REVIEW: Ca'n Costa, June 2015

[Harters]

Hmmm. I’m not really sure what to make of Ca’n Costa. We went because there’s a short menu of interesting sounding dishes. But there were little glitches in their execution that made us wonder if we’d go back.

There was a rice dish to start – not a soup but quite wet with a tomato/seafood broth. There was rice, of course, and a dice of seafood (mainly squid or similar). Seafood was still a bit more chewy than you’d want it, but it all tasted OK.

Gazpacho came in a glass which makes it a bit of a bugger to get your spoon in – perhaps they intended that you drink straight from the glass (although why provide a spoon then). Tasted fine. Alongside, there’s a slice of toast, topped with a couple of prawns. The jury is still out as to whether this is a combination that works. It probably doesn’t.

They warn you that the duck breast comes rare. That’s fine – overcooked duck is not a thing of joy. It does indeed come very rare. The sort of rare that makes you check if it’s still got a quack in it. It means the skin isn’t crispy and the layer of fat is pretty much raw. This could be much nicer. It sits on tumbet which works well. Only just working are the blobs of sauce – a soy reduction. I accept that I may be prejudiced against the sauce as I’m n ot a big fan of east/west fusion food.

Steak was tricky. It comes on a hot stone with the intention that you finish it off to your liking. Now that’s fine if the meat has been given a decent start in the kitchen and the stone is hot enough to finish the job. Unfortunately neither applies here. The meat was only just lightly seared. The stone comes barely warm and only heats up slightly more on the top of the spirit burners. It meant I’d finished my duck well before my partner had got her steak to anything approaching medium rare. This does not make for a companionable dinner. Anyone wanting to see how it should be done should seek out Spanish mini-chain “Carne a la Piedra” (although I’m not sure if there is one on Mallorca).

We didn’t bother with dessert.