A hot midday in Sóller. Wing and Juan are visiting, the first time in a long while. We show them the valley, the narrow streets, the plaça. And of course we go to the Plaça de la Constitució, because there, in the shade of the Sant Bartomeu church, is the one address where we always end up in summer.
The plaça is where the town meets. The old wooden tram stops here, visitors sit under parasols here, locals collect their coffee here. And in the middle of it all: the El Petit Bistro.
Maria and Martin
Maria and Martin Winkler are the people behind El Petit. Martin runs the kitchen and brings many years of experience in Sóller to it. Maria welcomes people, knows every regular by name and knows who is coming when and what they need before they know it themselves. We have been coming here for many summers now. Today we were given a table even though the place was full, because Maria has known us for a long time.
The original Sóller Bomb
The original Sóller Bomb is really the speciality of the El Petit heladería diagonally opposite. Regulars, though, are served it in the bistro as well, and that is exactly what we order first. A tall glass cylinder, filled to the brim, cold, almost indecently large. Inside: freshly pressed juice from the Sóller oranges grown in this valley, orange and yoghurt ice cream, a crown of yoghurt foam, a splash of orange liqueur on top. It is a cocktail, an ice cream sundae and a granita all in one.
The Sóller oranges are a story of their own. They have grown in the valley of the Tramuntana for centuries, and the damp mountains and mild microclimate make them sweeter and more intense than anywhere else. In the Sóller Bomb you have them pure and cold, in a tall glass.
We drink slowly, taste, laugh. Wing knows the Sóller valley from earlier visits. Juan is Spanish and gives it the thumbs up. The waiter brings the next water before we have to ask.
The highlight of the house
Then comes the reason we are sitting here: tuna tartare with wasabi sorbet. I have never eaten anything quite like it. Finely diced raw tuna and an ice cold, sharp scoop of sorbet that disappears on the tongue at once and leaves nothing behind but the burn of the wasabi. The finest moment of our week in Sóller.
Afterwards: a short walk
Anyone who loves Sóller should take a walk afterwards through the small streets leading away from the plaça. Carrer de Pau Noguera, not a visitor in sight, the Tramuntana at the end of the street.
El Petit Bistro · Plaça de sa Constitució 3 · 07100 Sóller · daily from 1 pm, no break · booking recommended
To read the evening before: the harbour ritual at the Es Passeig in Port Sóller.
For days between the beach and the bistro: my summer bags in the shop are happy to do both.
Warm wishes from Hamburg
