The popular paella here is sea-food paella, almost all paella restaurants have this on the menu. Only few has different choices, like ... all meats paella, which I like better. However, I am more interested in the special paella pan, and that little wooden pan-stand.


Talking about Spain foods, here are few observations

• Spanish is crazy about olive, I think as much as Italian, in the restaurant, first thing they bring out is a plate full of green olives. Olive oil is on every table. Driving around Palma, you can find olive groves, one after another. In the market you can find the whole isle, dedicate to olive oils, hundreds of different brands and styles.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Churros and hot chocolate. This is common here. Very tasty, especially when it's cold outside. The hot chocolate is much thicker. To eat with proper style, you dip the churro into the hot chocolate.
  
  
  
  

  

  
  
• Tapas here have less sauce. With all the different tapas we ordered, I found only one which has enough sauce for the bread to dip in. This is different than what I came to expect after eating at Seville restaurant, which chi. Lan took us about a month ago.
• Mallorca Soup. Do not expect it as a soup! It's cabbage + pork and bread slices, which the bread slices soaked up all the soup.
• Ahhh.... here comes my favorite: Asados de Lechona: roasted suckling pig! Yep, just like good'ol Chinese roasted pig, with crispy skin and tender meat, without the red food color on the skin.
• Snails. This is the type we had in VN, but the cooking is much more finest. The snails are cooked in white wine, with green and red peppers with spice. Very yummy.
  
  
  
  
• Choritzo. Spicy sausage. A bit tough for my taste, but the spice is unique. Very good with bread.
• Ensaimada. Sweet bread, rolled & baked. Very tasty, with thin, flaky layer inside. Some with cheese or custard inside. We bought a gigantic one in Mallorca, brought along to eat on the airplane.
• Jamón. Cured ham, thinly sliced to eat with bread. Particularly Jamón Ibérico, which is made from the local Ibérico pigs, only in Spain.
• La Tortilla Española. Also called Spanish Omelet, Tortilla de Patata, or Potato Omelet. White potato thinly sliced, and cooked with eggs. Bảo's favorite.
• Calamari Fritos. Fried calamari (what else?). This is on the Tapas list. Simple, but if done right, the squid is tender, not tough. We found couple restaurants in Spain had done right, and it's our all time favorite appetizer; especially Thuỵ
• Wine. In Mallorca, at one dinner I tried a bottle of red wine, and like it a lot. On another night, I tried a rosa (rosé) bottle, and could not even finish. So, I think I will stick with French and California wine.