Bombay Beach Indian Restaurant

The menu at Bombay Beach: first the sauce, then the meat

At the mild end sit masala with cream and almonds, pasanda with almonds and pistachios, and korma built on cream, coconut and almonds. Kashmiri steps out of line: a fruity plate of pineapple, banana, cream and lychee. Methi comes with garlic and fenugreek leaves and is spiced to your taste.

A step further along are curry, bhuna, dopiaza with plenty of onion, rogan josh on a tomato base, balti with ginger and cumin, and dansak, which turns sweet and sour with pineapple and lentils. Medium heat covers jalfrezi, the spinach version and karahi. Anyone who means it ends up at madras and, right at the end, at vindaloo, which the menu declares bluntly as very hot.

Beside all that stand the chef's specialities, and several carry the house name. The Bombay Especial is marinated chicken breast in a masala sauce with fresh tomato, ginger, onion and cream; the Bombay Khas brings lamb, chicken, prawns and mushrooms together in a delicate sauce. From the same run come the butter chicken with butter, garlic and ginger, and a hyderabadi with coconut and mint leaves.

Out of the clay oven

The tandoor is the house's second axis. Out of it come tandoori chicken on the bone marinated in yoghurt, chicken tikka tandoori from the breast, and versions with chopped garlic or achari spice, all with a vegetable sauce and served on a hot plate. The mixed grill brings tandoori chicken, seekh kebab and chicken tikka together; without meat you go to the chilli panner tandoori.

Much of the starter list is oven work too: seekh kebab of finely minced lamb with onion, coriander and chilli, and the mixed Bombay Tandoori platter, which arrives at the table still sizzling. Fish has its own short section: the fish curry is marinated, cooked in the clay oven and served with pilau rice, while the fish makhan is fresh abadejo in a fine sauce of cream and almonds.

Paneer, vegetables and bread

The vegetarian side is no afterthought. A section of its own lists vegetable balti and vegetable karahi, cauliflower with potato in makhan sauce, gobi korma with an almond and yoghurt sauce, and the kashmir version, in which fresh vegetables are cooked with nuts and banana and finished with coconut. Dal tarka of yellow lentils and dal makhani of black lentils sit alongside.

A second section belongs to the cheese, and the menu says outright that it is made in house: palak panner with spinach, mutter panner with peas, shahi panner with cream and nuts, chilli panner with pepper, and malai kofta of cheese and potato.

The breads come out of the same oven as the meat — from plain naan through keema naan stuffed with minced lamb to peshwari naan with coconut, almonds and raisins. Among the rices the special cases are worth a look: basmati with coconut in the kashmiri manner, and basmati with lemon. The biryani E-Kas brings chicken, lamb and prawns together with cashews, almonds and pistachios.

Front row on the Passeig Marítim

The Passeig Marítim is the street along the harbour of Port d'Alcúdia, densely lined with places to eat. Bombay Beach has its terrace there, the same food is served inside, and the staff speak English.

The wine list is worth noticing, because it does not stop at the usual suspects. Alongside Rioja, Ribera del Duero and albariño from Rías Baixas stand Mallorcan wines: Macià Batle, an Obac de Binigrau from Binissalem, and the AN/2 by Anima Negra.

For children the menu keeps a small selection of its own, there are cocktails as well, and anyone who would rather eat at home can take the dishes away. A table can be booked in advance — the safer option if you want to sit outside.