A few days ago I had the pleasure of visiting Palma – de – Mallorca, as you may have gathered from my post all about buying secret cookies from nuns! This is a city I visited a couple of times growing up, – and we stayed about an hour away a few times when I was 10 or 11, in the beautiful town of Port de Soller. I’d also visited neighbouring island of Menorca with my Grandma and late Grandfather at a young age- so my day in Mallorca was not completely fresh. I did have some prior experience when it came to the island of Mallorca, and the culture of the Balaeric Islands, even if from way over a decade ago.

A quick apology….

The last few weeks have been spent settling in to my new job and have not found much time to do any writing since Palma. I am currently writing from a Tuscan café, in Livorno, Italy. A grey and rainy day here in coastal Livorno. Optimistically, I wore shorts and a T-shirt, and grabbed my sunglasses on my way out the door.

I am now sitting in a small café not far from where the shuttle bus dropped me, and will explore later. Fortunately, the port of Livorno will be a regular occurrence on my upcoming itineraries. I will have ample opportunity to observe, to wonder, to wander and to – you know it- excite my taste buds! That being said, this café does not deserve to go unmentioned- being the home to the second best Latte macchiato I’ve ever had. Therefore I have a mini-post about this café and what I’ve tried!

The writing continued in three other ports, and in evenings, and have only just managed to deliver this post. I’m sorry for the time. I know no one is waiting anxiously, but I’ll try and write better in the next few weeks!

Palma-de-Mallorca

My day in Palma-de-Mallorca was very briefly researched into what the local foods were, and where to try them- what I didn’t research was what was open and what was closed. It was a Sunday. We all learn from our mistakes. However, I still managed to try everything on my list, and see most of what I wanted to see! Many times what we perceive as an error is actually a gift- and that is true in this case. It gave me JUST enough time to visit something that was truly special. Truly a gift and something I would recommend to everyone visiting Mallorca at any point in the future.

I know some of you find me funny – but you won’t after this -I’ve recently purchased a new clock made from Yukon Golds, it wakes me up potato clock every morning. Definitely a joke my Grandad would’ve loved! Well- if that potato alarm clock were true, it would have been snoozed quite a few times, because I didn’t fall asleep until 5AM,

Okay, No more jokes

It wasn’t until around 09:50 that I got off the ship. There were shuttle buses available from the port to the city centre. I rolled up to buy my shuttle ticket in my t shirt and shorts, from two ladies wearing fleece and long track pants, shivering because of “how cold it was”, but I’m a Canadian- this was NOT cold.

I rushed off the shuttle bus in search of what was to become a late ish breakfast, but that was okay- because I also ate a late ish lunch. Google Maps came in handy here, as I followed my phone around the beautiful streets of Palma, until I found my destination. This was a planned breakfast with a set intention. To try a particular local pastry that I had remembered from my visits to the Balaeric Islands as a child. (no not Palmiers, though those are also delicious). Of course I’m talking about ensaïmada mallorquinas. I had found the ideal place to go, Ca’n Joan de S’Aigo– a café/ bakery up near Santa Eulalia church.

I’d equate the pastry to the inside of a croissant, without the crusty crispy pastry on the outside. The outside was soft and coated with confectioner’s icing sugar. The inside almost dissolves in your mouth, and is full of sweet flavor. As you can see in the above image- I had one filled with chocolate, and one plain original. I must admit I preferred the original, it was heavenly. Later in the day, I spent 5 minutes explaining the taste to a coworker from Argentina, who told me that they have them back in Argentina- but filled with Dulce de Leche!!!! I must visit Argentina, maybe I’ll make it a trip of South America because I have so much Brasilian food to try too!

I wonder if my mother would have let us have them as children, if she’d have known this fact. Cooking the pastry with pork lard made the delicious flavor and soft texture! In fact- the word saïm is translated as pork lard – in ensaïmada mallorquina. Never mind now- they are too good to resist if I return back to the Balaeric Islands- or to Argentina apparently too!

Where next?

When I’d walked in, I had ordered a Cortado, 4 shots of espresso, no milk no sugar, and this woke me up well enough to continue on with my day from this quaint bakery. I left and walked down the hill until I came across the convent- where I bought secret cookies from a group of cloisted nuns through a hole in the wall. Sounds interesting right? You can learn more about it in my other blog post- it obviously is a story within itself!

From there I headed back up the hill near to where I was previously, to Placa Major, and then used my phone to try to find the local food market. As you saw in my previous post, I love to check out the markets to see the local and fresh produce in its fine glory. Unfortunately the market was closed on Sundays. Though, they do say – every cloud has a silver lining. This opened up more time for me to venture out of the town a little bit.

Several blogs and even a quick google search will suggest to walk down the harbor front- along the Paseo Marítimo- as one thing to do when visiting Palma de Mallorca, and another thing they suggest is to visit the Castell de Bellver.

The Hike

So I decided to walk down the Paseo Maritimo to get from Placa Major to Castell de Bellver. I had to walk up the hillside of approximately 5.5 billion steps to get there. (note I said approximate, this is my lungs’ estimate) . I was parched all the way up the hill, and had joked that there better be a vending machine when I got to the castle. Ironically there was actually a cafe! The Castell de Bellver is a gothic style castle and is one of the few circular castles in Europe.

At this point, with enough time left (so I thought), I decided to go a little further off the beaten track to get some food. Off the beaten track to a place heavily recommended online, but not in the touristic area at all. Always assuming- I thought I’d be fine to get a taxi from the castle, so I went to the taxi stand which was crowded with taxi after taxi. I worked my way down the line trying to get a cabbie to take me to my lunch. However, all the cabs were waiting for people to finish in the Castell, and to take them on the next stop of their taxi tour of the island.

So started to walk to main road, and along the route to the restaurant, and would flag a taxi down where it was busier- and go to my next destination. The first 30 minutes of my walk, up and down several extremely steep hills – were spend cocking my head back in search of a taxi. Hoping to be driven the rest of the way in a cool air conditioned car, as opposed to this sweaty heat- but to no avail.

I do enjoy burgers, but an out of body experience told me not to have one today.

Empty

On the other hand- the last 20 minutes or so of my walk- I didn’t see a single soul . No cars, no pedestrians, no cats. At about 2 minutes away, I veered right onto a tiny street to a 4 way stop, with traffic lights, and the first sign of life- with some cars there. After a left turn at a set of traffic lights I saw ahead of me a giant sign for the restaurant, and a quite large parking lot with 4 parking attendants. This place looked busy. In the middle of nowhere. And busy. Very. Very. Busy.

Mesón Ca’n Pedro

The restaurant was at the top of a set of stairs from the parking lot, and then a left into the restaurant doors. There were probably close to 200 people in line for the restaurant- definitely upwards of 150. I spoke to a host, who told me a table for 1 would be around a 45 minute wait. Three quarters of an hour is probably quite reasonable for this level of custom. However, I was somewhat anxious. 200 people in line. My rehearsal back on the ship was scheduled for 4pm, this was 1:30. Therefore- I was a little stressed.

The host pointed over to the bar, which was standing room only, and I waited over by the bar to be served a drink. Although there were only about 25 people waiting at the bar, it took about 20 minutes to order a drink, so I ordered 2, just to make sure I wouldn’t have to wait again. I waited over at the side of the room, and enjoyed the views, in addition to my Nanny’s favourite past time – people watching.

OK Hungry George, get to the food! You- probably

Waiting for a table…

The 45 minutes waiting… were slow, and then they came and went. 50 minutes came and went. 55 minutes came and went. There were 30 or 40 groups ahead of me who were called by first name and number of people in party. Diego- Cuatro. After about 65 minutes, I hear it. George – UNO. Everyone looks over at me. I was probably the only uno called. Oh well. I’m here to enjoy the food. Who cares if I’m alone doing it?

The host seated me, and the waiter introduced himself to me. He brings a menu over. I had previously taken a photo of the menu outside the restaurant on my phone, so I could choose my order while I was waiting at the bar. I show him this photo and he takes the menu away. The intention was for him to understand that the photo meant that I was ready to order. He just assumed that it meant I didn’t need a menu.

Rookie mistake. He took my menu away, and forgot that I hadn’t ordered- the menu usually being a sign of whether or not someone has ordered. He passed my table several times before I was able to successfully flag him down and order my food.

I didn’t just order my food I ordered a feast. Four (4) different appetizers of local food.

Sampling a Feast of Local Food

Meson Ca’n Pedro seemed to be the kind of place with a very forgiving dress code. There were people in t shirts and shorts, there were people in full suits. The experience can be however fancy you want it to be, but you’ll always be treated the same- and always receive the same quality of food. I happened to be in a t-shirt, shorts and a baseball cap- surrounded by more formal dressers looking on at my four plates.

Four different items I was really looking forward to sampling. Unfortunately for those around me, already judging me for eating alone- I was now eating 4 people’s appetizers to myself- and I loved it. I didn’t care. It was an incredible feast.

But it wasn’t just four average items, they were all in their own way absolutely incredible, and all so so flavourful.

Sobrassada

The Sobrassada, a balaerican mallorcan delicacy. A soft chorizo of pork and paprika, that had a crisp texture to the outside, but a very soft and smokey inside. After some research, I found out that the texture comes from the dehydration of meat under certain weather conditions (high humidity and mild cold) which are typical of the late Balearic autumn. However it’s made- it was fantastic.

Sobrassada

TUMBET

The vegetable dish, Tumbet (Tombet) was similar to ratatouille, but all the flavours melted into one, and it was one delicious treat (yes, treat- vegetables… wow). Standard it’s made with peppers, eggplant and tomatoes. I’m glad I tasted this Balaeric staple, and would recommend it. I’ve since read that you can make the dish with chicken or fish, as well as the vegetarian one I tried. I’d be willing to try the chicken one- I bet it’d be quite good. I’m sure you can find it in most Mallorcan restaurants- it does seem to be that kind of dish.

Tombet (background is croquettes and the ham)

The other two dishes- iberian jamon (ham) served on bread and the assorted croquettes were clearly freshly made to order. They were made with the same love and care as the other two orders, just not as special. There was something about the sobrassada that has left me wanting to return to Meson Ca’n Pedro.

The restaurant itself, although having a very large interior has an outside terrace with views overlooking the Mallorcan countryside and views of Palma. I wasn’t fortunate enough to sit out there, but if I get the chance to return, you best bet I’ll be there, and I’ll be enjoying the sobrassada.

At this time I can point out that I have since read very mixed reviews on this restaurant. Trip Advisor’s users reviews are a huge spread. Much of the negative feedback is to do with the employee attitude. I know that can be a huge downer on the experience. My experience was second to none. There was no attitude, there was no negativity. My waiter even took my photo. I loved it all. I’m sorry for those who didn’t enjoy this restaurant. I hope you can give it a second chance, to have the experience I did.

The sobrassada was the only thing dulling my anxiety about returning back to the cruise ship and on time for my rehearsal. In other words, the taste and experience of eating this actually changed my mood. To clarify my anxiety for those who don’t work on cruise ships- it wasn’t simply the time. It was also the distance from the port that was causing my anxiety. Though, with the help of the host of the restaurant, I managed to get a taxi back to the port and arrive on time for rehearsal. Thank God.

GO TO PALMA-DE-MALLORCA

I strongly strongly recommend a visit to Palma de Mallorca for anyone who is looking at travelling- and if you do go there- go to Mesón Ca’n Pedro. Don’t be afraid to try some Mallorcan cuisine. Order the sausage. You will thank me later. If you do find yourself in Palma, make a reservation to go. Spend some time there- either for lunch, or for a sunset dinner. The views are fantastic, and the place and food are to die for. I would recommend this restaurant to anyone, and above all – to my own friends and family. My mother is soon to be taking a trip to Palma with her cousin. I’ll be personally filing for emancipation if she doesn’t visit this restaurant. Please like this post, and please please tell your friends about my blog, it’ll encourage me to write faster and not procrastinate! Much love – Hungry George.

