We continue with the restaurants visited by our Bulletin Restaurant Critic in 2020.
3 Hemudu
Two superb meals in the space of four months was proof that one of the best Chinese restaurants Palma has ever had is Hemudu in Calle Rubén Darío 1 (Tel:971-327902). It is superior on all counts: the dining room is stylish, cooking standards are high, portions are more than generous and they offer an excellent choice of dishes. It comes as a bit of a surprise that prices are so reasonable — and sometimes downright economical. The duck rolls were fabulous: moist slivers of duck packed into crunchy wraps as tightly as sardines in a can. A dish of crispy and soft noodles plus snippets of chicken in tasty sauce was different and delicious. The oxtail was one of the best I’ve ever had and was worth a 10.
4 Buco Burger
A couple of restaurants I pass on the way from the Bulletin office to home are packed with very young teens, some of them wearing their school uniform. But some places, such as Buco Burger in Calle Rubén Darío 8, (Tel:871-048970), you’ll see some mid-teens school kids, stylish young women, trendy couples, and few pensioners obviously taking their grandchildren to lunch. The big attraction is very good food of its kind at most reasonable prices. The chicken wings are by far the best I’ve ever been served in restaurant: so juicy, so tasty, so perfect. The secret of their success (a 10 rating on two occasions) is deep-frying at a high temperature and for the correct length of time that produces sheer succulence. The crunchy coating on the chicken fingers iis superb and the unpeeled french fries are memorable.
5 Holly’s
When a restaurant is a complete unknown, meals can be full of surprises — good and bad. It was lovely surprises all the way with cook Tina Vogt of Holly’s in Calle Pursiana 6 (Tel:971-264475) who scored top marks with two out of three dishes and managed to chalk up a total of three 10s. The first 10-rated dish was mussels in wine that were plump and juicy. The second one was a tortilla española made to order that was one of the best ever — so light and fluffy and with a superb texture and magnificent aromas. The third 10 was unusual and the first time I have awarded one in this category: it was for pulling a caña with a lovely thick head of foam — and with an incredible meniscus. Tina achieved perfection with the third caña. How long will it take before I see another one like that?
6 Sa Fusió
I’ve never gone to an Italian restaurant to have fish and chips but there are so few places on the island doing this classical English dish that I made a booking as soon as I saw they were on the menu at Sa Fusió in Calle Santiago Rusiñol 15 (Tel:871-731770). Cook Alessandro worked in London for some years and picked up a bit of English culinary know-how. His batter isn’t 100 per cent English but it’s nicely crisp thanks to the final coating of Japanese panko breadcrumbs. Cod or hake cost €9.50 and you can have either as an à la carte dish on any day of the week for lunch or dinner, but it is absolutely essential to let them know by midday on the day before you want to eat.
Over the next few days we will post all 32 restaurants so watch this space.