© Jose Rains
Meatclub Restaurant Review, Cala d'Or
A trendy meat joint in Cala d’Or
The clue is in the name! Meatclub is a restaurant that predominantly specialises in all things meat and should be at the top of any carnivores hit list on a visit to the tourist resort of Cala d’Or. Think burgers, steaks, ribs and more.
The architects behind this restaurant have created a trendy vibe, full of rustic-looking wooden tables and comfortable boho lounge areas. Having only opened in 2017, everything still feels immaculate. I was particularly drawn to the stylish mini fireplaces on some of the large tables, which I can imagine at night time really create a wonderful cosy ambience for diners.
With traditional meat dishes like the various cuts of steaks, a selection of burgers, ribs and pulled pork alongside some fish and vegetarian treats, my mouth was salivating just looking at the menu. A friendly waiter served us and was very informative about all the dishes. He also let slip that the restaurant has a Big Green Egg which they used to BBQ and smoke the meats, and that was it, they had already won my heart.
To start with I shared a couple of starters with my dining companion. First of all, the ‘Steak tartare with capers, onion and mustard’ was a work of art. I have never received steak tartare served in a bone before and loved the creative flair from the chef. Wow! This dish tantalized my taste buds, it was deliriously tasty with plenty of zing owing to the generous slathering of mustard.
We also shared a more delicate ‘Burrata with pistachio pesto, tomato chutney and arugula’ which, again, received top marks for presentation. The cheese was soft and almost running, exactly as a burrata should be, while the bread had been stained a vibrant green and the use of sweet tomato chutney and pesto livened up the white burrata in both appearance and flavour.
On the specials board, there was the option of ‘T-Bone Steak’ and the ‘Tomahawk’ steak to share. Neither my foodie friend or I had tried a ‘Tomahawk’ before, so we decided to indulge ourselves. It’s definitely a ‘wow factor’ kind of steak. It’s called a "tomahawk" cut because the steak with the long bone resembles a single-handed axe which certainly caught our fellow diners’ attention when it was brought out to us. This premium cut of meat is essentially a ribeye, so sinking our teeth into this beast we were mesmerized by the succulent flavours.
Another friend ordered the ‘Crispy soft shell crab burger with tomato, spicy cream cheese and arugula’ and I was fortunate she was the sharing type. It was yummy and a lot lighter than the meat festival I had in front of me. If meat hadn’t been on my agenda this lunchtime, this would have 100% been the dish for me.
When it came to drinks, our party tried a variety of things on the menu. The boys were keen for the beer, although everyone eating meat did end up on red wine. There’s a good selection of both alcoholic and soft drink drinks to cater for the whole family. In terms of wine, there’s a promising offering of Spanish and local Mallorcan wines. The 'Habla la Tierra' was one I had not tried before and was recommended by our waiter. It went down particularly well with our steak.
After some hesitation, we gave into our naughty side and ordered a ‘Caramel foam with hazelnut ice cream’. It was so light and tasty we ended up managing to eat the whole thing, the perfect ending to our meal. Although the sugar didn’t give us enough of an energy boost as there were some siesta’s taking place after that particular lunch.
There’s more than meats the eye when it comes to Meatclub (forgive the pun!). As you can imagine, a hearty meat feast might not always be the most appealing to many people during the sizzling Mediterranean sunshine, so both the lunch and dinner menu has some lighter options available. You can expect things like ‘Tuna tataki salad with seaweed, tomato, avocado, radish, edamame, bulgur and red curry vinegar’, or a good old ‘Fish and chips with tartare sauce’, and there’s ‘Vegetarian burger’ and other veggie dishes to accommodate the vegetarians and vegans.
