Chef Iñaki Lebrero arrived in Lanzarote in 1991 and has been part of the island’s culinary evolution ever since. Today, he says, the quality and variety of its gastronomy rival those of any major Spanish city.
Trained in Basque cuisine during a creative boom, José Ignacio Lebrero, known in the trade as Iñaki, was working as a chef in Bilbao when he saw a job advert in the newspaper. ‘I rang about the post, and it turned out to be well paid, with an apartment overlooking the sea in Playa Blanca. My partner was all for it, so we came. The plan was to stay a few months, get to know the island and the local food… That was thirty-five years ago.’
‘In those early days, the difference was huge,’ he recalls. ‘It was a world apart. I arrived with my Basque training and came across frozen chicken, something I’d never seen before in a kitchen. Everything was very functional, all about churning out menus quickly. But I also discovered wonderful ingredients, like avocado, which was new to me and which I started experimenting with, and garlic bread.’
The years passed as he immersed himself in a profession he loves, though he describes it as ‘all-consuming’ in terms of time. ‘I missed out on a lot of personal moments, time with my family, the children.’ Over the decades, he witnessed and played a part in what he considers a remarkable transformation in Lanzarote’s gastronomy. ‘It’s improved enormously, and just keeps getting better,’ he says.
‘I remember seeing a box of hake from La Graciosa and some magnificent scorpion fish about to be sent off to Madrid simply because people didn’t recognise their value. Today, the quality of local produce is far more appreciated. The potatoes and tomatoes are fantastic, and the fish is incredibly fresh. Access to produce from outside the island is also much better and faster.’
Iñaki highlights the evolution of professionals and the courage of certain restaurants that chose to prioritise quality long before it became fashionable. ‘Lanzarote now has outstanding chefs, both homegrown and those who arrived years ago from elsewhere, such as Luis León, Nicolás Machín ‘Colacho’, Germán Blanco or Cristian Bolaños… Creative people with initiative, who respect the product and understand that precision is vital, for meat and even more so for fish.’
For Lebrero, this progress is supported by both residents and visitors with the spending power to appreciate good food. ‘Today,’ he says, ‘you can eat well in Lanzarote. Obviously, as anywhere, you need a budget to match. Quality ingredients cost money, and you’re paying for professional-level knowledge and experience. Chefs are no longer just assembly-line workers; they are creators.’
