Since 2017, Terrae Restaurant has been serving delighting guests with originality, quality and respect for local produce. Blowing conventional dining out the water, the chefs at Terrae are on a mission with their zero waste policy, working with local producers and creativity concept. The result is a great restaurant with a truly unique identity in Puerto Pollensa.
Lucy Hawkins met with owner and Head Chef David to see how he it all came about.Â
Where did you grow up and how did you discover your career?
Well I’m from Venezuela. I was born on a little island in the Caribbean called Margarita. My family is from a small town which is very similar to Puerto Pollensa. I always say this is the Mediterranean version of my hometown.
I was raised in Caracas and then I started to be interested in food with the boom of molecular cuisine when I was about 12 years old. I saw how becoming a Head Chef was something cool to be.
When I was 19 I moved to Barcelona to go to chef school. It was called the Hoffman school and had a Michelin star restaurant. I was there for 1.5 years and after I finished studying I went to Norway to stage (like work experience) in a Michelin restaurant, it introduced me to the workforce.
It was a classic French restaurant so it was really interesting. I love Oslo, I was in Norway for 6 years. It was the end of the molecular cuisine and I moved to Scandinavia because noma (famous Danish restaurant) had come up with a new cuisine. I wanted to learn that way of thinking, they don’t have many things to cook with so they’re very creative in using local products. That’s where I got all the sustainable concepts, they’re very good at it.
I got to work with a lot of really nice chefs. I spent a year in Hong Kong as a sous chef during that time, I was in a Spanish modern tapas restaurant. And then after one year I went back to Norway.
When and why did you move to Mallorca?
I moved here in 2016 because my partner at the time, the mother of my daughters, was raised here and she wasn’t comfortable in Norway because of the weather and language. When I arrived here I didn’t feel too comfortable with the job offer that I had, there was nothing wrong with it, I just wanted to learn more and I was working in really cool places in Norway and for me it was a little boring, so I started thinking about opening my own restaurant. And in 2017 I did it.
It’s been a really nice experience because I was feeling very confident with my cooking, but it was a challenge to start a business. Challenging, fun, cool… to put on a table my way of thinking after being in all these different restaurants which had taught me such a lot. This was the synthesis, the conclusion of everything in my head. The idea represents me and my way of living.
Can you describe your Terrae Restaurant? How is it different, what are its values?
Terrae means lands in Latin. I call it a protest against the system that we have now, especially in Mallorca. I believe we have a lot of products that not even Mallorquins use or respect enough because they rent their properties to people to do burgers for tourists.
I’m not from here so I can’t rescue the original Mallorquin food but I’m proud to show what we have here. Tell people we can do it from here and be more sustainable and keep the money here in the community, you know? I use artisanal people who make the plates and the napkins, the grill was built by a local herrero (blacksmith).
I’m making a circular economy, sustainable. I found the chairs on the garbage. The wooden tables are recycled. We don’t use gas, we use left-over wood from the olive and almond trees to fire the oven.
I respect the employees’ time and their rights. Because I used to be an employee in Barcelona and here I don’t see the employees very happy, they just work a lot. 10-11 hours. One concept I learnt in Norway is the Norwegians wanted to live, and work is a small part of your life. And so that balance is also sustainable. I want my employees to be happy and go to the beach. I also want it for myself.
I wanted it to be more casual, I’ve worked in formal restaurants, I want Terrae to be like my house and you feel welcome here.
What are your favourite meals on your menu?
I don’t change the menu, it’s the farmers that change the menu. I go to the market every Sunday and Wednesday and select the products, it’s one of my favourite parts of the job, talking to the farmers and seeing what’s in season and the best price. So the menu is the same but sometimes dishes change, different combinations. It’s constantly moving.
I’m particularly proud of the cactus I found here. It’s a nice story, it’s the same variety as in Mexico, nopal, we have it here as well. Nobody uses it but it’s the same plant. So I started to research and use it and I made a really nice dish combining Mallorquin and Latin American food – nopal with tempura rice and Mallorquin cocoa on top with vegetables and sobrasada.
We buy whole animals so we use everything. Zero waste. It’s really important. With vegetables and animals. We also do a lot of fermentations. We try to rediscover old techniques as well because then you don’t have to have so many fridges, that’s why we dehydrate things and preserve in marmalade. That’s salted lamb belly hanging above the counter. We’re going to use it this winter to make lamb rice.
It’s not just a restaurant for my chef’s ego, I believe I’m doing something tasty. Yes we get proud when people try it and like it, but also we want to leave something behind for the rest of the community, workers, the environment. It’s a win win.
Do you close for winter?
We are open in the winter. We usually open until Christmas Eve and then open again in March.
What did you eat yesterday and where?
Breakfast, I ate some Mallorquin bread with tomato and olive oil.
I was in Palma so I didn’t eat lunch.
For dinner, I had a pasta with parmesan cheese, olive oil and garlic with my daughters.
I drink wine but I have no idea about wine, it’s a different world. If I like it I like it, it could be the cheapest. We have a sommelier at the restaurant. I’m very into the natural wines now, they have a fermented taste, it’s pure.
What does Mallorca do really well?
If I had to choose one super good product here, something I really like is when I find the traditional food. I was really impressed by a simple dish, Sopa Mallorquina, cabbage, stock. Sobrasada is really good too, but the soup…Â
I’m also really impressed with all the local wild edible plants. Mallorca is very rich.
Can you share one of your recipes with us?
Sure, it’s like an aubergine ketchup:
Burn the aubergines in the grill, clean the fire first.
Blitz the aubergine with garlic, vinegar – we make homemade vinegar with water kefir, but you can use any vinegar – honey, salt, olive oil. Give it a super smooth texture. It looks like a black puree. Because we don’t peel the skin, even the bit on the end, everything goes in. I have a good blitzer machine, you need it for the ‘ketchup’ to be smooth.
Lucy Hawkins is a writer and artist who lives in Mallorca with her husband and two young daughters. She studied Journalism at the University of the Arts in London and worked at Cosmopolitan Magazine and The London Paper in the UK as well as newspapers and magazines around the world. Her original artwork, prints and homewares are sold in stores across Australia and her children’s book, The Salvager’s Quest, is available through online book retailers worldwide.
