When we walked out of Hotel Balear I asked the reception staff for a recommendation for Mallorquin/Spanish. After informing him we prefer not to drive, he thought hard. I thought he said a place along the promenade called La Mejillonera was the place to go for a famous paella stemmed from a place in Palma. However (hence the name) it really only does mussels. Next door to it was a place that specialised in paella (La Payesita) but was closed on a Sunday sadly.
Next to that was a perhaps slightly more tourist looking operation (but everywhere is in this German town) although the redeeming qualities were a seafood tank, a view of the beach and some evening sky, and the waiters were all elderly 50yo+ Spanish men and friendly.
- Pimientos de Padron €9 - well grilled, salted and mildly spicy. Delicious;
- Croquetas de Bacalao €8.5 - a smooth mild cod paste was enclosed in a golden crisp and thin coating. I suspect this was the better choice than the chicken version;
- Caracoles €8.95 - sea snails in a very strong salty earthy flavoured broth which was perfect for the complimentary garlic bread. It's always an enjoying treat pulling those suckers from within the shells.
Between 5 of us, there was possibly a little bit of food overload particularly with respect to the shellfish and the volume of rice. The two guys in the group powered on and dominated the rice. Luckily it was very good.
- Parrillada de Mariscos €38 - a generous plate of all grilled seafood headlined by half a lobster, delicious rich flavoursome prawns and their heads, langoustines, slightly overcooked razor clams, big meaty mussels and some little clams;
- Paella de Mariscos €28.6 (2 servings) - an extremely flavoursome (heavy with the salt) paella that soaked up all the lemon juice I could squeeze. The most impressive part was the way the burnt crisp crust had formed along the edges and on the bottom of the pan providing excellent textures and flavour. This was a better cooking quality in paella than I've had anywhere including Valencia;
- Paella Vegetariana €24.1 (2 servings) - this healthier version was equally well cooked but much less flavoursome. It seemed like the salt hadn't been well distributed as some portions were very light and others were over salty. Otherwise still good.
I think I enjoyed this paella more than any others so far. I don't think I'd ever find myself back in C'an Pastilla (never say never) but if I did I'd go back for it. Or try the famous one next door...