A Tenerife restaurant has been selected as the only Canary Islands nominee in a national competition to find Spain's best restaurant opening of 2025.

Lava, located in the Gran Hotel Taoro in Puerto de la Cruz, is among 41 restaurants selected for the fifth edition of the TheFork Awards, putting Tenerife alongside some of Spain's most highly regarded new gastronomic projects.

The shortlist wasn't simply chosen by the booking platform.

A jury comprising 56 Michelin-starred chefs selected their favourite openings from 2025, with the nominees representing 14 autonomous communities across Spain.

The public now gets the final say, with voting open until 11th October.

The restaurant receiving the most votes will win the People's Choice Award for best opening of 2025, succeeding last year's winner, The Library in Madrid.

The awards ceremony will take place at Madrid's Gran Teatro CaixaBank on 16th November, when another nine restaurants will also be recognised as finalists.

Just 18 seats

Behind Lava is chef Erlantz Gorostiza, whose new Tenerife project focuses heavily on cooking over fire and charcoal while showcasing quality ingredients, with particular attention paid to local produce.

It's also a deliberately intimate restaurant.

Lava has capacity for only 18 diners, creating a very different experience from a conventional large restaurant.

Within the kitchen itself is a chef's table for six guests, allowing diners to watch dishes being prepared around the grills and experience the cooking process at close quarters.

The concept uses traditional ingredients and techniques as its starting point before applying a contemporary approach, with fire forming the central theme running through the menu.

For Tenerife, the nomination provides another piece of national recognition for an increasingly ambitious restaurant scene.

Tenerife against the rest of Spain

Competition will be considerable.

The 41 nominees are spread across 27 Spanish cities and 20 provinces.

Catalonia has the largest representation with nine restaurants, followed by the Valencian Community with six and Madrid with five.

The Basque Country has four nominees, while Andalusia and Murcia each have three.

The Canary Islands, by comparison, has just one — making Lava Tenerife's sole representative in the competition.

Unlike a conventional industry award determined solely by judges, however, the ultimate People's Choice result is decided by public voting.

Voting opened on 14th September and remains available until Sunday 11th October.

That means Tenerife residents, previous customers and anyone supporting the island's restaurant scene can participate before the winner is announced at the November ceremony.

Whatever the eventual result, being selected by a panel of Michelin-starred chefs puts a Puerto de la Cruz restaurant among a relatively small group recognised as noteworthy new additions to Spain's restaurant scene.