My two visits to Restaurante Seneká

I had a couchsurfer visiting me, and we were hungry. The problem was that it was already close to 10 p.m. Even if they say that in Spain people eat late — at least here in Puerto de la Cruz — if you want to get food after 22h, your choices for restaurants are rather limited. Anyway, Google Maps told us that a new African restaurant called Seneká was open till midnight. I had already noticed its existence and thought about trying it, we decided to do it now.

I was expecting West African cuisine as the restaurant's name sounds like Senegal, and anyway we are close to West Africa here in the Canary Islands. However, the dishes on their menu were from many different parts of Africa, including the Canary Islands. I ordered "Chickpeas from Kenya" (Garbanzos de Kenia) for a starter, and "Beef Domi" (Domi de Ternera) for the main course. The couchsurfer ordered some dish with chicken and rice (she said that it was a bit dry to her taste).

The starter was a kind of soup chickpea and vegetable soup with some meat (I was too hungry to take a photo but the one above is from the second time I had it). From the first spoonful to the last, the taste was perfect. The couchsurfer also tasted it and agreed. The spices and herbs that they had used — whatever they were — were incredible. It was not spicy in the way that it would burn your mouth — not at all: it was just very tasty. It was honestly one of the best things I have had on the island this year. For the price (5 euros), it was also a good size: it would have been enough almost for a light lunch.

The Domi beef was served with cassava which was the reason why I ordered it as I like cassava (sometimes called yuca or manioc). The cassava was made into a mousse a bit like mashed potatoes, just with its very own taste. The beef stew also had very interesting spices. It was good and the flavours were something that I had not tasted before but it didn't become one of my favourites like the chickpea soup.

As the soup was so incredibly good I also told about it to other people, of course. Two friends asked me to join them to go there for a lunch which I gladly agreed. I ordered again the Kenyan chickpeas, of course, and so did my friends. But it was not the same! It tasted just an ordinary soup with chickpeas and meat, like they forgot all the herbs and spices that made it special in the first place.

If I had never tasted it before, it would probably have been a fine soup. Nothing really to complain as such but compared to the one that I had previous time it was certainly a disappointment.

The lunch was saved by the main course which I luckily ordered as I was too hungry and curious to have just the soup. The "Jollof Rice" (Arroz Jollof), a Nigerian dish with rice and vegetables served with fried bananas, was delicious with nice spices and herbs. While it was not such a great experience as the Kenyan chickpeas (the first time) I can recommend it, particularly if you want something vegetarian.

Perhaps I will give Restaurante Seneká another try at some point. I hope they will make the chickpea soup again with all the spices and herbs.

• Post 9: My two visits to Restaurante Seneká
• Published 18 Apr 2026 by Niko Lipsanen
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• Author image: Anton Panov 2026
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