Bar Strava is in what is becoming a “gastro street” in Arrecife – Calle Ginés de Castro y Álvarez. Its a pedestrianised street off Calle Leon y Castillo and is full of great little restaurants. It’s the sort of alleyway you tumble across regularly in Madrid.
We booked an outside table via Facebook with Marius to try them out recently. We were greeted and seated by Raquel, who gave us the menu via QR code and took our drink order. The vibe in the street is fabulous and we were pleased to have decided to sit outside.
The menu is refreshingly different and includes starters that be served as either a half or full portion – the latter for sharing. Examples are a tabla of Jamon Iberico, another of cheeses from our favourite cheese place, Queso Project as well as croquettes, Canarian potatoes and home made hummus.
For mains, they have a delicious range of salads, four sea food dishes, which include fish of the day or calamares, a choice of Wok cooked Pad Thai with prawns, chicken or vegetables and meats including hamburgers, a steak and an estofado.
We elected to share two dishes that really caught our eyes – a smoked fish salad and the prawn pad thai wok, and we chose a bottle of Bermejo Blanco seco to enjoy with it.
The smoked fish salad was amazing – I wasn’t sure about the citrus flavouring, but the grapefruit perfectly complemented the delicately smoked salmon and the large bowl of salad was topped with pine nuts and a lovely sweet dressing, which I presume was made with citrus juice and honey.
If anything, the Pad Thai was even better! A large wok of stir fried aromatic noodles and vegetables, with large prawns dotted throughout. The sweet and sour flavours were perfectly balanced, although I would had added a little more of the “hot” ones, with a little more chilli, or perhaps even ginger. But it had obviously been cooked at a very high heat, which gave the whole dish that wonderful “toasted” flavour. Really top class.
The service was excellent, although we were fairly early for an Arrecife lunch, at around 1PM, and it was getting busier as we left, with most tables booked for 2, or 3PM.
It was a really good experience, and we’ll certainly return next time we’re in Arrecife. Our total bill with a bottle of good wine and a tip was €46. Main courses start at under €8.
Bar Strava is at Calle Ginés de Castro y Álvarez in Arrecife and you can see the menu and phone number at their website: Bar Strava. We’d advise booking a table, as it’s a small restaurant.
You can see all our reviews here: Lanzarote Restaurant Reviews.
For information, we never tell restaurants who we are, and we don’t accept payment, discounts or freebies for restaurant reviews. We just turn up, pay our bill and then write honestly about what we thought.
