Do you remember in the old English exams they used to give a question; "To travel hopefully is better than to arrive. Discuss."
Well this sprang to mind after our trip to Restaurant Jardin in Alcudia.
It started off as so much fun trying to find it with son and hubby. I had copied down directions from AK's posts (which were spot on I hasten to add - it was all my fault!)
We decided to find the restaurant and book it for the following evening. My directions said to take the 3rd exit on the left from the Orange Horse roundabout to start with. Well, we approached this flipping roundabout from every exit, and took every exit out of it trying to work out where we were going! I got annoyed with it all first and pretty upset that we would miss out. Then hubby had the bright idea of perhaps it was the Orange KNOT that we should be heading for. Grudgingly I said that we might as well try it - all the while thinking omg, he may actually be right!!
And of course he was. We then found the restaurant with no problem at all. Although it is in a very unusual position for such an up market restaurant and
very unassuming from the outside.
The entrance through the courtyard was delightful though, and after a few calls out to find someone - it was early afternoon - we were able to book for the following evening.
We arrived to be greeted by smiling waitress's, and were shown to our table. A lovely old candelabra was alight standing against the wall, with many old wax drippings giving a lovely feature.
The table was dressed with smart and clean linen, and small aqua coloured glass stones. Service was charming as we had a pre dinner cava, and were given the low down on the menu.
Unfortunately this had been changed from the one we had looked at when we booked, and no longer had the suckling pig on it! They now only do one tasting menu at 65 euros, although I think they also had a childs tasting menu.
The waitress went through the menu and said that if anything did not suit then they would glady replace it. Straight away we asked if we could substitute one of the fish dishes for the suckling pig one. Her smile froze and she hurried away to ask. When she came back she said unfortunately this was not possible, and would we like anything else changed?! That had been one of the dishes that we had been looking forward to, so really nothing else was needed to be changed.
We started off with the salts and olive oil, with a choice of two breads; an olive bread or a tomatoe bread. Very tasty, but the salts disappeared quickly between the three of us and no replacement offered.
Menu
Stewed cauliflower Mallorcan style
Red Prawns croquette
Smoked mahi mahi with vegetables
Creamy rice with sea cucumber
Lobster parmentier with truffle juice
Red mullet with chillie and tomatoes
iberian ham millefeuille with wild mushrooms and garlic
Figs and Mallorcan sweet herbs
Cheese board from the Balearic Islands
Chocolate cake with Gin Xoriguer
All looks very interesting, and it certainly had some unusual flavours in it,... if you managed to keep any of it on your tongue to taste it in the first place!
To say the portions were small is an understatement. It was totally ridiculous.
The red prawns croquette was one small croquette.
Mahi mahi was two tiny slivers of the fish.
Sea cucumber was no bigger than my little finger.
The others were just as laughable and when the figs turned up, well.. we just looked at each other in amazement. The smallest fig you can think of cut into quarters, then you were served ONE of those quarters!!
The cheese BOARD - oh please. Four elongated cubes half the size of my little finger placed as two crosses on a plate which could have held a hundred times more!
Ok, the chocolate cake was small but tasty and the sauce lovely.
In fact I cannot fault the taste of the food at all, but they were constantly bringing the bread round, and I am sure it was because they knew you would be complaining if you hadnt filled up on it rather than relying on the menu.
The evening then was totally ruined by kareoke booming in from a nearby hotel.
I wish they were open in the winter, as maybe an upstairs table, and no hotel opened, and perhaps larger portions, would change my opinion as it does have, without a doubt, the possibility of a wonderful restaurant.
But as it stands, we were disappointed and it certainly was not value for money. I really had hoped to be saying otherwise.
)