Es tast de na Sílvia, the treasures of the well-traveled kitchen

I have known Sílvia and Toni since their beginnings in Ca n'Anglada, in the Cala en Bosch marina, still culinary students in Barcelona and who spent the summers in Ciutadella cooking at her parents' restaurant, where she became very good good Menorcan cuisine. They finished their studies and decided to take over the reins of the family business, and Toni leaves the stove to run the restaurant and Ca n'Anglada becomes Es Tast de na Sílvia, which little by little stands out for its creativity and for the transformation of the Menorcan recipe into signature cuisine.

Cooking with the heart, with the feelings, is what this pair of chefs do, who have also evolved over more than 20 years of work, and I can testify to their evolution and their commitment to the product of the land, with farming, with the sustainability between man and nature, and in making this little traveled cuisine that today they call zero kilometer, of which they are one of the pioneers and one of the main references, not only in Menorca, but in the Islands and Calunya. In fact, this year they have obtained the “Slow Food Catalunya KM0” distinction for the third year in a row, and for the past two years they have been the only establishment in the Balearic Islands to possess this snail symbolizing cuisine made with local products.

As we have mentioned, Es tast de na Sílvia has always stood out, it has distinguished itself by preparing a cuisine that has not been well-travelled, where the local product is prioritized, that which is produced by the farmers of the area in an ecological way, and in the case of Menorca, also the fishermen.

Es Tast de na Sílvia has been distinguished by its seasonal, market cuisine, with total communion with the small producers of the island, and also with the cooperatives in the countryside. They are restaurants committed, not only to food, but totally to the environment, which is why no transgenics are used in their cuisine, in the same way that the fish cooked at Es Tast de na Sílvia is sustainably caught by fishermen from the port of Ciutadella.

The link between the land and the sea, in its Menorca, and gastronomy, is always present in the KM0 philosophy, and they are the main exponent, not only in Menorca, but also in the Balearic Islands.

Going to eat at Es Tast de na Sílvia is always a pleasant surprise, with a menu that varies according to the seasons and also by months or even weeks, because the bet is on seasonal local produce, for this little-traveled kitchen let it be so

If we take a look at the menu, we can choose to nibble on breaded sea nettles, sobrassada and cheese fritters accompanied by liver or homemade meat croquettes.

As starters or dishes to share, their Cala Blanc cheese fondue with summer truffle stands out; this cheese is considered one of the best in the world. If we continue with their local cuisine proposals, we can opt for the Ciutadella wild tomatoes with basil, pine nuts and Menorca cheese, the Ciutadella red prawn carpaccio with garlic refried or the sautéed calamari with sobrassada and rosemary honey, but what really catches our attention are the cakes that Sílvia makes with wheat flour from Menorca, such as the "coca d'anar a romandre" with seasonal vegetables, or the carob cake with honey sobrassada and Menorca cheese.

If what we want is to try the fish dishes from Menorca, we can opt for a mellow rice with red shrimp from Ciutadella, or more global bets such as peix de lótja, which is on the market that day, with Menorcan teriyaki or the racjada pickled with vegetables, and if you are cod lovers, Sílvia embroiders the dishes with this fish, the cod au gratin with fresh figs from Menorca.

For meat lovers, you can opt for a dish that comes out all round, the sea and mountain with cuttlefish, or try one of the most popular dishes this summer, the secret pulled pork confit with plums and monyaco cake (which is what Menorcans call sweet potato). The red beef fillet from Menorca with blue cheese sauce from the island is also highly recommended, where they have again opted for Sa Canova cheeses, in this case the Cala Blau, which is quite a discovery.

Lovers of sweets and desserts every day you will find the variety that Sílvia makes, and that they are all truly homemade.

Today, the new Menorcan cuisine is a well-established gastronomic movement and quite a benchmark on the island, but everything has to be said, the road has not been easy at all and the struggle has been intense. There have been many potholes and bumps and closed barriers that have had to be opened, so that today, in Menorca, you cook with quality stoves, with sustainability stoves, full of pots and pans of local produce where committed entrepreneurs like Toni and na Sílvia are quite a reference in what is cuisine that is made and eaten little by little, that cuisine made with ingredients, which, as master Josep Pla said, are few traveled.