Forget the barbecue coals, the firewood, the gas burners and the electric rings – when you need instant heat on Lanzarote you just dig a hole in the ground and stand back lest you lose your eyebrows.

It’s 281 years, almost to the day, since the earth opened up between Yaiza and Tinjaro and a great mountain of fire arose spewing forth torrents of lava which engulfed over 50km² of land and created what is today known as Timanfaya with its Montañas de Fuego ( Fire Mountains). Today, the fire still burns to an incredible 600 degrees centigrade just 15 metres below the feet of the 485,000 plus people who annually visit the Timanfaya National Park.

Lanzarote is the oldest of the Canary Islands, formed by volcanic eruptions rising from the sea 18 million years ago. Despite the almost three centuries that have passed since the 1st September 1730 when the Timanfaya eruptions began and two centuries since the last eruption on Lanzarote in 1824, pour a bucket of water into a drill hole and seconds later the volcano will send you a steam rocket to remind you just how much power still lies below the surface. Drop a dry bush into the hole and flames will consume it long before it’s out of view.

Selling your soul for a steak.
When you order your medium rare steak in El Diablo restaurant in Timanfaya National Park, you’re effectively asking the Devil to cook a steak for you on his volcano stove. When that steak arrives, succulent and tender with a smoky, volcano-barbecued flavour and melts on your tongue, you have to worry just a little what exactly it is that you’ve done…

Taking advantage of the free cooking heat and the surreal landscape is the restaurant El Diablo (the Devil) who’s ovens consist of a covered well drilled into the earth and whose windows provide widescreen images of one of the most extraordinary landscapes on the planet. Presenting a menu of traditional Canarian dishes including chicken, chops and marinated steaks cooked over the volcano, the restaurant has been named in Hola (Spain’s Hello magazine) as one of the most unique restaurants in Spain, a list that includes a restaurant in mid air, one under water and one where diners are blindfolded.

Personally, I’d rather take my chances with the Machiavellian experience of El Diablo.

Restaurant El Diablo, Timanfaya National Park; (0034) 928 840 057; open daily 12 noon to 3.30pm
Timanfaya National Park; open daily 9am to 5.45pm; entrance €8 adults, €4 children (7-12 years)

Photos from Lanzarote Tourism