Ninola Taberna Mediterránea

Ninola Taberna Mediterránea is a small restaurant on Avinguda Gaspar de Bennàssar in the north of Palma, where two people do very nearly everything themselves. Roberto is in the kitchen, Mónica runs the room — there is no other staff, and everything else follows from that one fact: few tables, a short menu, and pasta made in the house instead of coming out of a packet. The two of them come from the coastal part of the Bologna region, and you can taste it. Ninola is not a pizzeria and has no wish to be one. What is cooked here is the traditional cooking of where they come from, extended with dishes of Mediterranean character — and with the odd nod to the island the place stands on. Apart from the ice cream, practically everything is made in-house. The regulars are largely local, which in Palma counts for something. The Guía Repsol lists the house with a Solete, and the recommendation printed in the guide comes from the Mallorcan chef Maca de Castro, who singles out the pasta that changes from one day to the next. Handmade pasta at Ninola Taberna Mediterránea The offer is deliberately limited: half a dozen small starters to share, about as many pasta dishes, some meat and fish, and homemade desserts. The menu changes often because it follows what the market gives, and the pasta changes almost daily. What that yields can be read off the plates. Ravioli with caramelised onion, parmesan sauce and a sherry reduction take their sweetness from the onion itself. Semolina gnocchi stuffed with pumpkin arrive with anchovy butter and toasted almonds — a combination you rarely see written down. Strozzapreti, rolled by hand and therefore irregular in shape, hold the sauce of an oxtail ragù. Tagliatelle in the Bolognese manner are on the menu too, and the dish of the day is usually a pasta or a risotto. What comes to the table besides the pasta It is on the starters that the Mediterranean extension shows most clearly. A small choux with a vegetarian filling of fine courgette slices, pickles, sun-dried tomatoes, olive paste and fresh cheese belongs here, as does a coca with figs, gorgonzola and sobrassada — the most obvious nod to island cooking. There are also eggs with fried spinach, parmesan and balsamic, and a burrata alla parmigiana with basil pesto and roasted aubergine. From the sea comes, among other things, a grilled squid stuffed with its own tentacles and served on a risotto crust toasted in the pan, seasoned with lemon and rosemary — a large piece that lends itself to sharing. The portions are generous throughout, and it pays to order several dishes and put them in the middle of the table. To finish there is homemade tiramisù, which arrives in a glass. Two people, one small room The dining room is small and has only a handful of tables. That is not an accident but a calculation: two people can serve only as many guests as the kitchen can genuinely handle, and the sum works out in the guests' favour. Book in good time all the same — or precisely because of it, since the house has a reputation among locals and the seats go quickly. Mónica explains the dishes at the table and is happy to advise; those who let her usually eat better. The premises are step-free, and high chairs are available. And with the bill comes a bonbonnière of caramels. The neighbourhood on Avinguda Gaspar de Bennàssar The avenue carries the name of the architect Gaspar Bennàssar, who designed the Coliseu Balear — the old bullring that stands a few house numbers along the same street and is known today above all for the island's big summer concerts. The quarter around it belongs to the first ring of the Eixample and is a residential neighbourhood, not a tourist beat. Within walking distance are the shopping streets Arxiduc Lluís Salvador and Blanquerna, where the neighbourhood trade of the north converges. That Ninola stands here and not down by the harbour explains a good deal about who eats in it.