It’s always refreshing to find a restaurant which tries to do things differently, and arguably raising the standard whilst offering a style of cuisine not easily found in the locality. This is certainly the case with Amaya. This is a new restaurant found on C /Fabrica in the heart of Santa Catalina, the restaurant capital of Palma.
Tobias, the owner and head chef describes the food as New World Cuisine, which to be honest, from that description, I didn’t really know what to expect. We were not to be disappointed !
The décor was quirky, with the ceiling being covered in discarded wooden window shutters, a very clever touch, and bare light bulbs giving a slightly urban feel to the rooms coupled with the bare cream walls. The main dining area has large windows allowing lots of natural light . Tobias explained that the reforming of the restaurant took them around 7 months, with attention to detail being plain to see.
The A La carte Menu offers a large enough choice of dishes, most of which are not your run of the mill type offerings. Such as a starter of Salmon Carpaccio with mint sorbet and Lime with a frozen cucumber soup ! One of the main dishes was Swordfish kebab with ratatouille, chick pea pureé and date paté. A dessert of Earl Grey Mousse, which was a beautifully presented plate of chocolate mousse, raspberry sorbet, yoghurt and a Forest berry spume!! I could go on !! A feature of all of the dishes we tried, was the beautiful presentation, including edible flowers, and the delicate subtle flavours.
Safe to say their menu is very different from most found in this area, and I applaud them for bringing something new to Santa Catalina.
In addition to their wonderfully creative A La carte menu, they also offer an amazing 3 course Menu del Dia for just 14.50 eu . On the day we visited, this consisted of either a soup or salad to start, followed by a choice of a pasta dish and a dessert to finish. With this standard of cuisine on offer, I would say that was outstanding value.
The choice of dishes for our lunch worked out perfectly, and whilst every mouthful was thoroughly enjoyed, the visual effect was equally impressive.
The wine list was varied and reasonably priced, with a list for bottles and a separate one for those offered by the glass.
In summary, I would say it is well worth a try and the menu offers a wide enough choice to suit most tastes. We will be returning soon !
