Ternera | Apio | Encurtidos, a melt-in-your-mouth beef cheek served with a cloud-soft mash potato and two types of cherry tomatoes infused with saffron and beetroot | Mia Naprta

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A couple of weeks ago I was invited to the reopening of the top floor restaurant at Hotel Saratoga. I was so impressed with tasty, innovative finger food provided by the charming, young Head Chef Juan Pinel that I was eager to come back and try his new menu as soon as possible.

A friend and I arrived on a Thursday night and were immediately impressed by Juan´s friendly welcome and a great service provided by his team that continued to throughout the night. We briefly looked at the à la carte menu, but then decided to go with the tasting menu, to try more dishes and get a better picture.

We started with Ostra | Escabeche | Rosas, marinated oysters with a delicate touch of rose petals, served on ice. They were fresh with a nice acidic note. A really great start of the meal! Next, we had Shiso | Eel | Corn, a vibrant, citrusy, slightly astringent tasting bite, beautifully presented on a leaf shaped corn cracker. This was followed by Merluza frita | Alga | Lechuga, hake in a light sourdough tempura, which had been left to ferment for two days, giving it a nice rich flavour. This was served with a seaweed foam, adding to both the visual effect and the depth of flavour. So far, this was my favourite dish, and I would happily have a larger portion of it.

Next came Lenteja | Carabinero | Trufa, a rich lentil stew with a big juicy red prawn, a few leaves of pak choi and black truffle. Another excellent dish! I love how the chef is using local favourites and elevating them to the next level by adding some unique ingredients and preparation techniques. The fifth dish was curiously called `Patata a la importancia and my friend jokingly commented: “Have they been turned into vodka?” That would certainly give them importance. It was just as well that the chef came out at that moment again, so he explained to us that it is in fact an old fashioned fried potato stewed with various herbs and spices including garlic, parsley etc. He served his with some Galician clams, jokingly referring to them “bichos de Galicia” i.e. Galician bugs.

What I considered the main course of the night came in the form of Ternera | Apio | Encurtidos, a melt-in-your-mouth beef cheek served with a cloud-soft mash potato and two types of cherry tomatoes infused with saffron and beetroot. I loved this seemingly simple dish that was again uplifted with interestingly flavoured tomatoes.

The first of two desserts, Dátil | Coco | Limón, was a fantastic combination of flavours, textures and smells of dates, coconuts and lemon. If I came here just for this and a coffee, I would have already left a happy customer.

The second dessert, Torrija | Arroz | Chocolate Blanco, was inspired by Spanish childhood treats. Torrija is a Spanish style French toast. Its flavour was made more grown up by infusing the milk with cinnamon and oranges, while a spoonful of white chocolate ice cream helped to take the whole dessert out of grandma’s kitchen into this high end restaurant in central Palma.

Location

L’Àtic
Pg. de Mallorca 6, Palma
971 72 72 40

Instagram: @laticrestaurant

The Bill

  • Tasting menu 62€ per person

The Hours

  • Tuesday to Saturday 1pm - 4.30pm and 7pm - 12am

The Verdict

With each new course the food kept getting better and better. We particularly enjoyed the beef cheek dish and deliciously complex date, coconut and lemon dessert. I loved the fact that chef came out of the kitchen every so often to ask for our thoughts or to explain a particular dish. Bonus point here is the gorgeous view of the city, perfect for a romantic date. I am definitely coming back to try some other a la carte dishes!