H
Harters
New member
By a long stretch, this was the best meal we ate in the Pollensa port/town area on this trip. Without doubt, it must be knocking on the door of gaining a Michelin star – certainly I can think of starred places where the food is not up to this standard.
As you’d expect at this level of cooking, things kicked off with an amuse bouche. It looked like a tomato in the bowl but, in fact, it was only the stalk that was real. The rest was cod encased in a tomato jelly. A little pesto flavoured olive oil in the bowl and a thin, tiny slice of crisp bread. Clever and absolutely delicious. Our bouches were definitely amused.
There was a starter of red prawns but they weren’t the star of the plate. That went to two thick slices of “Cor de Bou” tomato – perhaps the most tomatoey tomato we’ve ever tasted. There was tomato as well in the sauce which was decorated with a scattering of fish roe.
I’d usually think of gyoza as a Japanese snack. Here, they become very Mediterranean, with the little parcels stuffed with long cooked pork cheek. The sauce is based on dates – very rich with the sweetness nicely balancing the richness of the pork. A couple of slices of truffle were intended to bring a further hint of luxury but I confess to being a bit of a Philistine when it comes to truffles and never quite “get it” with them.
Loin of lamb was perfectly cooked at medium rare. It had a fine flavour that was enhanced by a little honey glaze. It came with roasted baby aubergine. No sauce as such, but an aubergine puree pretty much did the same job. This was one of the best lamb dishes I’ve eaten in a long time. Hake was as delicious as it was brilliantly conceived. Two thin fillets sandwiched a mushroom duxelle and were then topped with a herb crust. They sat on a potato puree. Wilted bok choi provided an interesting pit of asian greenery to an otherwise very European dish. Really good.
The only real miss of the evening was with the pre-desseret which was a banana cream, topped with a foam. You couldn’t really detect any banana which did make it all a bit pointless. Is there ever a point to a foam?
They’re not big on menu description so, for desserts, we ordered “Apricot” and “Lemon” not knowing what to expect. “Lemon brough a sweet/sharp lemon curd and a lemon ice cream, decorated with soft Italian meringue. “Apricot” also featured the meringue along with fresh apricot, apricot ice cream, little cubes of sponge cake and a couple of “bubbles” of apricot juice. The bubbles are quite a fashionable cheffy thing – you drop blobs of your juice into a chemical solution which sets an outer skin on them , so that they pop when you put them in your mouth. It's the sort of cleverness that gets you the attention of the Michelin inspectors.
There’s good coffee, of course. And excellent petit fours – an outstanding fruit jelly and a really rich dark chocolate truffle.
We went away two very happy campers. If you’re going to go, then go soon – before they get that Michelin star and whack their prices up.
As you’d expect at this level of cooking, things kicked off with an amuse bouche. It looked like a tomato in the bowl but, in fact, it was only the stalk that was real. The rest was cod encased in a tomato jelly. A little pesto flavoured olive oil in the bowl and a thin, tiny slice of crisp bread. Clever and absolutely delicious. Our bouches were definitely amused.
There was a starter of red prawns but they weren’t the star of the plate. That went to two thick slices of “Cor de Bou” tomato – perhaps the most tomatoey tomato we’ve ever tasted. There was tomato as well in the sauce which was decorated with a scattering of fish roe.
I’d usually think of gyoza as a Japanese snack. Here, they become very Mediterranean, with the little parcels stuffed with long cooked pork cheek. The sauce is based on dates – very rich with the sweetness nicely balancing the richness of the pork. A couple of slices of truffle were intended to bring a further hint of luxury but I confess to being a bit of a Philistine when it comes to truffles and never quite “get it” with them.
Loin of lamb was perfectly cooked at medium rare. It had a fine flavour that was enhanced by a little honey glaze. It came with roasted baby aubergine. No sauce as such, but an aubergine puree pretty much did the same job. This was one of the best lamb dishes I’ve eaten in a long time. Hake was as delicious as it was brilliantly conceived. Two thin fillets sandwiched a mushroom duxelle and were then topped with a herb crust. They sat on a potato puree. Wilted bok choi provided an interesting pit of asian greenery to an otherwise very European dish. Really good.
The only real miss of the evening was with the pre-desseret which was a banana cream, topped with a foam. You couldn’t really detect any banana which did make it all a bit pointless. Is there ever a point to a foam?
They’re not big on menu description so, for desserts, we ordered “Apricot” and “Lemon” not knowing what to expect. “Lemon brough a sweet/sharp lemon curd and a lemon ice cream, decorated with soft Italian meringue. “Apricot” also featured the meringue along with fresh apricot, apricot ice cream, little cubes of sponge cake and a couple of “bubbles” of apricot juice. The bubbles are quite a fashionable cheffy thing – you drop blobs of your juice into a chemical solution which sets an outer skin on them , so that they pop when you put them in your mouth. It's the sort of cleverness that gets you the attention of the Michelin inspectors.
There’s good coffee, of course. And excellent petit fours – an outstanding fruit jelly and a really rich dark chocolate truffle.
We went away two very happy campers. If you’re going to go, then go soon – before they get that Michelin star and whack their prices up.
To be clear, it was red, and therefor stood out like a sore thumb on the otherwise dark and bare walls. There was no art work then, so I was just wondering if there was any now! Perhaps that's the question I should have asked, rather than mention the flipping fire extinguisher!! 
And as you quite rightly point out, Harters reviews were all brilliant.