The owners of the restaurant La Chalana del Charco, Samir Valle and Sol Torres, arrived in Lanzarote from Colombia 25 years ago. They worked in restaurants and hotels while studying gastronomy, until they were able to run their own business, La Chalana del Charco.
After two years of success, they have decided to open a new restaurant, also in El Charco, called El Velero, specializing in breakfasts and snacks. They tell about it in an interview with the radio program Más de Uno Gourmet from Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero.
- How did you get to Lanzarote?
Samir: Like all Colombians, I arrived on the island migrating. I came 25 years ago and logically I had to look for work. I started working in a pastry shop in Playa Honda.
Sol: I also arrived 25 years ago and worked as a waitress, a chambermaid, and I realized that it was not what I really wanted.
- How were you trained in hospitality?
Samir: I liked the work in the pastry shop and I started to prepare myself. First I took a pastry course at the hospitality school and then a higher degree in gastronomy and a master's degree in hotel and restaurant management.
Sol: I started washing dishes and they gave me the opportunity to climb until I became head chef of a restaurant. I studied a higher degree in cooking, I traveled and I began to realize that I had a passion for cooking.
- Samir, how was the landing at La Chalana del Charco?
I had to make a team for the restaurant and the only person I didn't know was Sol. She was my second in the kitchen. We started working and I saw in her a passion and a natural talent for gastronomy, so I started dedicating myself more to management.
- How was the creation of the menu of La Chalana del Charco?
Sol: We wanted to do something of fusion, with our roots, but something different. Something like us, half Colombian, half conejeros.
Samir: The most curious thing is that we have never worked in Colombia. We have no idea really of the base of Colombian gastronomy, but we do have the memory of flavors and dishes.
I arrived in Lanzarote with 17 years and I did not know how to cook. In La Chalana del Charco we combine the exotic flavors of Colombia with Canarian products and preparations.
- What are you going to offer in your new restaurant in El Charco, El Velero?
Samir: For some time now, Arrecife in general and the Charco area in particular has been demanding a place to have breakfast, brunch, snacks... something a little different. We open early.
- What will be on the menu?
Samir: We are going to take a risk with a product and with some quite curious fusions.
- An idyllic place to have breakfast...
Samir: Of course, sometimes we do not value what we have, the capital and the landscapes of the Charco de San Ginés are spectacular.
