Paella Time
 

Hi everyone - who do you think does the best paella?

Truth be told, we've never had an even halfway decent paella in the Pollensa area (or, indeed, in any Mallorcan tourist area). It's a dish that needs precise cooking and then serving up immediately it's ready - and that doesnt really suit the style of tourist restaurants.

If you can find somewhere that does it as, say, a "Sunday lunch special", then you may be OK. Might be worth seeing what's on offer at the seafood specialists of La Llonja and Stay.

Yes, Harters, I agree. Katy's did a fairly decent one, but that's long gone! Son has just text me to ask where to go, and I can't for the life of me think where I've had a good one. I've had some terrible 'frozen' one's, but they don't tell you that before it arrives on the table. Think Stay might be a bit pricey for him tho'.

Oh dear Harters!!, i think many of our members will take issue with you over this. I know of at least 4 restaurants in PP alone that supply take away and eat in paellas to Spanish/Mallorcan clients, so they must be doing something right.I understand that you are something of a "food critic" but as with all "critics" be they of book, food, film, wine etc it is only one persons opinion and of course one man's perfection is another man's poison.

Jazzy-B my personal favourites are El Ancla and Ikebana, both places only cook to order ;).

Thanks Sparky, I never thought of El Ancla. Love their duck and lamb! I have had some awful paella's in PP tho'!

Add to that Sparky, Celler la Parra as that is where we have had some very good Paella. As with others though, it must be ordered in advance. As to your comments about food critics I tend to ignore them and go for what I like not what they do, often 2 very different plates of food !

Yes so have i but have also had many good ones, only my opinion of course ;).
Which do you prefer, the mixed or seafood or fish, the choice is endless isn't it?. I have to admit i also love the Black paella served with lots of alioli and a nice cold bottle of Macia Batle Blanc.

Oh, I love 'em all, although I haven't had a black one yet, but I don't know why. When son text me about paella, my mouth started watering and hasn't stopped since! We're going to have to have roast chicken for dinner tomorrow, and paella with the leftovers on Monday - and I've got a big bag of mixed seafood in the freezer to go in it as well. Roll on Monday!

Which seems to make this forum pointless. Should i have a paella in cellar la parra or ignore your recommendation?

Actually, I'm nothing of a "food critic". Only a short fat man who enjoys eating.

But I certainly agree with the view that food I like might not be liked by someone else and vice versa. The enjoyment of food and opinions of restaurants are inherently a subjective matter based on personal experiences.

I also have the view that a place having Spanish customers is absolutely no guarantee, or even indication, that the food is great.

Just one place for me must be Ikebana. Pop in during the day to pre order. and you will have s delicious freshly cooked Paella.

Had some great paellas in and around the port, we have had this thread before if you look back but our favorites are the veggie paella in Tangos although we haven't been for a while, the one in Los Zazoles and best in El Mojito and el Posito

"It's a dish that needs precise cooking and then serving up immediately it's ready - and that doesn't really suit the style of tourist restaurants" ...Why not, you order it they cook it and bring it out, simples, what is the problem with that :confused:

The main problem for the restaurant and the potentially unsuspecting customer is that, for it to be done properly, it's going to take about an hour to cook. You can't rush it and it needs regular attention.

For the restaurant, it is going to be difficult for them to manage the cooking in amongst the orders for the quick cook dishes that make up most of the menu of the tourist orientated restaurants. For the customer, unless they know it's going to take an hour, they may well start to feel that they are being neglected. It also means the restaurant has a table "locked" - it's not the higher turnover of tables they can get serving the quick cook food.

It's why some places only offer paella as part of a lunchtime menu, when they can concentrate on it, or only offer it on pre-order.

Agree 100% aout a place full of spanish is no sign of quality, just look at the kebab place on the front it is full of them. The only thing thats not in those things on the skewers is meat.:):)

And so Harters, happily for us we still have plenty of restaurants in PP who don't operate this way, hence we are able to enjoy freshly cooked perfect paellas :D. IMO ;).

I think you missed the point made by harters "the dish needs precise cooking". The point being when the place is full of customers you don't have the time to devote to it that it needs so it is often rushed, and that is the problem with it.

Anyway, lets hope your Son enjoys his paella Jazzy-B ;) :)

I'm afraid thats rubbish, and some of the other comments, of cause they have time, we are talking about professional chef's, anyway paella doesn't take an hour to cook its more like 45 mins, I cook it regularly, we are aware it takes that long to cook and are more than happy to wait, we always have starter if we are ordering one

That would be your view - to which youre as much entitled as I am to mine.

I am not sure that there are that many professional chefs around. You would need 150 to 200 just to serve the eateries in PP. That amount of chefs in the area there ain't.

I agree with the comments about turnover. You would be lucky if any tourist style restaurants/cafes would want you sitting there paying 8 to 10 quid a head for paellla, waiting an hour, when they could have sent out some other fish dishes or burgers and turned the tables over. At the moment economics far outways quality, especially when you have 5grand a month rent, 20 grand staff costs, 5 grand council terrace charges, increasing electricity charges etc etc.

Meanwhile can we get back to the original question which was......
"Hi everyone - who do you think does the best paella?".:)

Ok Sparky, for the beautiful food, lovely setting and fantastic company, the best veggie paella this year in the port was at el Posito, cooked perfectly

Where can we get a take away paella?

Ikebana certainly do take aways. I'm sure there must be others some forum members will know

Can Josep will also provide a takeaway paella (you will need to order in advance)

As well as those already mentioned, i have seen people carry out paellas from El Ancla, Celler la Parra and El Posito, but i am sure there are probably more.

Los Faroles was fantastic, also El Ancla freshly done.

Bistro Mar in Alcudia do a fabulous black paella, very reasonably priced.;)

We have eaten the Blind Paella (boneless) in Los Faroles and very nice it was too.;)

Tolo's used to do an excellent paella and you were always told that it would be about an hour because it was fresh.

C'an Ferrer also do a nice one IMO

Would love your recipe, please tell.;)

Perhaps SWS could be persuaded to post his recipe on the Tapas Bar ;);). There are already some great tapas recipes on there.

Thank you for replies re: takeaway paella as I will be travelling with 22 month old grandson the idea of getting paella to take away sound really appealing.

I had a very nice Paella Ciega (without bones) at El Ancla, albeit 6 years ago. It was as good as anything I have had in Valencia or Barcelona, and was cooked to order. Wow I am getting hungry now.:o

Yes i also knock them out in around that time, but i am not cooking for another 20-50 people at the same time no more than you are.

Vegetarian paella is a bit of an oxymoron isn't it? Certainly in Valencia where paella originated. In my opinion the best paella is to be had in Clivia - but as ever everybody is entitled to their own opinion.

:confused: You have lost me there, as far as I know the pan it is cooked in is called a paella, therefore any thing cooked in one is called a paella? :confused:

Agree that Los Faroles do a very good mixed paella and have also had excellent seafood paellas at Ca'n Ferrer. They both seemed extremely fresh - we were sitting near the kitchen at Ca'n Ferrer and I actually saw them cooking it... I certainly have no complaints about the amount of attention they gave to it. I am assuming they must pre-cook the rice, as we certainly didn't wait 45 minutes for it - but then don't all chefs, even Michelin-starred ones, have some components of their dishes pre-cooked? No customers would sit around waiting for every meal they ate to be cooked entirely from scratch.

Have also had good seafood paellas at the Yacht Club - though the quality here has been more variable.

Well, in case you're interested, son had 'a lovely paella at Brisas, serended by guitars (well, not just him - his partner as well!)' and the perfect end to their holiday.' Ahhh .......

[QUOTE=kate1;64924]Agree that Los Faroles do a very good mixed paella and have also had excellent seafood paellas at Ca'n Ferrer. They both seemed extremely fresh - we were sitting near the kitchen at Ca'n Ferrer and I actually saw them cooking it... I certainly have no complaints about the amount of attention they gave to it. I am assuming they must pre-cook the rice, as we certainly didn't wait 45 minutes for it - but then don't all chefs, even Michelin-starred ones, have some components of their dishes pre-cooked?.


Hi Kate, 45 minutes would include preping the ingredients. If you left a paella cooking for that amount of time you would end up with rice pudding. Your right about a lot of things being done in advance. EG- most kitchens will have 2 base sauces done in bulk from which you can ( with different things added) cover quite a few dishes that would be on the menu. Stock pots are usually left on a rolling boil etc.