Mallorca – Scandelights

Lunch at La Bodeguilla, Palma de Mallorca

Published on October 23, 2014 by HannaLeave a comment

Although I loved going back to two favourites, I also wanted to make sure to try a new (for me) restaurant in Palma. La Bodeguilla was high on my list and open on Sundays (result!), so I booked a table online for lunch.

I instantly took a liking to the place. Impossible not to when you’re greeted by a huge jamon ready for carving! The interior is cosy and semi-formal. It has white table runners and napkins but still feels relaxed. And walking into the restaurant you can sneak a peek into the kitchen behind the bar, which further adds to the relaxed ambiance.

Seated we had a look at the menu and ordered some tapas to share and received an amuse bouche almost immediately after ordering the food. I actually don’t know what it was, but the creamy concoction was very nice!

We had some classic tapas that were very well executed. The croquetas with jamon and ceps were full of flavour, but not as perfectly delicate as at Puro Chef. Still very nice though!

The jamon bellota, was of course melt in the mouth delicious. I wish we had ham like this more readily available in the UK.

The calamari was really nice too, the batter was light and very crispy and the fish very tender.

The pan con tomate on granary bread was nice but I must say that I prefer it on white bread, that way the tomato make more of an impression, and doesn’t have to compete with the bread.

The patatas bravas were also well executed, full of flavour and both sauces were spot on.

We also had one proper cooked tapas; pig’s cheeks that were extraordinarily tender. They came with a jus and root vegetable puré which worked really well with the cheeks.

I will definitely come back to La Bodeguilla. The menu was a good mix of traditional tapas and more exciting ones and everything we had was cooked really well. It’s not as easy at it seems to cook simple food perfectly.

La Bodeguilla, Carrer de Sant Jaume, 3, 07012 Palma, Illes Balears, Spain

Two favourites in Palma revisited

Published on October 21, 2014 by Hanna1 Comment

During the last few years I have come to love Spanish cuisine. In London there are plenty of authentic and nice tapas around, at Barrafina, Barrica and the Saltyard group for example.

Palma has plenty of nice restaurants and it was especially two I couldn’t wait to go back to; Tast and Puro Chef.

On Saturday we had lunch at Tast in the middle of the town centre. There are cold pinxtos at the bar to pick yourself and warm pinxtos and tapas on the menu to order. Further in there is a proper restaurant serving more filling maincourses but I prefer the all day bar menu. We ordered some pan con tomato because the neighbouring table had some and it looked amazing. And it was. Of the cold pinxtos we had crab mayonnaise with smoked salmon, white fish with pickled pepper and fried quail’s egg and beef with tomato and mayonnaise. The marinated camembert (looks like a fish tartar) was the only one we didn’t like – the others were amazing! From the menu we ordered a crab and gulas (mini eels) gratin each (so so good!), a kebab with monkfish, king prawn and peppers and a mini toastie with the local sombrassada sausage and cheese. All great!

I like the fact that Tast is unpretentious, nice but not fancy and that the food is consistently good. Everything is well-cooked but simple and you can pop in for a proper dinner or just a glass of wine and nibbles. The wines, by the way, are very good and very reasonably priced!

Tast, C/ Unión, 2, 07001 Palma de Mallorca, Spain

Another afvourite is Puro Chef in Santa Catalina. Here they take pinxtos to gourmet level, serve nice tapas, proper maincourses and puddings. I never seem to be able to order anything other than the amazing gourmet pinxtos and a few tapas to share.

The jamon iberico croquetas were the best I have ever had (and I have sampled my fair share). They came out piping hot, were incredibly delicate and creamy and of course the flavour was spot on. How they were able to deep-fry anything so soft is a mystery to me! The amuse bouche was a creamy concoction with tuna and eggs served on sourdough. Of the gourmet pinxtos we both had the scallops with paprika purée which was delicious. Laura had the anchovies and lime toast full of salty goodness that she really liked and I couldn’t help but order the crispy suckling pig with Spanish sauce that I fell in love with last time. And it was just as delicious as I remembered. But the star of the evening was a brand new pinxtos the waitress recommended to us. Octopus with potato foam. It was utterly amazing. The foam was rich and light at the same time and had the most amazing flavour and hidden underneath were pieces of wonderful octopus.

Puro Chef, c/ Sant Magí 66, Palma De Mallorca, Spain

Palma food market, Mercat de l’Olivar

Published on May 6, 2014 by HannaLeave a comment

When I go abroad I love to visit markets, food markets and even regular supermarkets. The food market in Palma is situated only a few minutes walk from the shopping streets and is well worth a visit. It was a lot bigger than I expected and logically divided after type of produce; fish and seafood in area, vegetables in another etc.

It was lovely walking around he market looking at all the wonderful produce. There weren’t many restaurants but we saw an inviting sushi place, one proper restaurant and one tapas counter.

We bought some Mallorcan strawberries which we enjoyed together with cava one evening and we of course bought some jamon to take home.

We had lunch at the tapas counter which was alright but not amazing. By the time we got there there wasn’t a lot of dishes to choose from but we had four dishes to share and some baguette and that was enough for a light lunch. The meatballs were our favourite; they were light and fluffy, tender and delicious in flavour!

The cold marinated squid with vegetables was also very nice.

The mushrooms in oil were nice but not amazing, same with the Goulash below.

You paid per plate and it was neither cheap nor expensive. We were super hungry and enjoyed our lunch but this is not a place I would recommend otherwise (although those meatballs are worth a visit).

On the first floor there is a regular supermarket which we also paid a visit. We bought some soft drinks and snacks for the holiday but I also bought a bottle of fino sherry that I will use in cooking for virtually nothing and a huge jar of my favourite olives.

Mercat de l’Olivar, Plaza Olivar, 4, 07002 Palma, Illes Balears, Spain

Palma, Mallorca in pictures

Published on April 29, 2014 by HannaLeave a comment

In the middle of the Easter weekend I jetted off to Palma, Mallorca to meet up with my parents. We spent almost a week in Palma soaking up some sun, eating plenty of tapas and exploring the picturesque town.

Palma is really pretty with its colourful window shutters, yachts in the harbour, narrow alleys and lemon and orange trees full of fruit.