Here at Tenerife Dining, we appreciate good food. Every month we pay homage to the best Chefs on the Island by awarding them the highly coveted 'Chef of the Month'.

Babis - Taberna El Greco

The success of the Taberna El Greco is undoubtedly due to the chef Charalampos Gontevas. Babis, between friends, originally from Greece, newly and especially arrived from Scandinavia, to share his gastronomic specialities with us in this Greek restaurant. He does not yet speak any Spanish, so we will do the interview of our Greek Chef in Swedish! That’s original!

Babis explains that the Greek cuisine has thousand years of tradition and have great variety from region to region. He describes his cuisine between Mediterranean and international, with touches of flavours from Tunes and other countries around Greece. The menu is all home made authentic Greek dishes, with specialities including lamb, feta cheese, barbecues and stews. The most appreciated food is the grilled whole lamb, Padiaki Beek, with the succulent smoked taste from the natural charcoal. The restaurant has a nice variety of souvlakis, where the lamb souvlaki is the most appreciated between Greek people.

Babis has come to a new life in Tenerife with his small family, expecting their first child due over new year. Happy and optimistic with a desire to live and discover Tenerife, its nature and its people. Our chef is also a boxing athlete: “The Chef Rocky Babis!” He laughs at my stupid joke …

“The profession of chefs is a family inheritance”: Babis says, “16 years of cooking career, that’s half of my life. My father, my brother, my uncle and my cousins are all chefs. My modus and inspiration: Good service, good food with good humour! ”
I do confirm the great quality of Babis food and his very good humour!

Babis follows: “I am especially careful with the freshness of the food. We get delivered fresh vegetables, fish and meat daily. I do not keep anything from one day to another. This is my freshness guarantee. We also import ingredients directly from Greece to have authentic Greek flavours and taste. The Greek food is very healthy and has very little fat, and we only use high quality olive oil. We can also prepare vegetarian dishes, if required. People with celiac disease may also come to eat here without problems.”

Nektarios, the manager of the restaurant comes to sit with us. The two colleagues seem to have been friends forever. These guys have a contagious sympathy and a good humoristic note. Nektarios is very enthusiastic about his new restaurant: “We want to communicate and share our Greek culture, and Babis has the authentic flavours of our country. I am happy and proud of our restaurant. I love my job, and we are the voice from the kitchen to our customers.”

Nektarios is from Crete and have lived 15 years on the island of Tenerife. He knows very well the customers in the area of Playa de las Americas, mostly tourists, and all kinds of nationalities. He is multilingual and knows how to welcome any tourist in their own language. He explains: “Some clients come because they already know the Greek cuisine, others pop in just by curiosity. They are all always very welcome.” he smiles.

Truly, I don’t know of any other Greek restaurant like this on the island! Babis complains and would have preferred a bit of competition: “It’s always interesting to have competitors to encourage the creativity.” Later in the winter season, Babis wants to introduce daily specials of lesser known traditional dishes. To share recipes of real traditional Greek stews. Cooked slowly and simmered on the oven, with flavours and ingredients imported from Greece.

To book a special and authentic evening with Greek flavours, please contact the restaurant Taberna El Greco! Playa de las Americas, Adeje.