Summer in Mallorca 02: Is the best Ensaimada found in Mallorca?

Ensaimada is a serious thing in Mallorca. They even have an ensaimada council that regulates the use of "Ensaimada Mallorquina" label. Of course, one of the first things we wanted to do was to try the famous Mallorcan ensaimada.

A workmate who hails from Mallorca told us we have to visit C'an Joan de S'Aigo to taste the best Ensaimadas in Mallorca. His line, "You've never experienced Palma unless you've eaten Ensaymadas in C'an Joan".

So on our first afternoon in Palma, after visiting the Cathedral de Palma, we went searching for this iconic pasteleria in the Old Town district. After about 40 minutes of walking (and getting lost in the process!) we finally found the shop.



I suppose I have to say that based from the waiting time alone, this shop is really loved by people of Mallorca. The shop was packed on a Tuesday afternoon, and it was a working day, not a holiday. We had to wait for a few minutes to get seats. But that's okay, the waiters were nice and friendly despite running like bees from one table to another.



So of course we tried their famous Ensaimada (about 1.10€ each). I also ordered another Mallorcan specialty, the coca de patata (1.10€) or soft potato buns. We saw that most tables have glasses of ice cream, so we also ordered a glass each. I had the vanilla ice cream (2.0€)



The famous Mallorcan Ensaimada

So how was the ensaimada? Well, to me, the ensaimada's texture was a cross between a croissant and a soft roll. The bread had airy layers and was soft enough. It tasted similar to our Philippine Ensaimadas, at least the cheap 2-5 pesos ensaimadas that can be bought in the neighborhood bakeries. If there's one thing that's off-putting about the Mallorcan ensaimada though, it's that it's very greasy. I suppose it's because the Mallorcan ensaimadas are supposed to be made with lard as the shortening.

Still, biased as I am, I still prefer our pinoy ensaimadas. The butter and sugar toppings in our ensaimadas surely beats the anemic powdered sugar top of these Mallorcan ensaimadas.



Coca de Patata
As for the coca de patata, we declare, by unanimous decision from the three of us who tried it, that the coca de patata tastes like our humble mini-monays! You know, the sweetish single serve version of our monays which goes for 1-3 pesos per piece? It tastes exactly like that, except our mini-monays are a bit denser, and frankly, more satisfying.

So alright, we didn't really get the hype about the ensaimadas and the coca de patata but if I had any chance to go back to Mallorca, I will visit C'an Joan again for this:


Their incredible and truly underrated homemade ice cream. Velvety smooth, tasty without being too sweet, and oh-so-creamy, I am not an ice cream connoisseur, but this is one of the best ice creams I've ever tried. Delicious!

Can Joan de S'aigo
Calle Can Sanc, 10 07001, Palma de Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain