Restaurant Review: Hotel L'Hermitage, Orient

This time we are in the foothills of the Tramuntana mountains, approaching the little hamlet of Orient. It's one of those 'blink and you'll miss it' places, surrounded by lush rolling countryside, popular with hikers and cyclists. We were headed to what is billed as the nicest hotel in the area, the Hotel L'Hermitage, and to what we hoped would be a delicious lunch. It's another great setting for a hotel, in an old converted monastery, with very pretty gardens, pool area and a sweet terrace for dining. The dining room itself is located in an old oil producing mill and is utterly gorgeous and full of character.

We were met in the hotel lobby by a very charming manager who made us feel very welcome and told us to take our pick of the tables on the terrace. The Frenchman made a beeline for the only unlaid table that wasn't shaded by the canopy. His Gallic skin, he claimed, needed some love & kissin' from the sun. The restaurant creates Mediterranean cuisine, and uses fresh ingredients from the island's market and the finest aromatic herbs from the garden. Yum, we thought. The traditional menu contained a selection of cold & warm starters, with the usual meat and fish for mains. Most of the wines were priced at under €20. We tucked into the bread and olives, served with standard but very good olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The Frenchman had secured some English Sunday papers from the lobby, and we spent a very pleasant ten minutes chuckling about the latest scandals from good ol' Blighty.

Gazpacho and home-smoked salmon were our choice of starters today. A huge bowl of gazpacho was served with slivers of serrano ham and little pieces of chopped cucumber and peppers. A proper rustic version of the chilled soup, it had a distinct red pepper flavour. The smoked salmon was thickly sliced and soft, and came with avocado and leaves that had been lightly dressed with a vinaigrette. Already feeling quite full, I was glad that my main course of duck breast was a manageable portion. I was not so glad to see that the dish had been smothered with a lurid pink raspberry sauce. The duck was served pink and was perfectly pleasant. It was accompanied by a rather dated timbale of short grain rice that had small cubes of mixed veg running through it. Very 1970's. The Frenchman had ordered tuna, and he was presented with a big fat chunk of fish with accompanying vegetables, and the same old-fashioned timbale of rice. Pink in the middle and nice and juicy, the Frenchman was happy.

On such a lovely summer's day, there was nothing else for it but to have some home-made ice cream for dessert. The Frenchman asked for lemon and melon sorbet, whilst I, in keeping with feeling of the place, went for vanilla ice cream. A simple scoop would have sufficed, but we were treated to three - with whipped cream for extra badness. It also came with some sliced fresh fruit and some kind of aromatic tropical fruit coulis, which smelt delicious - very Caribbean-esque.

The bill for our three course Sunday lunch was €70. Reasonably priced I think, for a leisurely lunch in a pretty setting. Whilst the menu might not be the most thought-provoking, the traditional feel will appeal to many visitors. And certainly the area around Orient is worth exploring - ignore those who say the road from Bunyola is terribly difficult. The twisty lanes do require some concentration, but hopefully your passengers will be less - erm - delicate than the Frenchman...