HOTEL JAIME III - LUNCH

Address:         Passeig de Mallorca, 14B, 07012 Palma

Telephone:     +34 971 72 59 43

I went here with 2 girlfriends on a Friday in August.

I booked the table as I had been told that it was very popular and better to book so as not to be disappointed.

As it was still hot weather, I booked a table inside where the decor is classy modern with lots of black.  On the street side the wall is entirely made of glass which bathes the restaurant with light, but it was pleasantly air-conditioned so very comfortable temperature for dining.

I was greeted with a friendly and professional welcome and shown to the table which had been reserved for us.

When we were all seated we were quickly given menus and drinks orders taken.  At lunchtime it is a €16 menu del dia with a choice of wine, water or soft drink included.  You could, of course, have ordered a drink off the drinks menu as an extra.  However, we opted for water and Cola Light, all nicely chilled.

The menu offered a choice of 2 starters, 2 main courses and 2 desserts.

I chose seafood cream soup with croutons which was served cold and superbly tasty and just right on a hot day.  One of my friends ordered the alternative which was smoked salmon salad and deemed to be excellent.

To follow 2 of us chose the fish choice (hake in green sauce with boiled potato cubes within the sauce) and our friend chose chicken breast with a coating of sauce on a bed of vegetables.  We were all most impressed with the quality and taste of the food.  The portions were not huge but more than enough for a 3 course lunch menu.

For dessert we were all attracted to the panna cotta with mandarin juice and zest.  This was absolutely delicious and a great dessert for rounding off an excellent meal.

We decided we would have cortados (2 of us) and camomile tea (1 of us) outside the menu.

After such a lovely experience we were happy to tip generously and paid the very fair price of €20 per head.

This is one that I would defiinitely return to for lunch and would be tempted to try the dinner menu in the hope it would be of the same quality and value for money.

SPOT - DINNER

Address:              Plaça de la Verge del Miracle, 3, 07013 Palma
Telephone:          00 34 971 65 86 03

I went here at 9 pm with my husband and two friends on a Monday evening, having booked a table in advance.  It was only about a third full when we arrived but filled up as the evening progressed.

The ambience is a mixture of modern and traditional Mallorcan architecture with relaxed lighting that still allows you to see what you are eating.  A striking feature is that there is plenty of space between the tables so you do not feel that you are part of someone else's dinner party in terms of physical closeness and conversation.

Our table was set beside a window which looked on to an internal courtyard with healthy looking green plants.

Our drinks order was taken quickly after we sat down and menus were provided in both English and Spanish.  We had a G&T (nicely garnished with lemon and blueberries and lots of ice), white wine and mineral water.

We decided to share three starters - vegetarian croquettes, tortillas with tuna sashimi and beetroot guacamole.

None of us are big eaters, so this selection was the right amount for the four of as and each dish tasted excellent and was appealingly garnished.

To follow we each chose our individual dishes with two choosing rigatoni au gratin.  This was very tasty and was the right size portion, but the cream sauce could have been slightly thicker to be absolutely perfect.

The other two dishes chosen were wild salmon, which was perfectly cooked and accompanied by a small salad and declared excellent,  and the linguine with clams.  The latter was brought as two separate dishes, the clams being in a tasty sauce in a large low pan with a lid and the pasta was in a bowl on the side.  This, too, was declared very tasty.

None of us had space for desserts but two of us had cortados.

The service was professional, appropriately friendly and at just the right pace with no change in tempo as the restaurant became busier.

The total bill, including tip, came to a very fair €135.

We shall certainly return to this restaurant which has only been open for a short while.