As the season draws to an end and most places in resorts all over Mallorca are closing for the winter, I have been on a lookout for those bars and restaurants that will remain open, especially in the Magalluf/ Torrenova/ Palmanova area, where I live. One such place is Madame Cabra, an intriguingly named pizzeria and coffee roastery in La Vila, open air shopping centre in Magalluf.
Madame Cabra is run by an interesting couple with unlikely backgrounds. Kathy, a nutritionist from Australia, has “spent the past 10 years helping hospital patients tackle nutritional challenges related to cancer and recovery from major surgeries”. Vincenzo, with a PhD in engineering and physics, has “worked for two decades developing and fine-tuning pacemakers for a major biomedical company in Berlin”. After a serious car accident in his youth, he felt driven to pursue a career that gave back to others. For 25 years, they’ve both lived in Germany, sharing a love of good coffee, food, triathlons, fishing, and the sun—all of which inspired their move to Mallorca. Now, Vincenzo is dedicated to roasting high-quality coffee beans, available for customers to enjoy in-house or at home.
Madam Cabra philosophy centres on “savouring life’s simple pleasures, like a well-prepared meal or a delicious cup of coffee”. According to their website, Kathy and Vicenzo have “spent years searching Europe for the finest ingredients for their recipes”. This is evident in every plate my friend and I have tried…
We went to Madame Cabra at lunchtime and decided to try their daily menu for just 15 euros. It includes a choice of a main meal and a dessert or coffee, plus a drink of water, wine or beer. I felt a little bit sleepy even at midday, so I started my lunch with a coffee, my trusted cortado, which was excellent. I would go as far as to say that the coffee here is probably the best in quite a wide radius.
For our main meals, my friend chose a halloumi cheese salad while I opted for a pretty plain pizza Margherita. I often do this when trying pizza somewhere for the first time, because, if you can make a good Margherita every other pizza could only be better and richer in taste.
Well, Margherita at Madame Cabra was really good! They make contemporary Neapolitan pizzas, with light and airy dough with a delicious crust that is equally crunchy and chewy. There was just the right amount of topping for the pizza to taste rich, but not to get too soggy. My friend’s salad was just as good, with fresh green leaves, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onions and topped with perfect little slices of salty, chewy and super moreish halloumi. The portions here are pretty big, so we ended up taking part of our meal away for an afternoon snack. Still, we had to try the dessert. Apparently it often changes, but on the day we went to Madame Cabra, it was panna cotta topped with strawberry jam. This simple cream based dessert was absolutely delicious and the topping tasted like it was made in a grandma’s kitchen a moment ago. Luckily for me, my friend decided to skip a dessert that day, so I had this wonderful delicacy all to myself. I literally scraped the glass jar it was served in for every last bit of it!
Overall, I really enjoyed my experience at Madame Cabra. I heard from a few neighbours that breakfasts were really good here, so I will return one of these days to try them and I will most definitely return for that rich cortado I started my visit with.
THE VERDICT
Very good salad, pizza and coffee. Super friendly staff. Lively atmosphere thanks to the vicinity of the shopping centre and local gym. Potentially the “place to be” this winter in Magaluf!
THE PLACE
Madame Cabra Pizzeria & Coffee Roastery
Local 3.3 Centro Comercial La Vila
Calle Carlos Sáenz de Tejada, 8
07181 Magalluf
Tel: 638 29 68 55
Instagram: @madamecabra.baleares
OPENING TIMES
8am to 11pm daily
THE BILL
Daily menu at 15 euros
