Eating out is something of a hobby for us. My expanding waistline is testimony to the dedication we apply to it. For what it’s worth, we’ve clocked up around 400 different restaurants since the beginning of 2008. We find new places to try from a variety of sources – online forums, foody blogs and websites, guidebooks, etc. And then there’s the places that we walk past and just like the look of the menu. Which is how we came to be having dinner at La Fonda. What drew us in was the very Mallorcan slant to the menu – for example, I don’t know anywhere else in the area that has roast local goat on offer as a standard menu item. And I was very tempted!
There were a couple of salads to start. A bog standard mixed one – you know the sort – lettuce tomato, cucumber, tinned asparagus, etc. And a trampo – chopped tomato, squeaky green pepper, onion, capers, topped with a dollop of tinned tuna and a few sprigs of pickled sea fennel. Both were big portions and tasted OK, although the tomatoes were as unripe, crunchy and tasteless as you’d find in Northern Europe.
Cod with tumbet was something of an assembly job – sliced potato, red pepper and aubergine, each in a layer on the plate, topped with the cod fillet, itself topped with tomato sauce.
Escaldums is a dish we’ve cooked at home but have never seen on a restaurant menu. I ordered it to see how it compared and, frankly, we do a better job. By “better”, I mean a richer, more complex flavouring. But this was perfectly fine for a straightforward chicken and carrot casserole, but there was nothing of the brandy that features in our recipe at home. Nor was there any thickening of the sauce with almonds. But, for what it was, it was perfectly enjoyable. Came with a few roast (or deep fried) potatoes.
Have to say that service was slow. It was an issue with the kitchen, rather than with the serving staff who were pretty much on the ball when things were in their control, like clearing paltes or bringing drinks. We decided not to wait longer and passed on dessert, popping round the corner into the square for an excellent ice cream from the stall there.