La Mallorquina, it’s been in the Plaza del Sol since 1894.

There are privately owned and chain bakeries all over the city.
Old, established family bakeries and things whipped up mechanically in school cafeterias.
the grandaddy of them all, the Gran Don of the pastry game, is surely La Mallorquina.

First things first: rated number 1 by many pastry/dessert guides

Everything they sell is wrapped up in pink packaging with a precious illustration of La Mallorquina (a little lady from Mallorca). I’m a pink-loving fool, so this really resonated with me deeply. This time of year they sell turron, the traditional pastry of La Navidad. Sure, someone’s abuelita probably whips up something better, but this place is as close as you can get if you have no Spanish nana.

Traditional holiday pastries Torrijas at Easter, Turron at Christmas, Rosquillas de San Isidro during Dia de San Isidro, all sparkling in the window. All melting in a fury of sensory pleasure in your mouth.

My favorite thing there year-round are these marshmallows covered in chocolate. I cannot even tell you how many I had while there. Thank god for all the hills in Spain, countless number of pastries later, and I still lost 17 pounds in Madrid (which I promptly regained back home in Houston).
Here is a blog post on another blog with a piccy of the marshmallow goodness

A strong contender for second, and something I ordered at the school cafe often, is the napolitana con chocolate. It’s essentially a croissant with chocolate. Flaky butter goodness + chocolate. No complaints. The version at La Mallorquina has really well done chocolate filling, compared to my uni’s still-partially-solid chocolate chips in the center of theirs.

The hallowed shop also has pretty decent coffee to go which was much harder to find in Madrid than I was prepared for. There are Starbucks in the Spanish capital, but I don’t drink there in the US. I sure as hell wasn’t going to pick up a drink there in Spain. La Mallorquina was also super duper close to my study abroad program’s office (just around the corner, in the same building complex). Before ISA meetings, I’d often pop in for a cup and some pastry to get me through.

So if you live in Paradise, or you’re just visiting: satisfy your sweet tooth at La Mallorquina.

 

 

Lowkey, these are there, too. Home sweet home