Álvaro Puertas and Alberto García have spent a lifetime dedicated to hospitality in Lanzarote, they met working in a hotel on the island and have been friends ever since. Two years ago they decided to open their own business in Playa Blanca, Cataplasma, “a bar-restaurant with good food, good cocktails and good customer service”.
In an interview with the radio program Más de Uno Gourmet, from Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero they tell their trajectory, the gastronomic concept of their establishment and their passion for cocktails, especially those of Mexican origin.
- How has your life journey been until the opening of Cataplasma?
Álvaro : I studied at the Fondadero hospitality school and my first job was the Beatriz Playa 26 years ago. I have worked in hotels and restaurants. Mixology always caught my attention because I saw it as creative although I have always thought that the bartender is just another waiter. I am specialized in tequilas and mezcales.
Alberto: I am from Galicia, I came here for a month and I've already been here for more than 20 years. I have worked in the dining room and also at the bar. During Covid I went to Ireland. I have done many private trainings with Álvaro in several cities.
- How did you meet and how did Cataplasma arise?
Álvaro: We met working at the Princesa Yaiza hotel and we always had the thought of opening a cocktail bar.
Two years ago a place came up and as we have worked all our lives, and we know a little about this, we decided to try it on our own. For me, it is the client who defines a bar; what we have achieved with cataplasma is that people feel at home, that it is their bar.
- Cataplasma has food besides cocktails…
Alberto: We would like to have a cocktail bar, but nowadays in Lanzarote it is difficult to have a business that works only with cocktails. So we have street food style food.
Álvaro: we wanted to create an informal, street-style menu, but with quality, with good products. We consider ourselves a bar-restaurant with good food, good cocktails, and good customer service.
- Why is it called Cataplasma?
Álvaro: According to the dictionary, cataplasm is a warm cloth with an ointment in which they put herbs and so on, but also, I have a friend who always told me, "You are a cataplasm", which the dictionary also defines as a sickly person. (Laughter). We also liked it phonetically.
- How is the drink and cocktail menu?
Álvaro: We sell tequilas, mezcals and we also have quite a few good whiskys, but what we sell most is cocktails.
Also, one must adapt to the client; here people really like rum, gin, sweeter and fresher cocktails. A fun, earthly cocktail bar, with good prices and good products. 95% of the preparations we make ourselves.
- How is the cocktail creation process?
Alvaro: You have to keep trying, not only based on your taste, but also depending on what each type of clientele might like and relying on studies, on classes… There's a book I really like ‘The Aromatic Synergy’ which talks about how when two products come together instead of being one plus one equals two, they are four.
- Can a bar serve good cocktails without hiring an expert mixologist?
Álvaro: Thanks to having worked with very good chefs, making preparations, vacuum packing, freezing, I have learned that a work system can be created to make cocktails in your business without depending on the figure of a bartender. After all, a waiter at the bar also makes preparations, although they are not properly considered cocktails, like a sangria or some barraquitos. Then, if it gives you benefits, you can invest in the figure of a bartender.
- How do cocktails pair with food?
Álvaro: Normally our cocktail bar and the cocktails we recommend usually range between 8 or 10 degrees due to Lanzarote's climate, although there are clients who are used to strong drinks and we adapt. If they order a very spicy meal, you have to look for perhaps a cocktail that is more citrusy to cleanse you or a or a drink that is very fatty, as it contains bubbles to cleanse your mouth well. The truth is that our clientele responds well and lets themselves be advised.
- What is mezcal?
Álvaro: Everyone knows tequila, which is a mezcal from the town of Tequila. Upon becoming so famous, people no longer said mezcal from tequila, but only tequila. (Today it is produced in five Mexican states with a specific type of agave). Mezcal is still a distillate of what we call here the pitera, the agave, and can be made in other states of Mexico. In Cataplasma we have mezcals that you cannot get either in Canarias or in Spain.
- And they have won a national cocktail competition…
Álvaro: Yes, two months ago we won the most important mezcal cocktail competition in Spain. It is called the Mystery of Oaxaca, organized by the mezcal producer Los Danzantes. We made a cocktail with mezcal, lime juice, a preparation of pineapple and chicatana ant, which can now be found in the Canary Islands, and then a cacao flower, which is called cacahuaxochitl.
- Where is Cataplasma and what schedule does it have?
Alberto: On Papagayo avenue in Playa Blanca, a little further up from the taxi stand. We open every day, except Thursdays. Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays from 13:30 to 1:30 hours and the rest of the days, from 17:00 to 1:30 hours.