Great view, not such great food
So we fetched up at Sa Nacra, a waterside bar/restaurant in (or on) Cala Santandria on both our first and last days in Menorca. I suspect we ordered the wrong things, but I got the idea the setting is so perfect nobody feels they have to pay much attention to the quality of the fare on offer. Talking about the wrong thing to order…
…bless his heart; to the left we have hamburger, sausage, egg and chips in time-honoured transport caff greasy spoon style. It’s a good thing Mr T dislikes ketchup as there was none; just a cruet of salt & pepper, oil & vinegar. The vinegar’s always good in Spanish territory, though.
Having awakened at 3 am to catch our Balearic-bound sardine torpedo, T found it satisfying, surprising, but not exactly exciting. And being Canadian he was kind of expecting a bun…
Eyes right for another kind of surprise: my platter of local sausages and cheese(“s”) – before a bite taken. No garnish, nor much generosity there. Ah well, at top right two niggardly slices of queso mahon, and reasonably fresca at that because it was ok but bland. Gnawing clockwise, next lies salchichon, pink and slightly garlicky – Spanish salami. Then the most interesting item, morcilla; black pudding (or blood sausage if you must) – thankfully European-style so it didn’t taste like blood-soaked fruitcake, but subtly spiced and savoury; probably bound with rice and featuring the odd fennel seed to lift any heaviness. Last of all comes sobrassada; essentially the Balearic version of chorizo – no mistaking that tell-tale orange-hue of paprika pimentón. Good, but not a gastronomic highlight either.
For us francophiles the lack of automatic bread was a bit of a quandary – in Menorca we discover its presence is unpredictable – so, keeping true to my mission to eat local, I ordered another island speciality: pa amb tomàquet. It’s supposed to be country bread toasted over a flame, rubbed with tomato and garlic and doused in olive oil. Which it was, after a fashion, but you can take the country out of bread just like you can take bread out of the country. Remember dutch crispbakes? Squish a tomato into one of those and then take the tomato away – voilà! Certainly edible on 3 hours sleep when washed down with a bottle of cherry-red rosado de casa . Penedès I think; in a cooler bucket without ice so we were compelled to drink it fast to drink it cool: a far from odious chore in all that sunshine…
…and for us just arrived from chilly grey England the view was sheer delight: water so clear you can see all the way to the bottom, fish idling below, seabirds wheeling above, all eager for overboard crumbs. 
In my enthusiasm for peering into the depths I tipped the bench and almost launched myself overboard – crumbs! Rather wish I had though, as Sa Nacra is well-appointed with ladder up and out plus open-air shower, but preferred are plunges from their diving board.
his: €7.25 mine: €4.50 bread: €1.50 wine: €10
Gastroplod 