Restaurante Ses Ones

Ses Ones is Catalan for “the waves”, and in S'Illot that is less poetry than a description of where the place stands. The restaurant sits on the Passeig Neptú, the promenade that closes the village off towards the bay — and its terrace is not set in the middle of the walkway but on the water side of it. Sit there and you have the sea in front of you and the surf within earshot, with music playing quietly in the background. The kitchen is Mediterranean and European, and above all it is broad. Fish and seafood sit alongside grilled meat, with pasta, pizza, salads and burgers besides. This is not a house with a short, tightly edited menu but one where a mixed table each finds something. Vegetarian dishes are explicitly catered for. The Ses Ones kitchen: sea and grill From the sea side come octopus, mussels and fish, mostly off the grill. The largest thing on the menu is the seafood platter, which brings together lobster, brown crab and further shellfish; alongside it there is the mixed seafood grill, portioned for two. Smaller and lighter are the smoked salmon with salad and the crêpes with spinach and goat's cheese. The salads are among the things guests single out most often. The meat side runs over the grill. The entrecôte arrives on a hot plate, and there are fillet, rib-eye and spare ribs besides. Burgers are on the menu, as is pasta — carbonara and bolognese among them — and pizza, including one topped with vegetables. Bread with aioli opens the meal, and the spicy potatoes have a following of their own. The desserts are made in house. Lemon sorbet and almond tart come up most often: two puddings that belong to this coast without anyone having to reinvent them. Paella by pre-order only Paella at Ses Ones is not a dish you can order on the spur of the moment. It is started from scratch and needs its time, so the house takes it by pre-order only; ask for it unannounced and you will usually be turned down. That is not obstruction but the consequence of a paella that does not come out of a warming cabinet. Several versions are offered: one with seafood, a mixed one with seafood and meat, and a pure vegetable paella that also works as a vegetarian main. A call ahead is therefore the decisive step if the paella is the reason for the visit. The terrace on the Passeig Neptú The terrace is the reason many people come back. It lies on the seaward side of the promenade, the seats in the front row are the ones closest to the water, and the view runs out over the bay unbroken. Eating outside is the rule here, not the exception. Part of that is that Ses Ones also works as a bar: cocktails, wine and aperitifs are ordered as readily as a coffee in between. Live music belongs to the house — anyone after a pointedly quiet evening should factor that in. Who Ses Ones suits In price the house sits in the middle band for this stretch of coast. It is a place for an uncomplicated evening by the water, for the table with children, for midday after the beach when it is only a small plate and a drink. There is table service, and you can book ahead. Anyone coming with a plan is best settling two things beforehand: order the paella in advance and, if a seat in the front row to the water matters, ask for one. Both decide more about the evening than the choice between fish and meat.