Toque de Queda

Toque de Queda sits in a narrow lane in Palma's Casc Antic, a few streets west of La Rambla, and is easy to walk past from the outside. Inside, much of it explains itself: the place occupies the Forn Cremat, an old bakery built around an Arab oven, one of the few still surviving on the island. Alicia Arduini and Andrea Cavate did not clear it away, they left it standing. The two of them come from Reggio Emilia and Modena and lived in Barcelona for eight years before moving to Mallorca and running their own address here since 2014. What they opened is not a restaurant in the narrow sense but a mixture that Spanish needs three words for: champañería, bar and fiambrería, a sparkling-wine counter, a pub and a charcuterie shop in one. The name is a wink too. Toque de queda means curfew, and the house itself explains it by the hour at which guests have to head home. Three rooms and a terrace, a large communal table where you sit beside strangers, tools and furniture from the days of the old forn: it feels less like a restaurant visit than like a flat you have been invited into. The tablas are the heart of Toque de Queda The charcuterie and cheese boards come as a half or a full portion, with focaccia or pan moreno alongside. Each board has its own cut. La Balear gathers sobrassada, camaiot, Mallorcan chorizo and longanissa de pagès next to Mahón cheese and a Menorcan goat's cheese matured in red wine. La Ibérica stays on the mainland, with paleta ibérica, lomo, salchichón and manchego. La Italia lists mortadella, coppa, prosciutto crudo and salame golfetta beside buffalo camembert and truffle pecorino. Two boards reward a second look. La Gypsy carries the same name as the skateboard brand Andrea is a partner in, whose decks hang in the room; on it are wild boar mortadella with black truffle, Italian lardo, finocchiona and cecina, together with Gamoneu and a smoked cow's milk cheese. La Señora goes the other way, with soppressa all'Amarone, bresaola and a blue goat's cheese from the Alt d'Urgell. Supplies come from Italy, Catalonia, Galicia, France and Mallorca, and for guests with intolerances there is charcuterie without gluten or lactose. Warm cocas on pan de cristal The second pillar of the menu are the cocas, topped warm on pan de cristal, that airy bread with the glassy crust. One carries smoked salmon with stracciatella, caramelised onion and hazelnut pesto, a second taleggio with escalivada aubergine, tomato and walnut, the third Iberian ham with fig jam, confit tomatoes and goat's cheese with pimentón. The tapas beside them show the same hand. Courgette carpaccio, marinated in mustard, with avocado, parmesan and pistachios. Gnocchi alla romana made with corn flour, with smoked burratina and speck. Oven potatoes with an ali-oli of pimentón de la Vera. Fried courgette flowers with ricotta. Among the fish tapas one in particular stays with you: a savoury filled ensaimada with smoked sardine, sobrassada alioli and piquillo peppers, a Mallorcan pastry thought through in Italian. The desserts come from the family, since Alicia is the daughter of pastry chefs. Tiramisù with pistachio cream, cheesecake, banoffee, a coulant of Nutella and mascarpone, plus a vegan option. Champagne counter and shop counter As a champañería the house pours the champañitos from Can Paixano, alongside wines from Mallorca and Italy. And because the fiambrería is not a label but a shop counter, you can take home what you liked, right down to the balsamic from Modena they work with in the kitchen, in two degrees of maturity. Booking is advisable, the room is small and well attended.