Where: Mallorca in Pittsburgh's famous South Side
Website: mallorcarestaurant.com/
Cuisine: Spanish
When: Wed. Jan 13, 2010
Who: Rishi and Mike
Review by: Rishi
Mike and I have a wonderful tradition of picking nice places to eat and going all out. So far, we have not had a bad meal together, and Mallorca was no different.
With our meal, we decided to go with a Spanish red wine. Picking a wine was difficult not only because of our unfamiliarity with Spanish wine, but also because of the size of the wine list. To call it extensive does not do it justice. The sommelier picked our wine for us, of which there is a picture to be added. The wine was really nice, full bodied but not overbearing in any way. It went well with our food selections.
We started off with the Garlic Soup and Steamed Octopus special. Both were delicious. The soup had a poached egg inside, and the octopus was not chewy at all, but instead, very soft. Quite an impressive start. The appetizers were served with a simple salad and French dressing.
For our main courses, Mike had the special seafood casserole, which he will describe in more detail. From what I tasted of it, and judging from his reactions, it was amazingly flavorful and well prepared. I had a Spanish take on the famous French dish Duck a l'Orange. It was perfectly crip on the outside, but tender and fatty on the inside. It was amazing. The orange sauce really added to it and it was served with mashed potatoes.
We decided to share two deserts to satisfy our sweet tooth(s). The tiramisu was the clear winner, with the Marquis Cake coming in close second. For those of you who are unfamiliar with that particular cake, it is comprised of three different kinds of chocolate, so if you don't like chocolate avoid it.
I capped off my meal with a 94' Cockburn Port. At $19, Mike was astounded by my selection, but upon tasting it he immediately understood. It was extremely smooth, not overly sweet, but still tasted like desert. Worth every penny.
I strongly recommend a visit to Mallorca.
