It goes without saying that whilst on holiday one of the things that Lee and I most look forward to is discovering the local cuisine and trying some new things.
In general Spanish beach resorts can have a bit of bad reputation for food, the stereotypical laminated menus covered in pictures, chips with everything, that kind of thing. And there certainly was some of that going on in our resort and some other places we visited, but there were also some real gems. I’m not going to go into detail about any of our meals but just show you some of the highlights we found when we were in Menorca.
On our second night we discovered a little place called Alaska, a great little place that did some really great tapas. It was so good we went back again another night, and for lunch one day! Some of the best dishes we had at Alaska included their 2 types of Croquettas – Jamon and Cod, as well as garlic chilli prawns, salt cod stuffed peppers, traditional albondigas in the richest loveliest tomato sauce and sardines. The spicy sauce on the Patatas Bravas was also divine.
Cafe Alaska
Patatas Bravas
Meatballs
Jamon Croquettas
Sardines
Salt cod stuffed peppers
Squid
Garlic Chilli Prawns
We also found on the backstreets of the resort (after it was suggested by our Thomson rep as doing the best pizzas she had found on the island) a great place called Sa Luna. We had some lovely bread with tomato, Mahon Cheese ( a special cheese local to Menorca) and Jamon, which seemed to be a menorcan staple to start, as well as some broad beans with bacon and goats cheese – so yummy. I then had one of their pizzas, which was delicious while Lee went for some baked Sea Bass – fish just tastes so much better in the Med, right?
Jamon and Mahon Cheese
Broad beans and bacon
My spicy pizza
Seabass
One thing I loved was that all the restaurants always delivered something free to nibble on, including some very yummy garlic pizza ‘fries’ and a variation on the onion ring. At one place we got a little bowl of what looked suspiciously like space invader crisps…..
Garlic ‘Fries’
I bit into these thinking they would be cheese…nope. Onion
Space invaders!
Whilst out and about outside of our resort we visited a couple of really nice restaurants, some of which had been recommend to us by a friend of Lee’s. One of these was Cafe Balaer, famous for its fish. Here is where we had a stunning Tuna Carpaccio, some great hake with garlic and peppers and two lovely deserts – a creme brûlée and the most refreshing lemon sorbet.
Cafe Balaer
Menus
Tuna Capraccio
Creme Brûlée
Lemon Sorbet
Lets pause with the food a while and talk about alcohol. I tried some sangria made with sparking wine – interesting but I think I prefer the original. And of course I tried a few cocktails. Rude not to!
Sparkling Sangria
Original Sangria
Tequila Sunrise
Mojito
Back to the restaurants in our resort now, we tried a traditional Paella – the waiters insist on serving it up for you, which put a halt to my picture taking. Good Paella, although maybe not the prettiest! We also had some fantastic cured Salmon with crab and avocado and tried some traditional (so we’re told) Menorcan ‘one pot’ chicken which was fantastic!
Paella
Cured Salmon
Menorcan Chicken
I love the way you could walk into any supermarket and find all this meat hanging up too…!
Meat!
On our last night we visited a slightly more upmarket restaurant in the resort. They had a small tasting menu, which comprised of 5 courses. Firstly there was honey baked camembert with almonds, followed by Chilli and Galric Prawns with Red Pepper and Chorizo. The main was a lamb shank which was beautiful. Then came a sorbet and chocolate tart. A really decent meal.
Camembert
Prawns
Lamb Shank
Finally a word on our hotel. The hotel itself was gorgeous, although the food wasn’t the most amazing apart from the breakfasts which were fantastic…we mostly ate an abundance of fresh fruit with a little treat from the beautiful pastry table. I really loved the pots of fresh herbs on all the tables out on the patio as well, lovely touch.
Breakfast
Herbs
Have you eaten in Menorca? I’d love to know any recommendations, because we’ll defiantly be going back!