Palma – Beatnik

This is one of the best rated restaurants in Palma, but they were also offering 50% off main courses for anyone booking via The Fork (which I think is a bloody hopeless app, but more on which in another post). I do get correspondence from restaurants and pubs that I’ve written about, and I have a slight feeling that this restaurant might stumble across this post at some time. Not because what I’ve written is of any particular relevance, just that the hotel and restaurant seems very pro-active and on-line orientated.

The ambience in the restaurant was comfortable, although it was slightly challenging for the staff since I was the only customer. That’s more testament to that I prefer to eat in the early evening, so I caught the last available lunch-time slot which was at 16:30, not really a popular eating time for Spaniards.

I had already seen the restaurant’s drinks menu on-line, and I wasn’t entirely excited by it. They had no beers or soft drinks listed, but there were pages of wines and other spirits. For a restaurant which is so on-trend and contemporary, the lack of craft beers was obvious. So, I had sparkling water.

Mini rolls were provided, which were a perfectly pleasant way to start. The service was friendly, attentive and authentic throughout, even given the limitation that the staff had that I was their only customer. There were other staff present in the restaurant and they were speaking freely about numerous business matters, none of which were confidential, but it was an interesting distraction to listen to.

The grilled octopus, served with sauteed ratte potatoes and lemon aioli. The best octopus I’ve had is in Polpo in London, which is hardly surprising since it’s the Italian word for octopus. The accompaniment with the octopus was excellent, the potatoes were perfectly cooked and had a nutty taste, it was well seasoned and there were a range of tastes and textures. The octopus itself was served as a large portion and had a pleasant taste and the appropriate texture, although it didn’t quite have that melt in the mouth feel to it. But, bearing in mind it came in at under £10, this was certainly not a bad dish at all.

I ordered fries to go with the meal, which just appear in the above photo, and they were fluffy in the interior and firm on the exterior, just how I like them. They were salty and pleasant tasting, all rather lovely. My post-meal cappuccino was also perfectly acceptable.

As for the restaurant itself, which is located within a hotel, it’s clearly on-trend and has some really interesting ideas. I liked the menu and the concept and although I was initially surprised that they needed to reduce prices by 50%, it seems that November is a challenging month for restaurants and it can’t be easy to fill seats in locations such as this. If I was bringing a group of people here, I’d trust this restaurant to get it right as there was that feeling of organisation and effective management about the operation. The only slight limitation for me about the restaurant was that, bearing in mind I need things to be idiot-proof, it was too hard to find the way in, as it involved going into the hotel, speaking to the receptionist, going through a door, down some steps and then through another door.

But, overall, all very lovely.