Sodapop caffe

Sodapop caffe sits on Avinguda de Joan Miró in Sant Agustí, at the point where the west of Palma runs into Cala Major — and the name reliably misleads. Anyone expecting an American diner behind it finds a menu built around the two most Mallorcan bread dishes there are: pa amb oli and llonguets. The house describes itself with exactly those two words, and the menu keeps the promise. The business has worked at this address since 2016. It is small, has a terrace facing the street and draws locals as much as guests from the hotels round about — a place for the neighbourhood, not an excursion. What goes on the bread at Sodapop caffe The menu is sorted by bread. Pa amb oli comes on the large slice of country loaf; the llonguet is the small Mallorcan roll with the cleft down its back. Both carry the same list of toppings, once classic and once as a special. Classic here means camaiot, sobrassada, serrano, chorizo, cooked ham or tuna, plus Menorcan cheese — in wedges rather than grated if you prefer — and a vegan cheese version. Camaiot with cheese and sobrassada with cheese are among the most ordered. If you cannot decide, you get two of them on one slice. The specials run in the evening and go considerably further: sobrassada with flaked almonds and honey, four cheeses with mushrooms, roasted peppers with cheese, chicken in curry with curry mayonnaise, chicken korma with prunes, coconut flakes and pistachio, plus a version with mango chutney, mozzarella and blue cheese. This is where the house leaves the island without giving up its base — the bread stays Mallorcan, the topping travels. Alongside the bread come olives and fonoll marí, the salty rock samphire of the coast. Nachos, salads and the sweet side A second line stands next to the bread. The nachos come in several stages, among them a Mallorcan one with sobrassada, honey and chilli and another with goat cheese. There are boards of artisan Menorcan cheese and ibérico ham, and a pan con tomate. The salads are substantial enough to stand alone: goat cheese with walnuts and honey vinaigrette, smoked salmon with cucumber and rosemary ice cream, a vegan one with sun-dried tomatoes and truffle oil, plus a Caesar and a tuna salad with black sesame. There are bowls, tostadas on dark pa moreno and juices, and the coffee runs from café con leche through a cinnamon cappuccino to chai latte. The sweet side means chocolate tart, carrot cake, brownie, pistachio cheesecake, banoffee and the cardenal from Lloseta. Vegan and vegetarian at Sodapop caffe The vegan line is not a token gesture. Vegan cheese is on offer on both the pa amb oli and the llonguet, joined by vegan nachos with Heura, the vegan salad and roasted peppers with vegan cheese. Vegetarians can read straight across the menu anyway, from the cheese toppings through the mushroom version to the salads. Whatever you leave over, you may take with you. The room and its neighbourhood The room is small, a lot of wood, low light, tropically tinted details — the idea for it was brought back from Chiang Mai by founder Pedro. It has nothing to do with retro Americana, even if the name points that way. Outside lies the terrace onto the avenue, in summer the more popular part. All around is one of the densest stretches of eating in western Palma: within a few hundred metres of Avinguda de Joan Miró, sushi, pizza, Argentinian grilled meat and cafés line up one after another. In that row, Sodapop caffe is the house that stayed Mallorcan. Tables are booked by telephone only.