Eat Like Ushi

A casual wander from central up north to Brera led to a quick Google Maps search for gelato. It would be the first of the trip and luckily Milan seems to be full of decent options. This was run by some lovely elderly Italians who were only too happy to share their creations with us. The colours of the selections were deep and elegant.

Pistachio was a lovely light brown colour full of pistachio flavour with a light sweetness complementing. The fig was full of fig seeds for texture and a light fruity creation from blended figs.

How excellent.

It has been over 5 years since my first (and what I thought would be my last) trip to Milan and Luini (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/panzerotti-luini-milan-07-2012). It was one of those deepfried snack places especially good for a quick stop. Long gone are the days of friendly staff and the ability to look through the bakery. This time I am met with a queuing crowd to outside, a bouncer moderating the line, and one of the female staff shreaking that "photos are not allowed!!!". It's a bakery. Calm down.

The prices have gone up minimally (€2.8 from €2.5) in 5 years which isn't bad at all. The fried versions are still softer, taster and unhealthier than the baked ones. The fried ones remind me of Chinese fried mantou bread or doughnut, and have a lovely soft and delicious dough coating. The fillings are tasty and perhaps could use a little more to balance the fried bread flavour. There's no danger of the filling spilling over.

I can't imagine I'd ever make a third trip to Milan, but despite the change in crowd and service, I'd gladly come past again for a bite.

There's a good number of old ye English pubs around this area of Bow. Morgan Arms, Coborn Arms and The Victoria. Someone at work mentioned their favourite was The Lord Tredegar so on a Tuesday night we ventured on down. It seemed to also be coincidentally pub quic night and you could hear the loudspeaker mentioning things in the main dining room. I was quite content in the front bar section where everyone queues up to order their food and drinks but otherwise is quieter.

The food is very standard pub style.

- Fish & Chips (beer battered line caught haddock with tartar, mushy peas, chunky chips) £13 - a thin fillet of fish that wasn't that juicy in a soft fried crumb with light seasoning. The mushy peas were a tiny serve that resembled wasabi on a sushi plate;
- Steak, Ale & Caramelised Onion Pie (Malcolm's secret recipe) with creamy mashed potato & greens £13.95 - the pastry was crisp but quite thin and so didn't have any of the chewy thick buttery texture I prefer. The filling was nice without being significant.

This is standard pub food to me. It took 50mins to arrive also. I think the only other pub I've tried in the area so far (Morgan Arms) is more expensive but better cooking and more modern dishes. The atmosphere is very pleasant but with the decor and available card and board games, even with Morgan Arms similar wait (30-40mins last time), I'd have to give that the nod from now on.

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...

All beach towns need a good gelato place. There weren't many reviews to find online for C'an Pastilla and even a Google Maps search didn't have too many options that were nearby and open after dinner. We decided to meander down and look for one along the promenade expecting to find something.

The first one we walked into was called Eiscafe Oso Polar. They advertised homemade icecream so we'd peeked in. Unfortunately the flavours didn't really appeal and the icecream had that fluoro tinge that I don't go for. After walking away the angry woman yelled at my friend about how rude it was and there was no "gourmet" icecream in the town if that's what we were looking for. Happy to have left there, I looked across the street and saw a sign saying "gelato per passione" and a giant icecream luring people in. It looked simple and more modern and I'm glad I ended up there.

The gelato is well maintained in silver containers but with clear lids to see the product. It's a good compromise between the overflowing views of some and the hidden metal canisters of others. They didn't have pistachio but happily settled for fig and coconut. Both were good quality, smooth although a little light in flavour. It was nice on a humid Mallorquin evening to sit along the promenade wall and watch 5yo children blasting reggaeton and hooning in tiny cars.

There's also an option similar to Cold Rock in Melbourne where they mash chocolates and other things into your gelato if you wish, but that would only make the flavour messier in my mind. Simple is best.

Given the beach location and general heat of Puerto Pollensa, I tried hard to find a gelato place to look forward to. Gelats Valls was the closest I found even though it seems like the location I initially found was closed and moved a short way away. It may have converted in that time from a little stand to an actual shop, I'm not sure.

There was a broad range of flavours and pistachio and hazelnut jumped out at me. It's possible that the two nut flavours were too similar for contrast but I didn't find myself enjoying them all that much. The hazelnut was moderate strength because it really it difficult not to and I'm used to it being incredibly strong in other areas of Spain and Italy. Also the pistachio was a very weak flavour and I like it bursting and strong.

Overall adequate and I don't know if there is a better heladeria in Puerto Pollensa. But if so I'll look for it next time.

After Patio@49, there was a couple of blanks fired at Tapas y Punto who had no interest in serving us even though others were waiting for food, and Neptuno who had just closed for the evening. The tail of the trail had La Cabaña and Imperial Bar & Tapas but Google Maps suggested both had or were about to close. Luckily in between there was Norai Pinxtos & Wine Bar which is open until 4am including the kitchen open late. How opportune and generous of them.

It was lucky because we were quite hungry after much sangria but little food and this place ended up being my favourite of the lot. The tapas or racion list has many interesting items, the sangria is good quality, there's a nice vibe of people eating inside and outside, they have sports showing on a TV next to the bar, and they are along the promenade with still reasonable prices. It doesn't get better in Puerto Pollensa (or perhaps anywhere in Mallorca).

- Tempura vegetal €9 - thicker than usual tempura batter with no seasoning in the batter so using the sauces brought the items to life;
- Pulpo a la Gallega €14 - I don't usually like Galician-style octopus but this was a good one with soft juicy octopus and potato drinking up the octopus liquor;
- Alitas de pollo con salsa teriyaki €6 - teriyaki chicken wings definitely weren't my idea in a Spanish place but tasted good;
- Patatas Bravas €5.5 - we were hankering for some of these Spanish classics and they didn't disappoint especially served with a moderately hot chilli sauce;
- Albondigas €6 - the meatballs were full of flavour and tenderness. It would have been great to get some additional bread to mop up the sauce with.

They also have some nice sounding burgers and other dishes available too. This would easily be my recommendation for tapas, food, drink and general enjoyment to anyone visiting Puerto Pollensa.

The second stop of the self-created tapas trail was Patio@49. It actually used to be another place that had excellent reviews but was now taken over by an older British couple who had made their way to live and setup in Mallorca. It's not a bad life choice is it? I don't think they necessarily offer on the tapas trail but the entree sizes fit the bill easily.

I think the female was bemused but not amused that 5 of us only ordered 2 dishes and some drinks. Yes, we are sampling bits here and there so we know what we are doing.

Fresh steamed mussels in white wine & parsley €5 was a reasonable serving for the price. There was about 15 mussels or so which enabled a good sampling each.

Fresh salad with breaded Camembert & tomato chutney €5 was a nicely fried and mild flavoured cheese with salad leaves and vinaigrette.

Onward we moved.

Rustic Cafe is traditionally the first (or last) stop along the Puerto Pollensa tapas trail. Some bright person has decreed tapas day to be Thursday rather than what I would have thought is the busier weekend evenings. Maybe it's a ploy to increase business on a weekday. Unfortunately there's only about 3 changing places that participate any longer and many have stopped or closed down. Rustic seems to still keep their hand in, and full respect to them for doing so.

Rustic offers a tapas + drink for €3 on Thursday, whereas a tapas dish alone is €5 otherwise. To be honest I expect the dishes normally are larger than the Thursday single serve tapa, but who knows.

Sitting outside eating the delicious and mildly spicy grilled padron peppers and little vegetable samosas drinking sangria was a warm delight. It is a pretty un-atmospheric location with nothing really else around so you have to really want to go to that place.

Would recommend it for a light start, but be aware there are plenty more to come.

For a 30th birthday celebration I wanted to pick a place with Mallorcan food. A couple of names came up in the area which were Celler La Parra and El Posito. Due to slightly more interesting reads, I ended up booking La Parra simply via an email. Even though it was a Friday night in August, the restaurant was only half full. There are plenty of restaurants along the promenade so perhaps that is where the bulk of people spend the summer evenings.

The walls are adorned with an eclectic mix clocks, dolls and barrels. It had a nice rustic atmosphere with friendly waiters making jokes and being helpful.

The menu (like all in Mallorca) have 5 languages but I'd accepted that as just part of the island. I was glad to see several menu items using less common offal cuts and cooked "Mallorquin" style.

- Bread & olives €1pp;
- Tumbet €5 - a typical Mallorcan vegetable dish of layered potato, peppers and eggplant and topped with a tomato-based sauce. It reminds me of ratatouille but with much less thyme. Delicious;
- Pa amb oli with cheese €4.5 - pan con tomate with sliced tomato rather than the blended pulp. Drizzled with EVOO and served on bread (my slice was a little too burnt);
- Grilled liver Mallorcan style €6.6 - (lamb?) liver slices of very strong flavour that needed bread, and probably next time something sweeter to cut through the flavour. Good to try but only so much I could eat, so I wouldn't be game again. I actually wanted to kidneys, but they didn't have any unfortunately;
- Roast suckling pig Mallorcan style €15 - a delicious small portion of juicy meat with crisp crackling served with some fries and salad for balance;
- Grilled squid - two heavily seasoned squid with some firm bitey texture and good flavour;
- Pudding of the house €3.5.

It was a very nice meal in a comfortable relaxed setting with quality Spanish/Mallorcan food and easily close enough to engage in a relaxing walk toward the beach afterwards.