Roma — Restaurant in Sóller

Hello Chef, I will teach you how to make a pasta carbonara. Pay close attention…

You need:

300g pasta - spaghettoni is often the pasta of choice for carbonara, but spaghetti, bucatini or rigatoni will suffice

100g guanciale

2 whole eggs and 3 egg yolks (1 whole and 1 yolk pp, plus one for the pot for extra creamy goodness)

150g Pecorino Romano - very finely grated Lots of ground black pepper

Step one Cut the hard skin off the guanciale, slice it lengthways into 1cm strips and then cut into 1 cm pieces.

Step two Bring a large pot of salted water to boil for your pasta.

Step three In a separate pan start to fry off the guanciale on a gentle heat - no need to add any oil as its fat will melt.

Step four Meanwhile in a bowl add your eggs (whole and yolks) and beat well. Stir through the grated pecorino and a really decent amount of freshly cracked black pepper (depending on your tolerance and preference for pepper ~ measuring 1/2 tbsp). Set aside.

Step five When the guanciale is nice and crisp, turn off the heat and using a slotted spoon remove the guanciale from the pan and onto a plate - reserve the fat in the pan.

Step six Add the pasta to your boiling water and cook for approx a minute under packet instructions (just before it’s al dente).

Step seven Add the pasta directly to the pan with the guanciale fat (reserving the pasta water) taking some of the pasta water with it. Turn the heat back on the lowest flame, and allow the pasta to continue to gently cook, giving it a toss in the guanciale fat.

THIS IS WHERE IT GETS INTERESTING!

Step eight You will need to move relatively quickly. Add a 1/3-1/2 cup of the pasta water to the egg mixture and stir well until the pecorino and egg mix is nice and smooth and quite liquid, like pouring cream.

Step nine Take the pan with the pasta/guanciale off the heat, pour in the egg mix and stir, toss and mix continuously until it starts to thicken slightly and you have a stable emulsion. At this point you can put the pan back onto a low heat/flame and keep stirring/moving constantly until you’ve worked the egg mixture into a beautiful crema, similar to béchamel. It’s important to keep the sauce moving constantly as you use the heat to thicken.

Step ten Stir through the reserved guanciale before serving.

Final step! Serve immediately!! With extra black pepper and a dusting of pecorino.

Thank me later

And remove the mushrooms. It’s not pasta el fungi...

We have been to this restaurant about 3 or 4 times over the last 5 or 6 years and had a lovely pizza every time. Today with my 2 sons we ate here again and had a very different experience. We ordered 2 pizza’s and a grilled chicken and chips. My vegetarian pizza arrived with burnt crust and my son’s grilled chicken and chips arrived also with crusty burnt edges. We were so hungry we ate what we could. The other pizza did not arrive until I was halfway through eating mine which was not ideal. The waitress cleared the first 2 plates without a word despite the burnt crusts clearly on view and before my other son had finished his late arriving pizza which I always think is not etiquette, clear all the plates or none at all. So sadly not a great experience with either the service or food.

I won’t be going back again. Holiday meals are too precious to gamble on having delicious food. Such a shame as the location is lovely over looking the beach...

Bar Roma is one of the nicer seafront bars in the Puerto, and reflects the name of the former Hotel Roma which used to be above, but was knocked down to.make way for the Hotel Eden swimming pool. This bar is therefore well established and nicely run, and is both popular with locals and tourists alike, and always buzzing with people in the summer. Serving very good food and drinks, but expect to pay a bit of a oremium for the ambience and the view. The locale is kept up to date and offers a hospitable, modern and pleasant outlook, with comfortable seating and great views. An ideal place to have tapas and a cold beer or cocktail and watch the sunset - directly opposite. Look out for the sign outside saying Roma, which sells Amor...