Foodie Rich: Rough Guide To Mallorca

July 24, 2017 by Foodie Rich

Before we begin, let's get one thing settled; the name. Is it Majorca or Mallorca? I've tried to get to the bottom of this, but there’s so many different stories and theories as to why the two names exist; confused? Me too! So, I thought, there's only one way, just leave this to the locals. It soon became apparent after just a few hours on this beautiful Balearic island, it's Mallorca. Apparently, us Brits couldn't get to grips with the name Mallorca and decided to replace the double L with a single J; why? I don't know! Anyway, what's in a name? It's not that important, but I would suggest from now on we refer to it as Mallorca, after all that’s its real name! But hey, let’s not get too strung up on this, that's not what we’re here for. I'm not writing a blog to educate you on the name of the place. Oh no, it’s all about the food people! And wonderful food it is too!

As I'm sure most of us are aware, we can fly to a multitude of wonderful destinations from our local airport, and I do try and use it as much as I can. You may recall last year, Lou and I flew to Amsterdam? A wonderful time was had by all and I just had to share my foodie experiences with you. Southend airport has made a large chunk of Europe so much more accessible. Ok, you could argue www.leigh-on-sea.com should be about Leigh, and rightly so. But let's broaden our horizons a little, Southend is local and so is the airport, so you could almost say it's destinations are local. if I'm flying to a destination from Southend, it makes perfect sense to tell you all about the food!

Ok, Mallorca, and its food, what's it all about? Im sure many of you think of Mallorca as all, Brits on the piss, proper chips and all-day roast dinners. Yep, that side is still alive and kicking, just take a tour of Magaluf. You'll be sure to find bars serving up gallons of cheap lager, and large TV screens showing English football! If that's your thing, fine. But, that's not where I was heading. Nope, we were taking a cultural foodie tour of the islands capital, Palma.

Just a 2 hour flight from Southend separates us from one of the most cosmopolitan and charming Spanish cities. Touching down at 9pm, we were checked in to our hotel by 10pm. Situated slap bang in the middle of Palma's old town; it had a relaxed buzz about the place. We dumped our bags and headed straight to the nearest bar, which just happened to be next door. A cool and pretty funky venue, this bar was aptly named Ginbo; a Gin bar!! And we lurrve Gin! Setting the knowledgable mixologist to work, he created all sorts of quaffable and highly alcoholic beverages. He certainly had a way with gin. Well that was our first night, a bit of a blur really! Not much food, but a shit load of gin! The next few days just consisted of food, wine and beer. Rather than bore you with the intricacies of each day, as they all pretty much followed the same pattern, here's a little list of my foodie go to places in Palma, and thankfully not a full English, pizza or Burger King in sight. Just local food and local drink as it should be. So, here goes!

Mercat De L’Olivar

Did I say we went to Palma to celebrate my birthday? Well I can honestly say, I've never celebrated with a dozen oysters and local wine before 10.30am! Where was I? A food market of course! Why oh why are food markets all over the continent so appealing? I was in awe. The fish was just the freshest I have ever seen, the charcuterie a picture, and those veggies; the tomatoes are like nothing else. I made a b line to an unpretentious looking oyster bar. Already busy at 10am with raucous locals sipping wine and downing oysters, I had to get involved. Lou was a little apprehensive. She loves oysters, but at 10.00am? I didn't care! I managed to shovel away 10 of these ’saliney’ molluscs! Accompanied by some local wine, this has surely got to be the best birthday brekkie I've ever had!

Bar Dia

One of the great foodie treats of Palma, or any Spanish town, is the classic Tapas bar. Lou and I didn't eat a full meal the whole time we were there! By day and by night we would wander the streets and alley ways of this beautiful city and nibble little and often in tapas bars. But where was my favourite? Bar Dia opened every day at midday, and by 1pm it was heaving with locals and tourists alike, eating some of the best tapas in the city. Its all about simplicity here. Just grab a stool at the bar, order a glass of local wine, and get stuck in to grilled Padron peppers with sea salt and olive oil, cuttle fish in spicy sauce, and my all time favourite, super fresh grilled sardines topped with parsley and garlic. All I’ll say, when in Palma, go to Bar Dia, that's all!

Mercat De Santa Catalina

Another glorious Spanish market. The freshest seafood, meat, charcuterie and vegetables all displayed in a way which just seems to be a natural skill of the stall holders. However, what I loved about this place was the party atmosphere. I read this market was only open till 5pm. We popped in there at 4pm, and the place was buzzing, there was no way this place was shutting in an hour. There’s no shortage of bars in the market, and each one was packed. All Locals, munching on tapas and drinking rather alot! Lou and I muscled in grabbed a beer and joined the party. We even manged to munch on a slice of Tortilla. Wowzers, a thick layered slice of potato and egg. Seasoned to tee, it was bang on!

Chapeau 1987

We all love a cocktail, right? Well, this place mixed up some the best cocktails I’ve ever drunk. These guys are not just throwing a few spirits together and hoping for the best, they are masters of their craft. The resident mixologists, when not shaking up amazing creations, travel the world competing against other alcohol alchemists, winning all sorts of industry awards along the way. The cocktail menu and Chapeau 1987 reads like nothing I’ve seen any where at home. But I’m not ordering from the menu, oh no, these guys are top of their game, so let’s give em a challenge. They didn't disappoint. I was presented with an almost savoury Gin based cocktail. Im gonna struggle to describe this one, but it had an almost salty, sour taste to it. Sounds strange I know, but it was delicious, and just demonstrated their creative minds.

Celler sa Premsa

My foodie brief for Palma was to eat my body weight in glorious tapas, I wasn't interested in eating three courses in fine dining restaurants. I wanted to eat little and often. However, this restaurant got my attention. In Spain, and particularly Mallorca they eat a lot of Rabbit. Something we don't really eat much of here. It doesn't make sense to me. Rabbits are in abundance, so why don't we eat more? I really like rabbit, and something I will always order if I see it on a menu back in the UK. Well, at this restaurant, they serve simple BBQ’d rabbit, with Aioli. They also serve up another classic Mallorcan dish; suckling Pig! Oh boy, I love pig. Just give me a huge hunk of roast suckling pig, with crunchy crackling and I’m in swine heaven. Well thats exactly what arrived at our table. Both dishes where rustic and bloody good eating. The local Mallorc’n red wine was pretty good too!

Colmado La Montana

All I’ll say is chorizo makes me happy. Add this spicy sausage to anything and it will taste good. Its one of the foodie wonders of the world. As with the Spanish, and Portuguese Mallorca have their own version of this charcuterie. They call it ‘Sobrassada’. All round Palma you will find shops packed to the rafters with this sausage. Im not kidding, I found one small shop; Colmado La Montana. Jam packed full of this local delicacy, they had all different types hanging from the ceiling, it was like a sausage Aladdin’s cave. You’ll find this in Tapas bars too. They'll normally serve it spread on bread. It's a soft sausage, so can be spread almost like a paste. Trust me its delicious. They have a local blood sausage too called Botifarron. If you like black pudding you’ll love this!

We’ll there you go, just a little foodie insight into my recent Mallorca’n jaunt. If you’re after club 18-30, drunken debauchery and all night clubbing, head to Magaluf, they’ve got it all. But, that's not my thing anymore; gosh I sound like a real old git! if like me, you’re just after good food and wine in a relaxed and beautifully quaint environment, Palma is definitely for you. Its cheap to get there too; we paid less than £80 return for the two of us!