Spanish Food: Majorca versus Tenerife

Ah Spanish food. I first found it by eating at Tapas Brindisa in Soho with my friend Kate. Run at the time by José Pizarro, I soonafter purchased his cookbook Seasonal Spanish Food and found that it's not just Paella! The tortilla, the catalan spinach and the chorizo in cider are just delicioca y sencilla. Well, to be fair the tortilla takes a while, but it's worth it.

So having just now returned from a week in Majorca with the little family, I have to say, it's hard to find Spanish food in holiday resorts! We spent two weeks in Tenerife last summer and of course it caters only for tourists (German and British), and only one night did I have the pleasure of real Tapas. I suspect if we had ventured outside of Playa de las Americas, there may have been more on offer than pizza, steak with peppercorn sauce, pizza, chicken and chips, and indeed, the laughable, English Tapas - potato croquettes, chicken wings, cheese in breadcrumbs... sigh...

In Majorca we stayed in a lovely marina town called Portals Nous. The food was better indeed. Each restaurant had, of course, the usual, but I managed Mallorcan Lamb Shank, which was just delicious, in a restaurant called José's, (not the same one). And Panorama Playa (which did indeed have a view of the beach) served ración chorizo and some good alioli.

Mallorca Lamb Shank

Still, need to go back to somewhere else in Spain for more. I would love to return to Majorca. But in the meantime Pizarro can keep me going...