Awards For 2007 / Happy New Year

The AlcudiaPollensa.Blogspot.com Awards 2007

The great and good gathered to hear last year’s winners announced by Russell Brand/Graham Norton/Jonathan Ross (choose according to which one you can stomach most – difficult).

First up, the sensible ones:

The AlcudiaPollensa.Blogspot.com Bar Of The Year: JK’s, Puerto Pollensa.

The AlcudiaPollensa.Blogspot.com Restaurant Of The Year: Es Turó in Santa Margalida.

The AlcudiaPollensa.Blogspot.com Business Of The Year: No Frills Excursions.

The AlcudiaPollensa.Blogspot.com Person Of The Year: José, Café Bony, Puerto Pollensa.

The AlcudiaPollensa.Blogspot.com New Bar Of The Year: La Birreria in Pollensa, Vamps, Puerto Alcúdia.

The AlcudiaPollensa.Blogspot.com New Restaurant Of The Year: Sa Caseta, Alcúdia, Sal i Oli, Puerto Pollensa.

The AlcudiaPollensa.Blogspot.com Most Popular Bars Of The Year (special award in association with www.thealcudiaguide.com): Festas and Foxes Arms, Puerto Alcúdia.

The AlcudiaPollensa.Blogspot.com Heart In The Right Place Award goes to Little Britain supermarket for its charitable stuff and service above and beyond …

The AlcudiaPollensa.Blogspot.com Song Of The Year: Laura Veirs, “To The Country”.

The AlcudiaPollensa.Blogspot.com Album Of The Year: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, “Raising Sand”.


Now, the special sponsored awards:

The Civil Engineering Couldn’t Organise A Piss-Up In A Brewery Award: joint winners, the designers of the changes to the Carretera Arta in Puerto Alcúdia (too many references to list) and of the new Palma metro which had to be closed soon after it opened because of flooding, and remains closed (22 August for instance.)

The Daily Bulletin Historical Inaccuracy Award (Columbus class) this year goes to “Euro Weekly” for its botching up the sequence of Columbus’s voyages to the Americas (getting it wrong in other words). And a supplementary award for geographical inaccuracy also to “EW” for suggesting that the Dominican Republic was/is an island separate to Hispaniola. (11 October.)

The Dale Carnegie How To Win Friends And Influence People Award For Lousy PR is entrusted to the Juaneda group for its poor communications and mixed messages in respect of the closure of the Alcúdia hospital. (5 December for instance.)

The Glasgow Ice-Cream Wars Award goes to the rival sunbed-and-sun-lounger concessionaires on Playa de Muro beach. (15 July, 20 September.)

The Jeremy Clarkson Environmental Bore Of The Year Award is granted to GOB, the environmental pressure group, for banging on and on and on about the proposed golf course on the Son Bosc finca in Muro. Get those diggers out! (7 December for instance.)

The Jimmy Savile Award For Governmental Initiatives goes to the new Balearic administration which announced that its period in office would be “The Age of the Train” (among other things, an extension of the line as far as Alcúdia is planned.) (18 July.)

The Leapy Lee Award For Self-Publicising One’s Own True Self goes to … Leapy Lee for bringing to the attention of the world Alexei Sayle’s hatchet-job on him, which would otherwise have gone unnoticed and forgotten. (17 July.)

The Ted Dexter Award For Getting Sportspeople’s Names Wrong is the prize for Riki Lash who referred to Tommy Dority (sic) and Joe Royal (sic) – in the same article. (Ted Dexter once called the fast bowler Devon Malcolm, Malcolm Devon; Dexter was chairman of the England cricket-team selectors at the time. The Lashmeister meant Tommy Docherty and Joe Royle; at least one assumes so.) (15 March.)


THE SENSIBLE AWARDS: A NOTE

These awards are to an extent, but not exclusively, personal. If I had never heard any good recommendations or comments regarding the award-winners, they would never have been chosen. In my work with the websites and with the local guides, I hear all sorts of remarks, and these I duly take on board. It is of course difficult to choose one place over another (especially when so many, but not all, are clients), but this blog works according to different criteria than the websites or guides; it is, ultimately, personal, but does not seek to favour one establishment over another. The awards are as much a point of entertainment and starting-point for information and debate as anything else.

This all said, I’d like to go into a bit of detail about the award-winners.

JKs: Best Bar. What gives JKs this accolade is partly the fact that it is open all year, but this is not all. Jane and Kevin have worked hard at creating a bar with a multiplicity of offers. It is family, it is drinkers, it is sports, it is food. It gets best bar as it does so much so well.

Es Turó: Best Restaurant. This was really the best find of last year. It was working on new business in Can Picafort that brought it onto my radar. Though living not that far from the restaurant, I was unaware of it … until going there and trying it. The food is good, not outstanding, but good. It is the atmosphere and the sheer magnificence of the setting that do it.

No Frills Excursions: Best Business. If there were one business out of all in the northern zone that would get this accolade (including bars, restaurants and others), it would be No Frills. I know of no other business that gets the level of commendation that Toni and Seamus do.

José, Bony: Person of the year. A jokey entry perhaps, but José is a heck of a character. Café Bony is not just José, but his personality defines the place, and that personality is one that attracts people back year after year.

La Birreria and Vamps: Best New Bars. Bars come and go. What defines both these bars is their innovation. This is increasingly important, and both have carved out strong reputations as a consequence. They are very different: La Birreria has focused on a pub atmosphere with a vast range of beers and live music, Vamps has focused on adult-style entertainment also with live music.

Sa Caseta and Sal i Oli: Best New Restaurants. Once again, new restaurants come and go. Why these two very different places? Sa Caseta is a converted old town house in Alcúdia with a terrific and economical range of pizzas and Italian food, Sal i Oli is an unremarkable looking place by contrast but, boy, is the food good. Caseta has some roots in the excellent Little Italy in Puerto Pollensa and Sal in the equally excellent L’Almirant also in Puerto Pollensa.

Festas and Foxes Arms: Most Popular Bars. These are special awards as they are based only on recommendations sent to www.thealcudiaguide.com. Both share one thing, they are not that big, but they also share great reputations in their differing ways (see all the comments for both under Bars Alcúdia on www.thealcudiaguide.com).

Little Britain: Heart in the Right Place. Another special award. Not only is this an excellent small British supermarket, but also Steve and Urbano offer charitable assistance and offer a personal service that is hard to beat, and it is over and above what one might expect, things I have commented on in the blog.

So there you are. These are some short explanations. In each category, there are many other worthies. Tell me about them.


QUIZ
Last time – it was of course Slade. No quiz today. Normal-ish service starts up again tomorrow, rather like Network Rail – possibly.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ONE AND ALL!!!

(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)