Es Mussol

Es Mussol sits in Gènova, the hillside quarter on the western edge of Palma, in a small house on Carrer del Barranc that promises little from the street and, once you are inside, explains its own name at once: "Es Mussol" is Mallorcan for the owl, and owls of every size perch here among pictures, salvaged curios and furniture that has seen a few decades. Emma Alcover has run the place since 1996; David Vidal cooks, Anita Alcover looks after the room. The menu is Mallorcan at its base and driven by the market — the house describes itself through the quality of its market ingredients and the craft of its own kitchen — but it carries a quirk you will hardly find twice on this island: Es Mussol is a fondue house. The fondues at Es Mussol The cheese fondue is the classic: Gruyère, Emmental, mozzarella and Edam, with a range of breads, carrot, celery, grapes, apple and radish to dip. If you want it heartier, there is a version that adds grilled, sliced entrecôte. Alongside it stand the meat fondues, all of them for two or more and served with basmati rice, potato, vegetables and house-made sauces: fillet steak and chicken breast, kangaroo fillet and chicken breast, or all three together. Kangaroo turns up twice more on this card, as a skewer with curry sauce and as a fillet with mustard sauce — the kind of stubborn idea you rarely meet on a Mallorcan menu. To finish there is the chocolate fondue with fresh fruit, also for two. Kitchen and menu The house speciality sits in the meat section: fillet steak or entrecôte with caramelised sobrassada. It runs through the whole card — it lies under baked provolone, it fills the gratinated mushrooms together with bacon, and it becomes the sauce for the fresh pasta stuffed with mushrooms and truffle. Fillet and entrecôte also come with Cabrales, the Asturian blue, with nuts and raisins; with melted provolone; with a green peppercorn sauce; or with foie, once with a Pedro Ximénez reduction, once with caramelised mango. The starters turn Mallorcan and hearty: butifarrón, the island's black sausage, flambéed with orujo; dates with almonds wrapped in bacon; sobrassada with honey and crackers; house-made croquettes; fried Padrón peppers; steak tartare; and fillet carpaccio with parmesan and rocket. Salt cod gets a section of its own: with prawns under a creamy honey sauce, seared with an aubergine marmalade, or caramelised with garlic oil, roast peppers and pine nuts. Then come the salads, an esqueixada of cod marinated in olive oil with capers, tomato and roast peppers, and a Thai soup with coconut milk and green curry that can be made vegan. Vegetarian dishes are covered in any case, and if you avoid gluten you say so before ordering — several dishes are then adjusted. The crêpes come savoury, with chicken and toasted almonds or with roasted aubergine, goat cheese, pine nuts and caramelised onion, and sweet. Desserts run to mango and blueberry cheesecake, banoffee pie, fig ice cream with rum and melted chocolate, almond ice cream and the "Pankeke", a crêpe with dulce de leche, vanilla ice cream, banana and nuts. The house in Gènova Inside, Es Mussol is small and very personally furnished. In winter the open fire burns and piano music often carries the evening; in summer the terrace opens, with its mosaic floor that nods to Gaudí and quiet music of its own. This is not a place for a quick bite but for a long evening for two or in a small group. Booking is worth it, and you can do it through the restaurant's own website. Gènova itself is a quiet residential quarter on the slope, a few minutes above the bay — close enough to Palma to be there quickly, far enough away that the evening notices nothing of the city.