Restaurant Roland, Porto Cristo

Porto Cristo has plenty of eateries where you can enjoy waterfront views, with dishes catering to all tastes and budgets. But for a more refined dining experience, it’s worth sacrificing the sea view for a visit to Restaurant Roland, in a side street in the heart of this east coast resort town.

Chef/patron Roland Schulte first opened his restaurant in Porto Cristo in 2011, after working in prestigious kitchens in Mallorca for several years. The high standard of cuisine made it a popular place to dine, even though the place lacked an attractive terrace. Since moving to new premises, Restaurant Roland now has a charming courtyard garden that’s perfect for summer evenings.

Another bonus of Restaurant Roland’s location is that parking in the street is easier than nearer the waterfront.

Restaurant Roland’s dining room has an elegant décor and is ideal for much cooler evenings, but we’re not expecting many of those for a while! When you reserve a table online, you’ll still have the choice of eating indoors or al fresco. When we were there, everyone was enjoying the outdoors.

The courtyard has a central path with tables on either side under a pergola with attractive lighting and overhead fans for comfort. It’s a very pleasant place to sit for dinner.

We studied the menu over a glass of ‘rosado’ cava. Our server described the day’s specials, and my companion chose one of these – a ceviche – as his starter.

Dinner began with a basket of three types of bread and allioli with plump green olives (3,80€), and a complimentary appetizer of a deliciously savoury oxtail ‘croqueta’.

The à la carte menu is quite small, which is a good sign. We had the choice of seven starters (priced from 12,50€ to 23,50€); I had a generous and shareable portion of seasonal salad with Parmesan and pine nuts (16,50€).  

The six main course dishes range in price from 21,50€ for spicy home-made pasta with prawns to 35,50€ for lamb loin with a herb crust. We both had the tasty Asian-style breast of guinea fowl in puff pastry with a peanut and coconut sauce and bimi (28,50€). There are no vegetarian main-course options.

Of the three desserts (12,50€ each), we shared a flavour-bomb of raspberry granita with a ‘crema catalana’ foam. It came in a tall glass and its appealing presentation attracted interest from the diners at the next table. Next time I’ll have one to myself.

If you’re missing Porto Cristo’s Mediterranean views, it’s a short stroll after dinner at Restaurant Roland down to the seafront.

Photos: Jan Edwards