sa Roqueta wine & food

sa Roqueta wine & food is an Italian restaurant in Port d'Alcúdia, a few streets back from the harbour, on Carrer del Marisc. The name is Mallorcan: sa Roqueta, the little rock, is what islanders call their own island. Read above the door of an Italian house, it sounds less like coincidence than like a statement about where you have arrived. Chef Antonio runs the kitchen. The claim the house makes for itself is a plain one: dishes of the Italian tradition, cooked with typical products of good quality, served in a calm, warm, family atmosphere. The menu is reworked by the chef every year, and it is short. The restaurant is run by a married couple: he cooks, she looks after the dining room. Guests describe a small room with few tables. Booking is done by telephone. What is on the menu at sa Roqueta The antipasti work through the Italian larder: an Antipasto all'Italiana of salumi and formaggi, or just the cheese or just the cured meat selection on its own. The Fantasia di Caprese Bufalina sets buffalo mozzarella beside pesto and a Neapolitan tarallo, the crisp ring-shaped bake of the south. There is also a burratina with white truffle and prosciutto crudo, and fried bocconcini of baccalà. With the pasta you can hear where this kitchen has its roots. Penne alla Norma with aubergine, basil and grated ricotta, fusilli with pesto rosso alla Trapanese of almond, basil, tomato and Grana Padano, linguine alla Borbonica with garlic, olive oil and peperoncino, linguine with swordfish in the Sicilian style, fusilli alla Vesuviana with capers, olives, cherry tomatoes and oregano. The north is not missing: tagliatelle alla Emiliana with a ragù of salsiccia and beef, and a risotto alla Mantovana with pumpkin cream, asparagus and Grana Padano. The linguine with vongole are served only when the day allows it, and the menu says so plainly. Among the main courses it is the ossobuco alla Milanese that carries the kitchen: braised veal shin with gremolata and saffron risotto. Beside it a beef fillet in the Piedmontese style with a red sauce, tuna alla Siciliana with capers, olives and raisins, and the fish of the day in cartoccio. To finish, panna cotta with almond crumble and a red berry coulis, a tiramisù with mascarpone and pistachio cream and savoiardi, an affogato with hand-made ice cream, and the suggestion of a Passito to go with it. The wine list: Italy by region, Mallorca alongside The word wine in the name is not decoration. The wine list is a document of its own, ordered by Italian region: Veneto, Piedmont, Tuscany, Sicily, Puglia, Calabria, Campania, Basilicata, Sardinia, Umbria, Liguria, Friuli and onwards. Among the whites are Falanghina from Campania, Grillo from Sicily, Vermentino from Sardinia, Roero Arneis and Gavi from Piedmont. The reds run from Nero d'Avola, Etna Rosso, Aglianico and Primitivo through to Chianti Classico and Valpolicella Ripasso; at the top sit three Barolo, three Amarone della Valpolicella and three Brunello di Montalcino. Prosecco and Franciacorta open the list, a Sicilian Passito closes it. And then there is a Spanish page: Mallorcan wines from Can Xanet and Can Majoral, a Mallorcan rosat, plus a Ribeiro and a Rioja. If you want to eat on the island and drink the island too, you can do that here. A good share of the bottles are also poured by the glass. The house describes its selection as the result of patient searching, and guests regularly report that they were not left alone with the list but guided to a bottle. A short menu and a quiet room You can eat well here without meat or fish and without asking for anything special: penne alla Norma, fusilli alla Vesuviana, linguine alla Borbonica, the fusilli with pesto Trapanese, the risotto alla Mantovana and the insalata Mediterranea all do without both, as does the cheese tasting on its own. Children have their own short section with pasta in tomato or butter and a fish fillet with butter and lemon. Guests with allergies are expressly asked on the menu to say so beforehand. Port d'Alcúdia in summer is loud and crowded. A house with few tables, a short menu and a couple who know both sides of the door is the exception rather than the rule there.