La Romaguera Restaurant

La Romaguera sits in the middle of Sóller, at the top of Carrer de Sa Mar, right where the narrow lane branches off that gave the restaurant its name. Two friends built it, wanting to pool their strength behind a shared idea. What came out of it is a house standing on two legs: tapas de autor, tapas with a signature of their own, and a long-matured chuletón of Galician beef. The restaurant occupies a modernista townhouse from the beginning of the last century. The building has kept its character without feeling like a museum: the dining rooms spread across several rooms and an upper floor, and outside there is a terrace against the stone façade. There is air conditioning and Wifi, and dogs are welcome. The kitchen describes its own line as mouthfuls from different parts of the world with a Mallorcan accent. The menu reads exactly like that. Tapas de autor: the menu at La Romaguera Among the vegetables, artichokes from the Josper charcoal oven come with romesco, crème fraîche and truffle, next to roasted leeks with romesco, almond cream and slow-cooked tomato. The aubergine is glazed with teriyaki and served with a seaweed sauce and pickled onion. The gyozas are filled with confit mushrooms and carry truffle cream and a nori crisp, and a creamy curry of baby vegetables with coconut and coriander arrives on black venere rice. From the sea come Galician queen scallops with miso cream and redcurrants, bacalao a la bilbaína with a couscous stew and beetroot cream, a ceviche of wild corvina and a rice with red prawn. There are two croquettes: one creamy with octopus and smoked cheese cream, one of Iberian ham and cecina fried in coarse panko. On the meat side stands the carrillera ahumada: smoked beef cheek cooked at low temperature, in a brioche bun with smoked burrata and kimchi mayonnaise. Alongside it, a cannelloni of braised oxtail with parmesan and almonds, tacos of marinated lamb with guacamole cream, duck wontons with baked apple and teriyaki, and a steak tartare of matured rubia gallega beef. Chuletón, Mallorcan wine and something sweet The chuletón is the other half of the concept: Galician beef, matured for weeks, served with piquillo peppers and potatoes. It is the one large cut on a menu otherwise built entirely for sharing. The wine list answers with an unusually broad Mallorcan selection. Can Axartell, Ribas, Binigrau, Miquel and Toni Gelabert, Can Majoral, Can Vidalet, and with them the island grapes Callet, Mantonegro, Gorgollassa and Prensal Blanc rather than the usual suspects. To finish there is lemon pie, apple crumble with vanilla ice cream, pistachio cheesecake and a vegan chocolate mousse without gluten, plus the Mallorcan hierbas in their sweet, mixed and dry versions. The house, the terrace and its place in the valley Sóller is a town where people sit outside in the evening, and La Romaguera makes use of that. The terrace against the stone façade belongs to the house; inside, the service spreads more quietly across the rooms and the upper floor. When Sant Bartomeu is celebrated at the end of summer, the town's patron saint, with a correfoc running through the lanes, the house fills up, and booking stops being a suggestion. Anyone planning a celebration of their own can hire the kitchen away from the house: the team caters weddings, private parties and company dinners anywhere on the island and builds the menu together with the hosts.