Mesón El Drago, is the gastronomic home of the Gamonal family. A Canarian manor house dating from the 18th century, it is located in the beautiful municipality of Tegueste. El Drago is a typical, charming country house with old tiles, wooden roof, paved patio, gardens ... and superb flavours.

In its time, the house was a centre for farming and ranching. It has a large stone cistern from which water was supplied. This cistern is now affectionately called “La Bodega” because the wines are kept there. Furthermore, with prior reservation, it can be a private dining room.

The grandest part of the house - the old rooms and stables - is cared for by the Gamonal family emphasising the beauty of its noble wooden ceilings and the treated clay floors with their unique shine. Each of the rooms is identified with a name that refers to local landscapes: Ucanca, Cañadas, Atalaya and Teide.

Trained in the hospitality industry, Priscila Gamonal told her father one day that she needed to know more about wines. So she moved to Madrid to study for a Sommelier accreditation. Priscila loves her job, above all things except for her family of course.

Her father is none other than Carlos Gamonal Jiménez, who earned a Michelin star with Mesón el Drago, the first for a restaurant in the Canary Islands. Today Mesón el Drago is managed by his son Carlos, a Maître Rôtisseur in the Bailliage of Spain, together with Priscila. The saying "from such a stick such a splinter" is certainly true in this family.

Interview with Priscila Gamonal

Your father was a chef, did you study hospitality by family tradition or by vocation?
Both. I am the youngest so I grew up seeing the example of my three brothers. They studied for great careers and in the end, turned to cooking. I wanted to take a more direct route. I had a clear objective and started to train in this sector. You either love or hate the hospitality business. In this regard, I consider myself to be in love with gastronomy in all its facets.

What are the most frequent mistakes of a cook?
We learn from mistakes. My grandmother Asunción taught us to love and respect this profession. She said that in order to evolve and create new dishes you have to learn the basic recipes, know how to execute them perfectly. The most frequent mistake some chefs make is wanting to develop a modern and/or molecular kitchen without knowing how to execute the basics.

What makes for a successful restaurant like Mesón El Drago?
An entrepreneur who loves gastronomy and who surrounds himself with a like-minded team has a clear objective: satisfying the customer. Only in this way can you create success.

Based on a more detailed article prepared by Bailli Délégué Rosa Román