Name of restaurant: XALEST. C/ de la Concepció, 34, 07012 Palma, Illes Balears
https://www.concepciobynobis.com/es/xalest
Date of visit: April 29th, 2023
Star rating: 2 stars (out of 5)
Friends and clients often ask my chef's opinion about certain restaurants, this is what brings me to write this posts and share openly what I most of the times have been keeping to myself.
Last week I finally made it to a restaurant I was looking forward to visit since a couple of my Epicurious friends highly recommended me to try its food: XALEST.
Arriving to the location was a warm surprise. The restaurant looks cozy, mainly by the light that makes it truly inviting. I could write so much about light in interiors, specially restaurants but that will be for another post.
The staff received us with kind smiles and guided us to our table, which I thought didn't match the coziness of the rest of the room, however there was nothing wrong about it.
We were offered the cocktail and drinks menu, our keen waiter suggested we start with a drink. It was 9:30 pm and we already had had our pre-dinner drinks so we felt a bit confused trying to figure out what we were going to eat and had to wait for the waiter to come back with the food menu to be able to make a decision. I understand a restaurant is a business and makes good sense to train waiting staff to sell, however I feel it needs to be done very carefully to not cross the line that will make me feel uncomfortable thinking their main goal is to make me spend money, rather offering a great service and experience actually will make me gladly pay as much as needed.
A note about the wine list, I must say they have a really good variety of local and international wines that go from a Can Mayoral (Mallorca) or a Moulin De Gassac (Languedoc-Rousillon) for 25€ to a Vega Sicilia 2012 for 390€.
When the menu arrived, the prices gave me another not so warm surprise. However this is an extended issue. Mallorca, like many other towns has many wealthy visitors and in my opinion the hospitality industry is over priced for what it is being offered.
One clear example of this is the Steak Tartar (my friend's favourite). Steak Tartare is a classic French dish made from finely minced raw beef that used to be knife cut and prepared just before serving, in front of the customers to ensure the freshness to the meat. The dish is known for its distinctive texture, which is tender and meaty, with a slightly chewy consistency. The beef is typically seasoned with a variety of ingredients, including capers, shallots, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and Tabasco sauce, which add a tangy, savoury flavour to the meat and is often served with toasted bread or crackers, which can be used to scoop up the beef mixture, and fries. Some variations of the dish may include additional ingredients, such as raw egg yolk or chopped herbs, to enhance the flavor and texture of the beef. But it is mainly a raw beef dish and on my plate came a mix of mostly capers with some mince meat and an unsavoury sauce with three air thin crackers on top.
To my satisfaction, the next dish we ordered was more balanced. It was the Grilled artichokes with poached egg and beef ham (cecina) from León. I enjoyed the hearty and flavourful combination artichoke/cecina and their sweet and savoury flavours. The tender artichokes pair really well with the salty and smoky beef ham, unfortunately the one poached egg on the plate was overcooked, the yolk was not runny and that would have added a great touch of moisture on the plate, like a natural and spontaneous sauce.
Our third option was to me the best and fair, the Veal cheek with truffled potato pure’ and crush leek. Although I don't remember truffle flavour, the tenderness and complex taste of the veal cheek on its reduction made us forget everything else. I have already suggested to my friend not to miss this dish and hope they review the couple of details they could improve, since I think XALEST has the potential to be of my favourite restaurants in Palma.
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