Sis Pins

Sis Pins sits in Son Serra de Marina, a quiet coastal settlement on the bay of Alcúdia, and makes no secret of what it is about: rice cooked over an open fire. The house describes itself as a family business with Mallorcan cooking, paella over the flame and homemade desserts — a short self-description, and one it can be held to. Son Serra de Marina is not a place you drive through by accident. The settlement lies between Can Picafort and Colònia de Sant Pere, set back a little from the coast road. Anyone eating here has chosen to — and finds a restaurant that keeps out of the way of the bigger resorts. The beach is a short walk off. Paella over an open fire The paella is the heart of the menu, and it is finished over the flame. The kitchen cooks several versions. The seafood one brings prawns, mussels and crab; alongside it stand the mixed paella and a black rice that takes its colour and its depth from squid. If you would rather have pasta than rice, there is the fideuà — short toasted noodles that soak up the stock exactly as the rice grains do, and which have been known to arrive with octopus in them. Rice over fire is handwork and asks for patience, from the cook and from the guest. That is precisely the difference from houses that carry paella as a sideline: here it is the reason people come. From suckling lamb to stuffed squid The house names the suckling lamb shoulder as its signature — slow-cooked, with a sauce of rosemary, carrot and onion, taken far enough that the meat comes away from the bone. After the rice, it is the dish that gets mentioned most. Beyond that, the menu holds what a restaurant on this coast should hold. Stuffed squid is among the plates guests remember. Gilt-head bream and sea bass come off the plancha. To start there are fried baby squid, crisp outside and tender within, with a squeeze of lemon — and the Mallorcan groundwork of bread, aioli and olives, which arrives here as a matter of course. Calamares a la romana are on hand too. Portions are generous. Sis Pins in Son Serra de Marina The register is unhurried. Sis Pins is a family business, and that shapes the way things are done more than any fitting-out does: it stays calm, larger parties are accommodated, children are no trouble. Through the warmer half of the year the place fills reliably — booking is then not a bad idea. It is worth staying for dessert, because dessert is made in house. Cheesecake with blueberries, brownie and tiramisu all get singled out, the tiramisu especially. The wine list carries Mallorcan bottles that suit rice and fish and do not have to be brought in from far away. If you want to know how the northeast coast cooks when a restaurant does not have to court passing trade, Sis Pins is the right address.