes arrived one at a time and over the two visits we sampled a variety.

On our first night, we began with a Canarian favourite, and an absolute must for anyone visiting El Moral, which is a plate of fried aubergines, with palm honey and goat’s cheese.

The stickiness and sweetness of the honey, mixed with the soft and creamy goats cheese and crispy aubergines, led to a taste and texture sensation. It was rich too and deeply flavourful.

After about ten minutes, the second dish of the night arrived, which was a plate of fried goat’s cheese.

Now, I know what you are thinking, and that is why so much cheese?! Firstly, can you ever have too much? Secondly, goat’s cheese is iconic to Fuerteventura and eating lots is simply mandatory.

This fried cheese looked a bit like spring rolls that you might get at a Chinese takeaway; cylinders of filo pastry with a deep filling, smothered in a fruity currant jam.

Again, the mixture of flavours was ingenious, and the worst part was that we eventually ran out of cheese!

At the start of the meal, I remember thinking that three dishes between us probably was not enough. But, already, after two dishes (and the fresh linseed bread ofc), I was beginning to get full.

Now however was time for the main event, which was the fried octopus served with sautéed potatoes. This dish was almost confusing to eat but was nonetheless exceptionally tasty. The octopus just melted away in the mouth and gave way to a deep, creamy texture. This was balanced out with the oily and crispy potatoes, with just the right amount of spice and heat.

I struggled on the last few bites, but I am pleased to say that no food was wasted!

Dessert

As I say in most blog posts about food, there is always space for dessert.

The dessert menu was brought out shortly after the main and was again explained brilliantly to us. I opted for a fruity pannacotta, served with fresh strawberries. Jack on the other hand opted for a chocolate mousse, served in a dark chocolate dome with a helping of cream and raspberry coulis.

Neither of these let down the high calibre we had experienced and were both a top choice!

Lastly, we finished off our meal with a local liquor typically served at the end of each sitting. It had the appearance of a mini cappuccino, but tasted like a tiramisu. It was a perfect way to finish a lovely evening watching the sun set over the Canarian mountains and a perfect way to begin a new adventure.

The Verdict

I genuinely want to shout out this restaurant for its value for money and the sheer effort that goes into the food and service. Both times cost around £35.00 each and that is for two people; three mains, two desserts, drinks and digestifs. On our second visit, we also sampled the tomato salad and the ‘laced eggs’, which is a novel take on the Spanish tortilla. If you are ever in Fuerteventura, set aside some time to visit this hidden gem.

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