This season the watercress diet of the island shines. A hardy, vibrant herb packed with iron and vitamins, it is essential for preparing one of La Gomera’s most characteristic stews. The watercress stew is widely recognized by nutritionists as one of the healthiest foods to include in a balanced diet, offering a fresh, peppery note that brightens every dish.
“We always kept this casserole on our menu,” explains Sergio Méndez, son of Efigenia Borges and manager of Casa Efigenia. As the oldest garden-to-table restaurant in the city, it became a place where travelers from northern Europe—Scandinavian, German, Austrian, Swiss, and Spanish visitors—found comfort and flavor. The establishment once welcomed wandering souls, including the hippies of the 1960s who sought the island’s simple pleasures, and it remains a beloved stop for those exploring La Gomera. The restaurant has long attracted people drawn to long hikes through Garajonay National Park, where the air is scented with pine and the landscape feels timeless.
Efigenia Borges greets guests with memorable stories about her life on La Gomera. Reaching Casa Efigenia is not easy; the island’s volcanic terrain and steep cliffs make travel a challenge, but the rewards are plenty. The menu offers only garden-fresh delicacies and famously excludes meat and fish, staying true to a plant-forward philosophy that has defined the house for generations.
The restaurant draws a steady stream of Scandinavian, German, Austrian, Swiss, and Spanish tourists who seek a taste of island life. “My family came from Cuba in the early 1900s, and La Gomera shaped our identity. We decided we would never eat meat or fish again,” Borges explains, reflecting on the immigrant history of the Canary Islands and how it influenced local cooking traditions.
In its early days, Casa Efigenia was a modest wind of enterprise—a small island produce store that began its culinary journey around 1880. “We started serving meals more than 60 years ago,” Borges recalls, playfully dodging a precise age and smiling at the memory of those early years.
Service in those days began with gofio served alongside chopped cheese, paired with a small glass of house wine made from the Forastera Gomera grape, a living relic more than five centuries old. The official dinner opened with a ceremonial pot of gofio boiled with vegetables, stirred gently, and finished with a simple salad. This nourishing, healthful recipe remains a staple on the menu, now offered for around twelve euros.
The house also features a watercress soup, a dish that embodies the restaurant’s devotion to garden produce. A plate of white beans accompanies carrots, tomatoes, onions, pineapple, oil, finely chopped watercress, and a parsley-garlic puree, often completed with gofio or escaldón. The absence of meat has always meant maximizing plant-based products from La Gomera’s farms. Local goats and cows provide cheese, and whey has long been a staple drink, offering a surprising protein boost at the table.
“All our guests who visit us are special,” Borges notes, naming not only Angela Merkel but also Bundestag member Gernot Erler and other notable visitors who have enjoyed the farm-to-table hospitality. Borges is proud that her restaurant’s reputation has reached Germany, drawing state television crews to Las Hayas for interviews and features about island life.
“At first I spoke to guests in the ways I knew, but over the years I learned a few words of German. Today I feel comfortable speaking a little German,” she says, smiling at her son Sergio Méndez, who watches proudly as the pair reflects on their shared heritage and the success that followed their choices about meals and farming on the island.