A 5* pa amb oli in trendy Molinar.
I already wrote about a mistake many of us guiris make by not venturing outside the usual haunts in central Palma, Santa Catalina and along the seafront. Now, most of us who live in Palma have at some point been to Portixol and Molinar, munching on expensive tapas or sipping elaborately prepared G&Ts in one of the cool bars along the promenade. But how many of us have explored the streets behind the front line? I certainly have not – till today.
My friend Santi, a photographer whose photos you have been seeing on these pages for the past few months, recently invited me to El Rincón de Laura RND for brunch, convincing me that it is worth the longer-than-I-would-like journey from Torrenova.
Walking in, I instantly felt as if I was in a friend´s living room! The place is on the small side, but super cosy and lit by a warm smile from its owner Laura Hidalgo Guerrero. Once inside, I realised that there is also a gorgeous green garden at the back – impossible to know if you are just passing by. The garden was, as I later learnt, designed and built by Laura´s husband David. As we came about 11.30 in the morning, it was completely full, bustling with chatter and laughter mostly in Spanish, but also in several other languages.
Returning inside, we settled in at a high table opposite the bar, with a direct view of the kitchen, where all the magic happens. It is Saturday; the busiest day of the week, yet the place is run by just two people, two ladies to be precise: Laura is looking after the front of the house, while chef Ana (Nany) Hernández Barquier is making all the food, dishing out plate after plate of local delicacies.
El Rincón de Laura RND specialises in just two things: llonguets and pa amb oli. For those who are not familiar with either, here is a quick lesson in Mallorcan food staples. Llonguet is a white oval bread roll with an incision down the middle. It can be filled with anything from tomato or jam to local cheese, ham, sobrasada and a lot more. Pa amb oli literally translates to “bread with oil”. Typically it is a large slice of pan moreno (Mallorcan brown bread) topped with similar fillings like llonguet.
As Santi and I made ourselves comfortable, each with our preferred choice of coffee (con leche for him and cortado for me), it was time to order some food. I jokingly said to Laura “Surprise me!” and she responded that they had a plate on the menu called exactly that: ¡Sorprendeme! When the dish came out, it was a surprise indeed. There was five palm sized pa amb olis, each more intriguing than the other. The toppings included a slice of tomato with a chunk of avocado, another slice of tomato with a quail egg; the third with a rolled up rind of bacon, the fourth with roasted chicken and caramelised onion and the final piece with melted cheese and rocket salad. To add a bit of greens to the plate there were a few olives and one long, thin, slightly spicy green pepper. I don´t think that I could pick my favourite, as they were all excellent.
Following the feast, I got chatting with Laura. Aside from running the business, she is a proud mum of three children: René, Noelia and Daniela (this explains the RND in the name!). She developed her pa amb olis over the years, while working for someone else, here in the same neighbourhood. Following some unfortunate events, Laura decided to open her own place and, as many of her regular clients followed her, the gamble paid off. These days Laura and Nany work together on constantly innovating and improving their offer. They are colleagues and friends; they understand each other without many words.
When I asked Laura whether she was considering opening another branch, as this place seems to be super busy and there is clearly a demand for her food, her answer was a firm “No.” She told me that she prefered her work-life balance to having more money. Having swapped busy London life for the tranquillity of Mallorca, I cannot but agree with her. Also, she cheekily added that she “could not be in two places at once, so there would always be just one Laura and just one Laura´s Corner”. I met this lady only a couple of hours earlier and I already liked her very much!
To sum up: never in a million years did I think that I would get so excited about brown bread topped with simple locally sourced ingredients, in a random backstreet in Palma. Oh, how wrong one can be! This was – hand on heart – a very special experience, and Laura’s Corner is definitely going near the very top of my “places to return to” in Palma.
Till next month…
Yours sweetly,
Mia x
El Rincón de Laura
C/ de Llucmajor 51, Palma (Molinar)
Tel: +34 626 67 65 82
Instagram: @elrincondelaurarnd
Written by Mia Naprta
E-mail: mia.naprta@gmail.com
Instagram: @mianaprta
Photos: Santiago Gallardo
Mobile: +34 722 25 51 19
Instagram: @santiagogallardooficial
