People travel for all sorts of reasons and trying interesting foods cooked in unique ways is certainly one of them.
Can you imagine a pizza being cooked over an open flame coming from a volcano? These unique restaurants harness the power of the earth to provide hot, delicious meals to visitors.
Pizza Pacaya (San Vincente Pacaya, Guatemala)
Pizza Pacaya’s owner, Mario David García Mansilla, takes tourists to the Pacaya Volcano, carrying all the ingredients to make tasty pizza. Tourists can watch as the pizza cooks on top of the active volcano where temperatures can reach 1000°C.
It’s not technically a restaurant as it doesn’t have four walls and a dedicated kitchen. But eating a volcano-cooked pizza is pretty special, nonetheless.
Read: Hungry for a foodie escape? Sunny Cyprus is a tasty prospect
El Diablo Restaurant (Teguise, Spain)
This Spanish restaurant is a favourite amongst tourists. The cooking is done using nature’s ultimate oven: a volcano. Nine layers of basalt rock have been built up to almost 2m to create a kitchen of sorts. On top of these rocks sits a grill where the chefs prepare the food over the 400°C lava bubbling below.
Located on Spain’s Lanzarote Island, this restaurant also offers incredible views of the Timanfaya National Park.
Azores Essentials (Furnas, Azores, Portugal)
Tea lovers should take a trip to the Violet Volcanic Tea House in the Azores, Portugal. They serve a tea made from the local thermal waters. They produce less than 50kg of these specialty teas each year and visitors can enjoy their meal while enjoying the view of the bubbling volcanic hot spring pools and small geysers of the Caldeiras das Furnas.
Read: Six must-visit volcanoes in Victoria
Caldeiras E Vulcões (Furnas, Azores, Portugal)
This special restaurant uses the steam from nearby volcanic hot springs to cook its fabulous dishes. The famous stew made with meat, vegetables and rich flavours is cooked over a long period inside a hole dug in the ground.
Thrihnukagigur Volcano (Hafnarfjordur, Iceland)
Only 30 minutes from Reykjavík, Iceland’s Thrihnukagigur volcano presents scientists and travellers with an experience you can’t find anywhere else: descending into the heart of a volcano.
A setting such as this is unbelievably rare because the volcano did not collapse after its eruption. The magma retreated deep underground before cooling into hard rock and fully plugging the mouth, making the chamber stable enough withstand Iceland’s tectonic activity. The result is Thrihnukagigur’s spectacular chamber.
You can arrange to enjoy fine dining 200m inside the volcano. A local Icelandic chef will prepare an exquisite meal decorated with a white tablecloth and crystal glassware. While meals aren’t cooked using the volcano, lucky diners will enjoy eating inside the volcano.
Read: Hikes, hot springs and herring – take a road trip to discover Iceland
Restaurante Canto Da Doca (Horta, Portugal)
This restaurant offers you the experience of cooking your own food on a hot stone slab sourced from the nearby volcano.
Sirocco Milos (Milos, Greece)
How would you feel about tucking into a delicious dinner that has just been dug out of the sand? Sirocco Milos is situated on Paleohori Beach where the sand can reach 102°C due to the surrounding volcanic activity. Certain dishes are packed into sealed containers and nestled under the sand to be slow cooked for hours, sometimes overnight. There is also an array of traditional Greek cuisine cooked in a wood-fired oven available.
Which of these restaurants would you most like to try? What’s a standout dish you’ve tried while travelling? Let us know in the comments section below.
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