LoveFoodIbiza checks in for a plate full with Mr Broadbent, one of the island’s legends rocking Ibiza Rocks House at Pikes this summer…

Your favourite record you put on in the morning to start the day with a smile…

Really depends on the particular day and my frame of mind, and also who’s staying with us at the time. At the moment, as I’m playing Pikes every Sunday I’m going through loads of new stuff from Bandcamp. Really feeling releases on Tummy Touch Records – especially The Bandana Splits and Little Barry. Love what Paul White is doing with his left off centre hip-hop and jazz experimentations. And then on another morning you can’t quite beat a little Motorhead and I think the one to really get the blood flowing has to be Killed By Death!

Breakfast would be taken at where…and would be the perfect plate…

Love eating breakfast on my roof terrace overlooking the harbour of Ibiza Port watching the boats heading off to Formenterra for the day. On a daily basis it’s cornflakes but weekends are egg based, favourite style being Mexican huevos rancheros (eggs poached in a tomato/chilli salsa) with refried beans and avocado. Green tea with jasmine and a fresh pressed green drink.

Thoughts on the world’s number one chef Ferran Adrià arriving with Cirque du Soleil into Ibiza?

I have no feelings either way on a personal level as I will not be visiting his establishment – but I’m sure with the current state of Ibiza and the people visiting here now that it will be a huge success.

Best tapas on the island…

Lightly fried liver – slightly pink on the inside – served with virgin olive oil and parsley from the corner cafe at the entrance of the new market in Ibiza Town.

Dinner on a budget…

CubaR. New Cuban tapa bar off Parque Del La Paz heading out of Ibiza Town. Steve Hulme – ex of Pacha – with his Cuban wife and her extended family run a really tight little ship serving up true Cuban staples like white yuca, frijoles negra, ropa vieja (literally “old clothes” but really slow cooked beef and peppers)…super simple soul food that everybody I’ve introduced it to just loves…

Dinner on no budget…

I am really not impressed with any of the high end restaurants on the island. I feel they are all over priced and for the most part do not prepare food as well as I can myself. There are some nice venues however so if I choose one based on this and not the food alone I’d probably opt for the one on Placa Del Sol in Dalt Vila. Food there is okay too as it goes. One place that has both venue and great food and is still not too expensive is the Fish Shack at Sa Punta. The lamb chops there are probably the best I have eaten anywhere. Again it’s the simplicity of the cooking there that shines through. Good quality food that’s not been fucked about with too much.

Atzaro have opened a new ‘back to Ibiza grass roots’ restaurant called Aubergine in Santa Gertrudis. Do you think more businesses will follow this healthy eating route in the future…?

For sure and certainly in and around this part of the island. All the ex-pats love a food fad right ?!? Can’t imagine many locals eating there like…

What food shop could you not live without in Ibiza and what do you buy there…

Arroz and Bamboo off the Parque De La Paz in Ibiza Town. We go there for all our Asian food stuffs and they also stock a good range of Mexican/South American bits and pieces.

Tell us 3 Ibiza Town not so well known eateries we should really check out…

CubaR – Park De La Paz / Ibiza Town.
Katmandu – Ibiza Town near new bus station.
La Mezcaleria Mexiterranea – Dalt Vila.

The dish that reminds you of your childhood?

Spaghetti Bolognese. Along with oven cooked sausages and mashed potatoes/onion gravy, it’s the ultimate comfort food. We eat both on a weekly basis through the winter months to this day.

You and Sarah are renowned world travellers. Throw some food delights/restaurants/unexpected treasures you have experienced around the globe…

Certainly one of the best aspects of travel is the food you encounter along the way…more or less! Obviously when you’re traveling in what was once termed “the third world” from time to time you have to eat things simply for fuel. Outstanding food experiences in Vietnam include belly fat boiled in a sugar solution, sounds terrible and if I had had it translated properly from the menu, I would never have tried it. But once it arrived and the waiter nodded his approval at my ordering something a foreigner would never normally order, I was inclined to tuck in and was rewarded with one of the most delicious delicacies I have every eaten. Not something I would recommend eating on a regular basis however. The food in Vietnam for those unlucky enough to have not tried it, is fresh and floral tasting due to the abundant use of herbs not seen outside of the country, not one flavour is ever over powered by another which leads to some exciting combinations.

Having spent many years living in India, I have gotten to know my way around their culinary delights rather well. In recent years – and with a bigger budget than I used to have for food, reckon to have found the best eating establishments on the continent. I prefer to arrive into New Delhi when traveling to India, one of the reasons for this is the amazing Karims in the back streets of Old Delhi near the main Mosque.

Bypass the lure of brain curry and get straight into the Sikh kebab with the amazing and buttery nan breads, follow this with a straight up ‘meat curry’ (goat from Iran) and you are taken back to the time of the Mughal Emperors. The family running the very basic barebones Karims have cooked for the kings and Queens of Delhi since the 1500’s and keep a very tight lock on their recipes with rumour suggesting that the head cooks are only allowed to leave employment on death.

Further south into India and we reach my second tip for the top eats in Hindustan Bademiya in the lanes of Collaba/ Mumbai. Bademiya started as a kebab stall back when Collaba was still a working port servicing the huge fleets of shipping that used to stop there on route around the world, merchants and sailors frequented the stall of the young Pakistani immigrant Badimiya and his business slowly grew into what it is today (a set of five thriving restaurants that despite the humble suroundings is extremely popular amongst Mumbai’ elite).

With a list of over 20 different kebab rolls to chose from and meat and vegetable dishes to suite any pallet it’s not easy deciding which to choose. It certainly keeps them coming back for more and whenever we are in town it’s the first place we head to after dropping off our bags.

I could really go on and on about food from my travels as even the most basic of towns in the furthest flung places has something amazing to sample if you look hard enough and are prepared to eat with the locals and avoid the ‘traveler’ restaurants.

The most unusual food you have ever eaten…

Frogs. The very tip of Northern Thailand bordering Burma back in 1994 or there about. We had been sitting up discussing world matters for four or five days and had not eaten very much, or at least could not keep much that we had eaten in our stomachs for very long, so we decided that enough was enough and that we really needed to go into town and try and find something solid to eat. We arrived at the only restaurant in town open and looked at the menu – and for some reason that I can still not understand to this day, ordered frogs. That’s all it said on the menu ‘frogs’. Not that I particularly like frogs or anything, it just came out of my mouth when I was asked “what you want?” My girlfriend (now wife) looked horrified and ordered fried rice and I kinda forgot what I was doing and drifted off into a world of my own. Anyway about half hour later this bowl of frogs arrived and it looked, well, just like a bowl of frogs! Not nice like you might imagine it could be possible to make a bowl of frogs, fried or in some kind of batter, just a bowl of frogs cut up into quarters…heads and all! It looked like a fucking swamp gone wrong. I tried my best to smile at the waiter who stood around waiting for me to get stuck in and made as brave an effort as possible to pick at my bowl of frogs whilst the whole restaurant (locals only) looked on and openly laughed at me.

What DJ is the best cook on the island and what have they cooked you…

David Philips cooks very good and pretty authentic Thai food, but outside of that I don’t really have that kind of relationship with DJs, it was mostly more about me buying them things rather than them cooking dinner for me! My brother Andy is a good cook like and he is quickly turning into a bloody great DJ, so there’s that too I suppose. He has cooked me this Indian roast chicken a few times which is outrageously good. Think it’s a Jamie Oliver creation. We love Jamie Oliver round ours….

After club chilled morning recovering at…

Pikes. No better venue on the island for after club chillage. We did a few parties there after the We Love closings that thinking back on those sessions still astound me. A perfect place surrounded by your closest club buddies cracking on until the following day! The last one we did was soundtracked for 12 hours by Johnny from Optima and I couldn’t think of a better person to capture the spirit of that time and the space we were all in. Other than that, home with close mates listening to your own sounds.

Best sushi in Ibiza…

Would never eat sushi on Ibiza.

Your guilty pleasures dish in Ibiza…

Ice cream from that place on Vara De Ray. Incredible. Or the chocolate mousse cake from Hostel Parque on the square. Anything sweet and fattening basically!

What is your signature dish in the kitchen?

I have a few depending on the time of year and what foods about and in season, but if I were to pick one that I’m consistently really good at and really enjoy eating myself I’d say roast belly pork.

The most delicious paella is where…

Formanterra – El Pirata.
Ibiza – Carmen on Cala D’Hort.

The best cocktails are made by…

Steve at Pikes. He’s amazing and sitting sipping away at one round the pool at Club Tropicana takes some beating really doesn’t it?!?

An album you love driving around Ibiza listening to…

Don’t listen to music in my car anymore as I find it disconnects me with what’s going on, the sites and sounds of the island. I try to not drive too much anymore but I really enjoy driving, so when we do use the car I like to ‘feel’ everything on the drive to wherever we are heading. However when I did listen to CD’s in the car way back, I used to enjoy the Back To Mine series and of course the Cafe Del Mar albums. First few anyway. I also reckon that Sketches From An Island on International Feel would be a great album to drive around Ibiza listening to as it’s basically a concept album about all the places you would be driving through…

The best pizza in Ibiza is at…

Forno Anitico on the old market square, old town Ibiza.

The best hierbas on the island…

Hate the stuff and have a suspicion it’s all a piss take by the locals who just want to see how stupid tourists really are. I drank it for years thinking it was a marvelous local delicacy wondering why my hangovers were so fucking terrible on Ibiza – and suddenly realised. It’s the filthy hierbas.

The perfect sunset tune in Ibiza

It’s all about the build towards sunset really rather than that one tune as the sun slips into the water, so lets look at the twenty minuets leading to the sun setting.
Art Of Noise – Moments In Love & Robinson Crusoe. Bonobo – Black Sands. Sabres Of Paradise – Smokebeltch (beatless) The Alessi Brothers – Seabird.
That should put the sun to bed nicely!

The perfect 24 hours in Ibiza would be…

Towards the end of May. Breakfast on the roof terrace at home with my wife before heading off to the beach (Es Cavallet), picking up a couple of sandwiches along the way from the shop near the salt flats (turkey ham, mortadella, tomato, avocado, salt & pepper) bag of ham crisps and some fizzy water. Few dips in the water, read a good book and discuss what to cook for dinner. Pop into BHS (Boutique Hostal Salinas) for a glass of cold white wine with Dave and Doosie around six. Head home via the shops to collect food for dinner previously discussed. Bit of sexy time with the wife whilst washing away the dirt from the day. Cooking dinner together listening to something funny on Radio Four in our rooftop kitchen, playing with my cats and watering the herb garden. Eating dinner together watching the boats returning from the islands. Early night….