MICHAEL WINNER SINGS MAJORCA PRAISES

By Jason Moore FOR a man who admits that he didn´t really like Spain Michael Winner, the film director and Sunday Times restaurant critic, has certainly changed his opinion. After spending the weekend in Deya celebrating Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber´s 60th birthday, he told the Bulletin yesterday that Majorca was “food heaven”. “I have eaten in some fantastic restaurants over the weekend both in Deya and in Puerto Portals. The food has been absolutely fantastic. And I intend to say so in my column in the Sunday Times. I am amazed that in the space of one kilometre in Deya there are such fantastic restaurants. I live in one of the posh parts of London and you still wouldn´t find such good restaurants in such a short radius.” And it is not only the food. “The countryside here is fantastic. It is like the South of France in the 1940s and 1950s. The only thing I would say that they mustn´t build too much because that can ruin it.” Michael Winner went out for lunch with Sir Michael Caine in Puerto Portals, having lunch at Tristans, which he also thought was very good. “I had the excellent prawns in scrambled egg...which I managed to spill down the front of my shirt!” In Deya, he thought that the roast suckling pig was first rate. He agrees with Andrew Lloyd Webber, who said that Majorca has some of the finest restaurants in the world. As regards the birthday celebrations he said that they had been very good and most enjoyable. “I wanted to get Andrew (Lloyd Webber) a golden bus pass because he is sixty. So I telephoned the Secretary of State who told me that they weren´t available, so I offered 10'000 pounds and I got the same reply!” Michael Winner is lucky enough to be a member of the film Academy which allows him to see all the Oscar nominated films. “I have a small private cinema in my home, and it is great, there are some good films around at the moment.” The birthday celebrations finished on Sunday with many of the guests leaving that afternoon. On Saturday night there was a gala party at the Hotel La Residencia.