Restaurant Estragon La Plaça

Restaurant Estragon La Plaça sits on the Plaça de Peralada in Felanitx, in a quiet corner of the town right beside the Parc Municipal de Sa Torre. Felanitx lies inland in Mallorca's south-east: a country town of markets, churches and workshops that you do not end up in by accident — you drive there on purpose. That alone gives an evening here a different tone from a meal on the coast. There has been a restaurant on this corner for more than two decades. A local couple ran it for the longest stretch, then German expatriates took over, had the room thoroughly rebuilt and passed it on soon afterwards. Felix Passow has been behind it ever since — and the name Estragon has stayed. What happens in the kitchen at Restaurant Estragon La Plaça The stove belongs to head chef Daniela "Dani" Zoschke. She trained in Germany, has lived and worked on Mallorca for a good many years, writes the menus herself and handles the buying as well. She describes her style plainly as Mediterranean-German, and the menu bears her out: vitello tonnato with fried capers and rocket sits alongside braised ox cheeks with polenta and salsify, burrata with confit tomatoes alongside beef tartare with quail egg and toasted brioche. The clearest measure of what the house is after is the beef fillet with herb butter, wild broccoli and baked potatoes — or more precisely the sauce that comes with it. It is made from scratch and reduced over three days from a stockpot of eighty litres down to a good litre and a half. The concentration that results is why guests regularly ask for more of it. The menu turns with the seasons and is broader than the plain word restaurant suggests: sea bass fillet with lobster bisque, leaf spinach and potato purée, gambas al ajillo with spicy sobrasada, a tapas selection of coca de trampó, patatas bravas and pimientos de padrón, scallops on a carrot and orange cream. Vegetarians and vegans are not handed the leftovers here: artichoke hearts filled with Mallorcan pisto, baked aubergine with couscous and mint, grilled beetroot with garlic foam and almonds, or a baked stracchino with wild herb salad, raspberry and nut vinaigrette and pear chutney are dishes in their own right. The vegetarian and vegan entries are marked on the menu. Where the produce comes from The supplier network is regional and openly named. Vegetables and fruit come from the Terracor growers' cooperative, the bread from the Larôti bakery in Campos, the fish from Xutipesca, the meat from Cárnicas Sunyer and from Frischeparadies. That the head chef has worked on the island for years pays off here — she knows the businesses and the local products personally. The wine list The wine list is the second reason the drive to Felanitx is worth it. By far the largest share of the bottles comes from Mallorcan estates, and a striking number of those from Felanitx itself — Ànima Negra and Es Fangar have their cellars practically on the doorstep. Ribas from Consell and Binigrau from Biniali follow, along with estates from Sencelles, Alaró, Pollença, Manacor and Porto Cristo. Native grapes such as callet, manto negro, fogoneu, gorgollassa and premsal blanc are generously represented, often in organically made wines. Two bottles carry the house's own name: a white and a red Estragon, both from Felanitx. And because the kitchen thinks Mediterranean-German, so does the list — a Riesling from the Mosel sits quite naturally among the Spanish and Mallorcan entries. Anyone driving, or off alcohol, will find a bottle too. The room and the people behind it Felix Passow came to hospitality from outside it. Before Mallorca he ran a luxury car dealership in Berlin; from there he moved with his wife Vivien to the south-east of the island. He works the floor himself when needed and, by his own account, keeps things within the team informal and familial. The room he took over had been thoroughly refitted shortly before: bright, plenty of wood and natural materials, handsome lamps and a striking bar — the house runs a cocktail list of its own. The pictures on the walls are Vivien's, who paints. Service is in German, English and Spanish, and the team takes on catering away from the house as well.