by Jan Edwards
This week’s featured restaurant is not where you’d go on a first date or to celebrate a special occasion, but it has a welcome simplicity that’s missing from so much in life. Son Bascos, near Montuïri, is also very affordable, which makes it a popular choice for those in the know.
You may think it unlikely that you’d find a high-quality lunch for 22€ from a Mallorcan chef whose restaurant held a Michelin star for 14 years, but that’s what’s on offer at Bartomeu de Tomeu Caldentey in Sa Coma.
If your palate becomes a little jaded with the arrival of autumn, I have the perfect prescription: Lunch or dinner at KOH in Palma, where the fresh and vibrant cuisine of Southeast Asia is a wake-up call for the taste buds.
With the season in Mallorca now coming to an end, many popular restaurants close for the winter break. But there’s still time to celebrate a special occasion with a memorable dinner at El Olivo, the gastronomic restaurant at Belmond La Residencia in Deià.
The 30-plant challenge has been gaining momentum since Professor Tim Spector of Kings College London cited research on his nutrition website, Zoe, finding that eating 30 different plant foods a week benefits the gut microbiome. Mallorcan chef Andrés Benitez was ahead of his time, four years ago, when he launched his plant-based menu at Botànic, the restaurant at Palma’s 5-star Can Bordoy Grand House & Garden.
I must have passed Gigi’s Piccolo Ristorante in Palma many times, walking between El Corté Inglés and the Mercat de l’Olivar, without realising what I was missing. When a friend suggested the place for lunch together, I discovered it was home to the authentic Italian cuisine of chef Gigi and the warm hospitality of his wife, Jackie. This is where you’ll find slow food, cooked with love to order, and served with what the Spanish call ‘don de gente’ – people skills.
If one of your criteria for a place to eat out is a great view, L’Atic in Palma should be on your restaurant radar. L’Atic is on the seventh floor of the Hotel Saratoga – the home of the former Blue Jazz Club – but more than impressive views await you.
The Puig de Randa mountain is a popular destination for the incredible summit views, but the nearby, sleepy hamlet of Randa is also worth a visit for its rustic charm … and the gastronomic restaurant Sa Tanqueta.
Earlier this summer, Queen Suthida of Thailand visited Mallorca for the first time, supporting her country’s participants in one of the most prestigious regattas starting from Puerto Portals. While on the island, the Thai royal went for lunch at Ses Aspes, near Manacor.
This Restaurant of the Week doesn’t have four walls and a roof,so it’s not strictly a restaurant but an al fresco, farm-to-table experience from the Manacor company, Terragust, owned by Matias Adrover Sitger. Depending on the season, you could be at a table in an orchard, among grapevines, or in an olive grove on one of the farms in the countryside outside Manacor.
It’s always tempting to try new eateries in Mallorca, but I also love the stories behind family-run restaurants with a history. There are always good reasons such places have survived the economic ups and downs and the challenges of finding and keeping staff.
CRU – Cuina i Vins in Manacor is a restaurant with a point of difference: it specializes in offering natural wines made from organic grapes and without additives. It’s the only establishment in Manacor listed in the 2024 edition of the international natural wine and food lovers’ digital guide known as Raisin.
Port d’Andratx has a waterfront lined with restaurants, bars, and cafes, but if you want to be even closer to the sea and somewhere a little quieter in terms of traffic, take the road around to the other side of the harbour. Here, you’ll find a Mediterranean restaurant that’s been making diners happy for almost fifty years.
The word ‘barefoot’ conjures up images of a relaxed summer lifestyle in Mallorca. It’s an appropriate name for a stylish hotel and restaurant in beautiful Portocolom, which never seems as frenzied in the high season as some other coastal places on the island.
You’re unlikely to come across Basic Bar Restaurante on a wander around Palma because it’s tucked away in a side street off Carrer Aragón, close to the rear of El Corte Inglés on the Avenidas.
I’ve long been a fan of chef Javier Hoebeeck, who leads the culinary team at Fusion19 – the one-Michelin-starred restaurant in the popular resort of Playa de Muro.
If proximity to the sea is as essential to you for dining out as olive oil is to bread, this Restaurant of the Week should appeal. Es Vivers in Colònia de Sant Pere is known for its well-made Italian cuisine but also its superb location on the seafront in this attractive village not far from Artà on the Bay of Alcúdia in northeast Mallorca.
If you browse the web for Mallorca’s luxury hotels, you’ll find Cap Rocat near Palma. This 5-star hotel is a spectacular and award-winning renovation of a fortified citadel by the architect Antonio Obrador. I’ve always wanted to stay there, but Cap Rocat’s eyewatering accommodation prices are sadly beyond my budget. Fortunately, eating at the hotel’s Sea Club restaurant is a more affordable treat. And what a treat!
Eating out by the sea in the height of summer is on many holidaymakers’ wish lists, but dinner in a more tranquil, rural setting can be just as memorable. For a countryside restaurant with beautiful sunset views, head to Restaurant Es Pati de Montuïri.
Authentic Canary Islands’ cuisine – with contemporary touches and creative presentation – is on the menu at the Palma tapas bar and restaurant, La Vieja de Jonay Hernández. Owner and chef Jonay is from Tenerife, and his New Canarian cuisine pays homage to the archipelago of his birth.
Chefs in Mallorca may have a wealth of hi-tech kitchen equipment available to them but the oldest way of cooking – over a wood fire – is hard to beat for enhancing the flavour of food. Singular, a restaurant in the countryside near Sa Pobla has made ‘cocina del fuego’ its speciality.
Palma is home to no fewer than four Michelin-starred restaurants – each offering the gourmet diner a memorable but different culinary experience. In 2015, the eponymous Marc Fosh was the first restaurant in Mallorca’s capital to gain the coveted star – a distinction it’s held every year since. And Marc is still the only British chef in Spain at the helm of a Michelin-starred restaurant.
It’s useful to know a good pizzeria, although Manacor’s El Guiri – with its tongue-in-cheek name – offers not only excellent pizzas but also a decent choice of Italian classic pastas. Chef/owner Alexander Weinhold is the ‘foreigner’ here – although he looks nothing like his logo’s cartoon character.
For anyone holidaying on a fixed budget in Mallorca, a set three-course lunch option can be useful – but not every restaurant offers one, and some no longer include a drink, as was traditionally the case in the Spanish ‘menú del día’.
Is there a restaurant in Mallorca that you’ve driven past numerous times but never tried? El Castillo del Bosque, between Felanitx and Porto Colom, was one such restaurant for me. I’m pleased I finally stopped to try it.
If eating out in one of Palma’s oldest palaces sounds expensive, the three-course set lunch at NOI Palma within the Scandinavian-owned Nobis Hotel Palma may surprise you – at just 25€ a head.
The British and American Gut Project – run by the University of California and Dr Tim Spector of King’s College London – recommends that we eat 30 plants a week for a more diverse gut microbiome. If that number sounds like a challenge, you’ll get a good start if you eat at Plat a Plat, a vegan restaurant in the small rural town of Maria de la Salut.
Palma offers a fantastic choice of cuisines but if eating authentic Spanish food in a cosy, unpretentious ambience is what you’re craving, Cantina Panzà ticks that box … and others. Located along the iconic Paseo de la Rambla – home of the scented, colourful flower stalls – Cantina Panzà offers tapas, sharing plates, and a weekday ‘menú del día’.
The old fishing village of Porto Cristo in Mallorca is today a popular resort still retaining a traditional feel. The home of tennis supremo, Rafa Nadal, it’s also the location of the popular, waterside Quince Restaurante & Cantina – which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year.
The attractive, market town of Artà in northeast Mallorca may seem an unlikely location for an authentic Mexican eatery, but it’s where you’ll find the cosy restaurant, Xolomulato.
If you’re a fan of De Tokio a Lima restaurant at the Can Alomar hotel in Palma, a treat awaits you in the must-visit village of Valldemossa – where a second De Tokio a Lima opened at the end of February this year.
For lunch after visiting the Thursday or Saturday market in Mallorca’s southeast town of Campos, check out the adults-only restaurant Tess de Mar, at the 17-room Sa Creu Nova Petit Palais Art & Spa. Tess de Mar is open to the public, has a separate entrance from the street for those not staying in the hotel, and is in the 2024 Michelin Guide.
The charming town of Santanyí in Mallorca not only has an unmissable market on Wednesday and Saturday mornings but also some good places to eat and drink. My favourite Santanyí restaurant is Laudat, located in a side street just steps away from the imposing 18th-century Sant Andreu church.
Shiny, new restaurants are often tempting but don’t always deliver on expectations. The Merchants by the Sea, however, is run by the experienced hospitality group that also has the successful Palma restaurant, The Merchants – Steak & Grill.
Lume & Co is located in the former stables of Mallorca’s 15th-century Son Berga castle, just outside Genova. The restaurant is in gated premises, with a large private car park. Although only a short drive from the centre of Palma, it has a rural setting and makes a change from the bustle of the capital.
The sign on the wall reads Can Kiwi Coffee & Juice Bar but there’s much more than hot and cold drinks to this great find in beautiful Colònia de Sant Pere.
Beautiful sea views and good food and drinks await you at the popular coastal restaurant, Sa Punta in Cala Bona, owned by Rafa Nadal’s uncle. We’ve eaten here many times – usually in summer – but went for lunch on the first Sunday of the season.
One of Porto Cristo’s best restaurants has moved to a new home in the port town. First opened by chef/patron Roland Schulte in 2011, Restaurant Roland now has the bonus of an appealing outdoor space for dining in the warmer months.
The name Bonnie Han will be familiar to foodies who live in Mallorca or eat in hot-ticket restaurants when visiting the island. Born in Singapore and raised in Australia, Chef Bonnie cooks delicious Southeast Asian cuisine at Nama in Deià but has also created menus for other island restaurants – the latest of which is Nº11 Gastrobar in Port d’Andratx.
On a beautiful sunny day at a resort or port in Mallorca, it’s tempting to choose an eatery overlooking the Mediterranean. But at Trobar – a short walk back from the harbour in Cala Ratjada – you’ll barely notice the lack of a sea view.
It’s always a good day when you discover an eatery that surpasses all your expectations. That’s what happened when we met up with a dear friend for lunch at one of his local eateries, La Mallorquina, open all year in Colònia de Sant Jordi.
When holidaying in Mallorca, the Spanish royal family has dined several times at the restaurant Ola del Mar in Portixol, Palma’s former fishing village. You’ll find plenty of locals too eating out in Ola del Mar which, not surprisingly for its location, specializes in seafood.
It’s almost impossible to get a short-notice table at Ses Coves in Campanet in the holiday season but I made my winter, weekday lunch booking only one day ahead. This rural restaurant is renowned for both its food grilled over embers and the high quality and provenance of its meat and fish. No wonder some of Mallorca’s top chefs eat here on a day off.
If you’re looking for a Mallorcan restaurant with some history and a good reputation, head to the small town of Lloseta. Tucked away behind the now abandoned Palau d’Aiamans – a noble residence built in the 17th century – you’ll find Celler Can Carrossa, a restaurant business that’s 98 years old.
The German chef/patron, Sascha, closed his Artà restaurant L’Atrio in November 2021. The following summer, he opened Restaurante SaMo in Sant Llorenç near Manacor, serving ‘soul food’.
It takes a brave Englishman to open a tapas restaurant in Palma, but not when that man is Eddie Hart. Eddie was one of the brothers behind the successful Spanish restaurants, Fino and Barrafina, in London. With the launch of El Camino five years ago, Eddie brought a new level of sophistication and vibrancy to Palma’s tapas scene.
Italian restaurants are ubiquitous in Palma, so which do you choose for authentic ‘la dolce vita’ cuisine? You could follow in the footsteps of the King of Spain and Hollywood ‘royalty’, actor Morgan Freeman, who have both dined at Sandro Restaurante this year.
The name and sign over the door of this restaurant in Felanitx may be familiar, but everything else has changed since I first visited in 2004. Today, Estragon has a smart, contemporary interior and has been in the hands of new owners since the beginning of November.
If a trip to Paris for some traditional French cuisine is out of the question, a visit to Mallorca’s Les Artistes could be the next best thing. This cosy French bistro in Palma has the ambience and cuisine of the ‘city of light’ itself.
The resort of Sa Coma on Mallorca’s east coast appears almost deserted after the holiday season has ended, and the shutters are down at most businesses for the winter. But on Sunday lunchtime, we were in a line of several cars pulling into the free car park across the road from Tomeu Caldentey Cuiner.
A stalwart of popular Port de Pollença, Stay Restaurant is open all day, every day of the year. With its waterfront location and gorgeous views, it attracts locals and visitors alike. Stay first opened in 1972 but has been in its current guise since 2006. Contemporary in style, the restaurant has extensive decked terracing on two sides, and a smart dining room that’s filled with natural light.
Most beach eateries in Mallorca have closed their doors after a busy season, but for those days when the sun shines from a bright blue sky and invites you to the coast, it’s good to know somewhere you can still eat out by the sea during the day.
New restaurants are tempting – especially for those who like to post about them on social media. But established eateries with a good reputation will always have appeal, and if you’re looking for a seafood restaurant, where better than one located right above the fish market where the catch is auctioned in the early mornings?
It looks an unlikely place to go out for lunch – or even for breakfast or a mid-morning snack – but the vast greenhouse located on the side of the Ma15 between the Es Cruce roundabout and Manacor is home not only to a farm shop selling good, well-priced, local produce but also the restaurant Degusta.
First opened in 1925, Can March was originally a café serving people from the town. Today, two years before the business celebrates a century in the same family, Can March’s reputation as an excellent restaurant has spread across Mallorca.
Looking for a more authentic but modernized Mallorcan eating-out experience? This cosy, family-run restaurant in the heart of Sencelles could be the place for you.
You don’t have to be a tennis player or even visit the interesting multi-sports Rafa Nadal Museum to eat lunch at the tennis supremo’s expanding centre in Manacor.
With the forecast of the current Indian summer in Mallorca continuing for a while longer, it’s time to seize the final opportunities to eat out in a beach restaurant – before the shutters go down for this season.
Deià is Mallorca’s honeypot location, and at the height of the holiday season, it’s not easy to find somewhere to park a car. But just over two kilometres from the heart of this iconic village, you’ll find tranquillity in a restaurant with its own parking and spectacular views of Mallorca’s northeast coast and beautiful Deià itself.
Despite all the sophisticated kitchen equipment and technology now available to chefs, cooking over a wood fire – a process dating back hundreds of thousands of years – is a growing trend in today’s international restaurant industry. One restaurant in Mallorca – named Singular – has made ‘cocina del fuego’ its speciality.
The appetite-reducing effect of Mallorca’s sizzling summer temperatures is over, making September perfect for resuming alfresco lunches out. With great timing, Mirabona restaurant at Finca Can Beneït has just launched its new weekday lunch menu and it’s worth the drive to hideaway Binibona (near Selva) to try it.
The first of the late-summer storms has already visited Mallorca, but we can look forward to several more weeks of eating out by the Med, accompanied by the sounds of the sea and the scent of briny air. Perhaps at Port Verd del Mar – in the quieter area between Cala Bona and Costa de los Pinos?
Korea meets Japan meets Spain. And it all happens in a peaceful enclave of Mallorca’s Santa Ponsa. Welcome to SABA Restaurant, one of the two eateries at the Kimpton Aysla Mallorca hotel – Kimpton’s first European property when it opened in October 2022 on part of the site of the former Santa Ponsa Country Club.
I make no apology for choosing a ‘chiringuito’ as my Restaurant of the Week. Hey, it’s the height of summer, and where do we want to eat lunch out in the heat of a Mallorcan August? Maybe within mere steps of the Caribbean-like turquoise sea at Platja de Muro? Ponderosa Beach ticks the boxes for location, delicious food and drinks, friendly service, and holiday vibes.
Palma’s Santa Catalina district is packed with ethnic food eateries. ‘Mallorquín’, Spanish, Peruvian fusion, Lebanese, Thai, Japanese, and Korean are only some of the cuisines on offer. But for top-quality, interesting British cuisine – with a twist – and the most hospitable hosts in town, head straight for Market Kitchen.
Creative cuisine is found in the most surprising places in Mallorca. Until May this year, I’d barely noticed the signpost to Son Penya Petit Hotel on the Ma15 roundabout near Sant Llorenç. In May, I had dinner there for the first time and when I heard that the hotel was 20 years old, I realised how many opportunities I’d missed to eat there.
For an indulgent gastronomic treat or a special occasion dinner, the Michelin-starred Es Fum in Costa d’en Blanes ticks all the boxes.
A restaurant where you may be able to book a table for the same day, you’ll find ample free parking, and the ambience is relaxing? In the height of the Mallorcan summer? Escape to the countryside and check out this rural hotel restaurant.
In the height of summer, so many locals and visitors to Mallorca want to eat at the coast that you may need to book a few days ahead to be sure of a table at the most popular establishments. But head inland to Mallorca’s towns and villages and you’ll have a more relaxed, summer eating-out experience. And find some surprisingly good restaurants.
Can you imagine a Hollywood movie star topping up his tan on the beach in Magaluf? Well, in the mid-1950s, holidaying ‘High Noon’ star Gary Cooper and a female companion asked a taxi driver to take them to Mallorca’s most tranquil beach. Hard to believe it was Magaluf.
La Braseria may not have the allure of a seafront eatery in Port de Pollença or a restaurant in the narrow streets of the charming Pollença town, but it does have a Josper charcoal oven. And if you enjoy the flavour of food cooked over fire, La Braseria is worth a visit for young Bolivian chef Ruben Uzquiano’s expert cooking.
If you’re in the Manacor area wanting flavours of the world but made from local produce, check out Übeck, which opened at the end of 2021 as a different addition to the town’s restaurant scene.
Microwaves, high-speed electric ovens, and the Thermomix may have revolutionized restaurant cooking methods, but the Josper charcoal oven is the hottest – in both senses of the word – piece of commercial kitchen equipment right now.
Fans of the TV series ‘Friends’ will know that “Joey doesn’t share food!”. If you have a friend like Joey Tribbiani, don’t take them to Lassala Grill in Mallorca. Go with a foodie friend or two and order a few of the delicious dishes created specifically for sharing by executive chef Andrés Benítez – who is also behind the critically acclaimed plant-forward cuisine at Botànic restaurant in Palma.
Spanish cuisine’s most famous dish is undoubtedly paella, and it’s one that visitors to Spain are often keen to try. Although paella originated in Valencia, it’s possible to enjoy a good one in Mallorca if you know where to go.
If watching recent TV travel documentaries about Italy has made you long for a taste of ‘la dolce vita’, set your GPS for the town of Son Servera in the Llevant area of Mallorca. In the heart of the town, Restaurante Peperoncino offers tempting Italian cuisine and warm Italian hospitality that’ll transport you – at least in spirit – to ‘la bella Italia’.
For a high-quality restaurant to survive in Mallorca for 35 years, it must be something special. The smart Port Petit in Cala d’Or is such a restaurant. Not only does it have a great location and gorgeous views over the marina from its dining room and terrace, but also a well-deserved fine-dining reputation. It’s recommended in the Michelin Guide for 2023.
A short drive from the east coast or the town of Sant Llorenç takes you to the small village of Son Carrió, where innovative cuisine features on this restaurant’s monthly changing tasting menu.
Weather is warming up and we were in a mood to sit outside and enjoy a good glass of wine with a bite or two. Some friends had told us about this very authentic Spanish tapas bar in Ciudad Jardín.
On a rather chilly and windy Monday evening in Palma, the area of Santa Catalina was eerily quiet. Until we entered The Duke – a cosy nook of a restaurant in a side street near Santa Catalina market. This was where everyone was, creating the buzzy warm ambience that’s evidence of an eatery that knows how to please its punters.
Like several other chefs who have opened their own successful restaurants, Adrián Quetglas used to work for British chef Marc Fosh. After a decade working in Russia, in 2015, Adrián opened his own restaurant, which has a Michelin star. He also has the neighbouring D’Gustar tapas bar.
Plaça Raimundo Clar has become quite the foodie destination in the regenerated quarter known as Sa Gerreria, in Palma de Mallorca. Bars and restaurants border the attractive large square and, since last September, Japanese cuisine has expanded the variety of international flavours on offer here.
Toothsome isn’t a word I use very often, but it sprang to mind as I was eating a delicious lunch at Bi Bap restaurant in Palma de Mallorca last week. If I hadn’t been eating alone, I’d have used that word in conversation with my lunch companion. Instead, I’ve saved it for this review.
Arume restaurant in Palma is still my favourite place to eat Asian cuisine – with some Mediterranean touches. The amiable Mallorcan chef and owner Tomeu Martí honed his Asian culinary skills during his travels to that part of the world. He opened Arume in 2006, five years after winning the title of Spain’s best young chef, aged 21.
Ponderosa Beach is not a typical ‘chiringuito’, although you’ll find it on the long sandy Playa de Muro. This family-run beach eatery – which has its roots back in 1967 – offers an unexpected level of gastronomy for a place where there’s sand beneath your table.
Forn in Palma is in a former 19th-century bakery in La Lonja that was converted into a restaurant in 1992. The founder’s sons Carlos and Christian are now responsible for Forn restaurant, which has recently undergone a stylish makeover.
This week’s Restaurant of the Week is, in fact, a café, but it’s one with oodles of style, delicious international food, and friendly table service. Café Rialto is within the Swedish-owned lifestyle store Rialto Living, offering a comfortable and super-stylish place to eat and drink at any time during the day.
Tucked away around the corner from Palma de Mallorca’s Jaime III, Fera Restaurant and Bar first opened in the autumn of 2017 and quickly gained a loyal following. The restaurant is in a tastefully restored old palacio and you enter through a small courtyard. Even before you pass through the automatic glass doors, you can see that the experience of eating here is something different.
The old town of Palma de Mallorca is home to Quadrat, within the 5-star Sant Francesc Hotel Singular. It’s an elegant restaurant located in this former palacio’s original stables and you’ll see hints of the space’s original use in the interior décor.
Offering one of Palma’s most diverse and innovative menus, Vandal is the product of its two creative owners’ international careers. Executive chef Bernabé Caravotta worked in Michelin-starred restaurants in France and Denmark – Mirazur and with René Redzepi at the renowned Noma, respectively – and at the Blue Elephant Thai cooking school in Thailand, before moving to Mallorca in 2007.