Orlando Ortega, in the kitchen, and Sandra Guadalupe, in the dining room, both from Lanzarote, run the Lilium restaurant in the Arrecife marina. A place characterized by quality local products to create Canarian gastronomy, both traditional and innovative.
Their audience is made up of local people and travelers, who, unlike tourists, are eager to try a cuisine based on the island's products. In an interview with the radio program Más de Uno Gourmet from Radio Lanzarote, they analyze the evolution of the island's gastronomy in recent decades.
- Orlando, how did you start in the kitchen?
Now I'm just a cook, but I started in the dining room as a waiter. First in Puerto del Carmen, then in Barcelona, in England... The restaurant started in 2006 and I entered the kitchen in 2010, thanks to one of the many crises we've had. I went from creative to worker. It was hard for me, I had imposter syndrome for years (laughs), but the truth is that I was always interested in cooking and now I'm like a fish in water.
- What is the difference between the first Lilium, which opened in 2006 in Tías, and the current Lilium in Arrecife?
Orlando: The difference is abysmal. We are so restless that we always want to learn more. You see things and you want to know how they are done. Our goal is to offer technically good cuisine, very well presented and that harmonizes perfectly with the place.
The kitchen is 40%, the rest is everything else, the dining room is very important. The main reason why customers come is not the food, but how they feel in the restaurant.
"The sale ends when the customer returns"
- Sandra, how did you join the project?
I came from another branch, administration, and with the crisis issue, Orlando had the idea that I should join Lilium, but only to receive the customer and do the accounts.
Little by little I got a little more involved. I always say that I had Orlando as my best teacher, apart from the training I have done over the years.
Orlando's move to the kitchen was partly because it was very difficult for someone else to capture the ideas for dishes that he had. So when I was ready for the dining room, he was able to dedicate himself to cooking.
- What is Lilium's gastronomy like?
Orlando: First, whatever is available that day, especially from the sea, and also from the land, whether it be fruits or vegetables. We have a menu and a tasting menu.
Sandra: I always say that it is Canarian cuisine, made with love, with products from here or that represent us.
A roasted leek with a pumpkin demi-glace and chickpea water is also Canarian cuisine.
- Orlando, how do you prepare traditional Canarian dishes?
Above all, I look for the best ingredients. For example, to prepare sancocho in the Canary Islands, you normally go to buy the fish and, unfortunately, many times you don't find it in the quality you want or it is burnt from so much salt or from the cold, it is yellow. I buy fresh fish, salt it, desalinate it, cook it and serve it myself.
I also select the sweet potatoes, potatoes, mojos... The important thing is to monitor from minute zero what product you are going to serve.
- Which dishes have you given a twist to modernize them?
I have a cold sweet potato cream with marinated wreckfish and caviar. I like the traditional part, but I also like the evolution.
Canarian cuisine not only includes traditional dishes, a roasted leek with a pumpkin demi-glace and chickpea water, for example, is also Canarian cuisine. Some will say that doesn't sound Canarian, but they are products from here, of course it is Canarian cuisine.
It is not the same what we could do in Lanzarote 30 years ago as what we can do now. Now we play in other leagues. We try to offer things that fill us so that it is reflected later in the customer's satisfaction.
"The traveler, unlike the traditional tourist, will never cause a territory to change, quite the opposite, they come to know it"
- How has gastronomy evolved in Lanzarote in recent decades?
There are many more restaurants that take much more care of the cuisine, the dining room, the image they have of themselves through social media...
It is also important that they no longer cater to tourists, but to the local public and travelers. The traveler, unlike the traditional tourist, will never cause a territory to change, quite the opposite, they come to know it.
I think the big change has been social media. The customer now has a loudspeaker to comment on what they like and what they don't.
Sandra, how can you book a table at Lilium?
They can do it through our phone number or with the reservation center on our website. It is very easy, there is a section to reserve and enter the data. There is also a space for comments, in case it is an anniversary, a birthday, if the customer has any type of allergy, if they need a taxi to return home later...
We always take these comments into account. It is very important to receive the customer, to make them feel good as soon as they enter the place, to make them feel comfortable. Orlando always says that the sale ends when the customer returns.
