Well, I don’t know what to make of Ca N’Olesa. Nor, I suspect, does it know what it makes of itself. Is it a pizzeria? Is it a “local cuisine” specialist? Is it a restaurant serving the usual tourist grill staples? It tries to be all these things and, as you might guess, it does them reasonably well – although not really, really well.
A salad of lambs lettuce, spinach, cherry tomatoes, parmesan with a balsamic dressing was generally a light and fresh starter. It would have been very much improved if the cheese had actually been parmesan instead of the bland, semi-soft plastic that had been shaved over the leaves.
Red peppers with anchovies was a more interesting starter, garnished with a small piece of bread topped with tapenade. Even here, it would have been much more enjoyable plate if the pepper had not been fridge cold. As it was, its full flavour was blunted.
However, the stars at the beginning of the meal were the bread and the breadsticks (another nod to the restaurant’s Italian leanings).
Pizza Napoli was as good an example as you’re probably going to find in Spain. Well sized with a thin crispy base and decent crust (Roman style rather than Neopolitian). Good tomato sauce and with a topping of anchovies, olives and capers.
Rabbit with onions was an enjoyable version of the local classic. The onions were long-cooked and sweet but there needed to be many more of them. Rabbit was tender, moist and packed with flavour. Don’t let anyone palm you off saying rabbit tastes like chicken – it doesn’t (except in the way lamb tastes like beef – if you see what I mean). On the side a few sauté potatoes, fried courgettes and a nondescript and pretty tasteless puree (probably squash).
Desserts are definitely not a high-spot in their repertoire. “Flan” was a bog standard crème caramel – nothing wrong with it but nothing to write home about. An apple tart was poor – insufficient apple and undercooked and soggy pastry.
A plus point for us was that the wine list included a number of half bottles (although none Mallorcan), so my life companion, who only ever drinks a glass or two, didn’t have to waste most of a full bottle. The Rioja went well with the pizza, I’m assured. We also had a couple of bottles of water. Bill came to €63 which was pretty good value for a pretty good meal.