Go and eat at this restaurant. The chef Antonio Ruta from Puglia, Italy, really can cook. I looked at the menu and was really worried about some of the things there. Weird mixes that just couldn’t work – octopus and buffalo mozzarella for one. Wrong, fool. It was absolutely fantastic. The octopus was crisp on the outside and soft within and, God knows how, was reminiscent of smoked bacon. Paired with the buffalo mozzarella it worked magic. It came with baby spinach leaves and cherry tomatoes. He had also gone to the trouble of sourcing good quality black olives, sharp and strong, instead of the easy option of those monstrous black balls of watery pulp that seem to be on every supermarket shelf. The plate was wondrous. Really unusual and really good.
When I ordered the Cigala (crayfish), Antonio insisted on bringing them out and showing them to me. They were big and still alive. He was very excited about them. The huge portion (four in total, split down the middle) was cooked perfectly, with the flesh soft and sweet. They were easy to pull apart and you just had to chew all the funny bits and suck out the inside of their heads. Really, really good. The portion was 45€ but well worth it given how expensive they are in the market and how fresh these ones were. There are not many restaurants outside of the Antonio goes to the market early every morning to see what is good - that in itself is a labour of love given how late he probably finishes in the kitchen every night.
The organic Sirloin steak (by the way legend has it, sirloin is so named because Henry the Eighth once knighted a side of beef, it was so good – ‘Arise Sir Loin’) was enormous and tasty tasty tasty with real depth of flavour. When I asked Antonio why it was SO big, he took me to the kitchen, showed me the enormous and beautifully marbled piece and said ‘What can I do?’
We wanted to try one unusual starter and one ‘normal’ and the same for the main course so our second selection for the main was squid stuffed with Jabugo ham, cheese and nuts. God, this could go so wrong. Wrong again blockhead. EXCELLENT. EX-CELL-ENT. It was braised in red wine with tomatoes, onions, potatoes and garlic and there was a hint of orange zest. It had the most Mediterranean flavour of any dish I have tried on the island. An absolute delight.
Then we just had to sit back and digest a while. With the exception of the octopus dish all portions were almost double the expected size. Once I finally got time to look up from the menu and food, I noticed that the people who had been sitting at the long curved white outdoor bar when we arrived were now either dancing or having supper. It seemed that the people who came to Boutique Hostal Salinas, stayed.
For dessert we had a fine tiramisu (and guess what? Huge!) and a wonderful brittle almond crisp cup with custard cream and raspberries. The food is real food here. Go and eat at this restaurant.
Date we ate: August 1, 2009
Our dinner for 2 (which could have easily fed 4) including a very dry and quaffable Gavi, desserts and coffee came to a total of €139
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