Calypso resto bar- Cala Mayor

Calypso Resto Bar sits on Avinguda de Joan Miró in Cala Major, the coastal district a good four kilometres west of Palma's old town. It is one of those places that resist a single label: Spanish-Mediterranean tapas share the menu with homemade paellas, alongside pizzas, fish, pasta dishes, charcoal-grilled burgers and a section of its own devoted to Argentina. That sounds scattershot, but it describes fairly precisely how this neighbourhood works. Cala Major is home to people from Palma, with hotels and the bay itself right beside them. A house that can send out a paella for two, a baguette with fries and a Negroni on the same evening is not compromising in a location like this — it is doing the job. One thread runs through it all: charcoal. Octopus, prawns, Angus steak, rib-eye and pork secreto come off the embers, and the burgers go over the same grill. What the kitchen at Calypso Resto Bar is known for The paellas are homemade and are started from two people upwards. There is a seafood version, with or without shells — the shelled one saves you the work at the table — plus a black one coloured with squid ink, a heartier rendition with octopus and seafood, and variants with pork and chicken or purely with vegetables. The tapas keep a Spanish hand: tortilla, padrón peppers, Ibérico ham, Manchego, stew croquettes, garlic prawns, fried calamari with black alioli. The kitchen also sends out whole fish such as sea bream and John Dory, spaghetti with salmon and lemon sauce, and lasagne. The pizzas cover the familiar classics but push past the usual catalogue with the fugazzeta of onion, cheese and oregano and the cordobesa with gorgonzola, spicy salami, sun-dried tomatoes and honey. There is more for vegetarians than a first glance suggests: vegetable paella, a vegetarian burger, burrata with tomato and rocket, tortilla, padrón peppers and several meat-free pizzas. The poke bowl with rice, mango, wakame, edamame and avocado can be ordered with a crisp veggie patty instead of salmon or chicken. The Argentine part of the menu A section of the menu belongs to Argentina, and it is no fig leaf. There are empanadas filled with beef, chicken or ham and cheese, grilled provoleta with onions and roasted peppers, and three milanesas: the classic one with fries and a fried egg, the napolitana, and the house version with tomato, mozzarella, bacon, caramelised onions, peppers and a fried egg. A milanesa sandwich and a lomito cordobés with beef fillet in soft bread round it off. The dessert list gives away the same origin. Beside tiramisu, cheesecake and brownie with ice cream stands the chocotorta, that layered cake of chocolate biscuits and dulce de leche that belongs to every birthday in Buenos Aires. Calypso is also listed in the address directories of Mallorca's Argentine community. Bar, coffee and cocktails The bar side is meant seriously. The coffee list runs from cortado through carajillo to the Café Calypso with Baileys, cream and chocolate. Among the beers, the Mallorcan Rosa Blanca stands next to the Spanish classics, along with gluten-free and alcohol-free options. The cocktail list mixes the global repertoire with island ingredients: Negroni, Old Fashioned, caipirinha and frozen margarita sit beside a pomada made with Menorcan gin and lemonade, a mojito built on Mallorcan palo, and a sour you can order with pisco, amaretto, hierbas or whisky. Two house creations carry the island in their names. There is also an alcohol-free section that goes beyond the obligatory virgin mojito. Cala Major around the restaurant Outside the door runs Avinguda de Joan Miró, the district's main axis, with terrace seating right along the street. The bay of Cala Major and its pale sand lie a short way below, and Marivent Palace, the summer residence of the Spanish royal family, a little further east on the same coast. A few minutes away, on Carrer de Saridakis, stands the Fundació Miró Mallorca, where Joan Miró worked for decades and where the studio building designed by Josep Lluís Sert still stands. Anyone visiting the collection does not have to head back into the city centre to eat afterwards.