Botigueta Restaurant Review, Pollenca

The restaurant used to be a corner shop, ‘botiga’ and with some clever interior design the locale maintains a certain shop-like quality and seems as though it may have been operational for decades. The décor is fresh and inviting, bright and comfortable. On the walls there are full height display cabinets, and they are used as a central room divider too, these showcase some of the local, artisanal crafts that can be purchased in Pollensa and its environs; everything from pottery to wines from local vineyards.

The staff were helpful and very friendly to us on that rainy night, just the right amount of attentiveness without seeming overbearing or forgetful, letting us rest in between rounds of tapas and leaving us to relax after our sumptuous meal. La Botigueta, Pizza Obris which is right across the street on the other corner, and Spira which is on the way to the Claustro de Santo Domingo, are all three under the same ownership. This comes in handy with La Botigueta and Pizza Obris, as you can enjoy a few tapas from La Botigueta whilst sitting at one of its tables and then have a pizza from restaurant Obris on the other side of the street, you have access to both menus to tailor make your evening.

We were in a mood for trying a fair few tapas and we were not disappointed in terms of flavour, quantity or serving temperature. For round one we enjoyed tortilla Española, albondigas, ensaladilla Rusa and spinach croquettes. All of the dishes were delightful, the tortilla was served in a hefty slice, still soft and slightly gooey in the centre, which I think, is perfect. The meatballs were moist and flavoursome and the sauce was delicious. All dishes were lovely and just as you’d expect them to be, classics of the Spanish tapas world. After a few moments of digestion and a pleasant conversation with the folks on the table next to ours, we ordered round two. This time we had, boquerones, alitas de pollo and patatas al ajillo. Again all three dishes were lovely, the fish had the right balance of vinegar and oil, the chicken wings were crispy skinned and perfectly cooked and the potatoes were a surprise to us all, we were expecting sautéed potatoes with parsley and garlic with a mayonnaise on the side, but this more closely resembled a potato salad made with wonderfully flavoured alioli, lots of garlic and lemon. We washed those down with glasses of red wine from the Mortitx vineyard, sparkling water and pints of Estrella Damm beer, and used the all the fresh bread in the generously sized bread basket to mop up sauces. The bill came to just under €60 for the three of us, which is excellent value for all the food and drink that we consumed.

Our meal was so plentiful that we had no room for dessert, coffees or even a delightful cocktail, which was a great shame as there is an extensive cocktail menu. La Botigueta is a great place to sit and while away a few hours either sampling the cocktails or the tapas, whilst watching the Pollensins going about their business, I certainly will be going back.