Restaurante Binicanella, Son Servera

This week’s Restaurant of the Week is an ideal place for family meals out or for anyone wanting a rural and more traditional Mallorcan eating-out experience. Binicanella describes itself as a rustic restaurant and that’s a fair description.

Binicanella has been owned and run by a brother and sister for the past 18 years. It specialises in grilled meats, cooked over an open fire. As well as the open grill, there’s a traditional wood-fired hole-in-the-wall oven for cooking suckling pig and lamb shoulder.

The finca was first mentioned in the 13th century and until the later years of the 20th century, for some 150 years, it was a hermitage where monks tended the farm and gardens. Today, the land provides some of the produce used in Binicanella’s kitchen.

The terrace is the place to be once the weather is warm enough. Spacious and with a children’s play area and an outdoor bar, the elevated location of the restaurant means views of the sea in the distance. It’ll be a pleasant place to dine on a warm evening.

We ate lunch indoors, sitting at a Formica-style-topped table with disposable placemats and serviettes, but noting the comfortable dining chairs. It was the first day of the 2025 season and two Mallorcan family groups were already eating when we arrived.

Binicanella’s menu offers Mallorcan and Mediterranean cuisine. Specialities are the grilled entrecôte of Irish beef, trampó, mixed paella, and lamb shoulder from the wood-fired oven. You’ll find sobrasada and Mallorcan sausage from the grill, tumbet, and grilled meat platters (for a minimum of two diners).

We chose mixed tapas to share, of dates in bacon (slightly overcooked), pimientos de Padrón, prawn ‘sacks’ in a pink sauce (I’d have preferred them without the sauce), boquerones, and squid rings. I rarely eat beef but had a grilled fillet steak which was perfectly cooked and accompanied by grilled vegetables. My companion had a decently cooked sole and chose chips as his accompaniment.

We ended lunch with the house speciality, ‘Binicanella’ – a caramelised semifreddo with almonds (7€) and pineapple carpaccio with ice cream and red fruits (6€). Popular Mallorcan desserts almond cake with vanilla ice cream and crema Catalana are traditional desserts offered.

Binicanella offers cocktails, a range of bottled beers (and Magners cider), and wines.

I should mention that the owners have a very sweet-natured and well-behaved whippet, that wanders around from time to time. We love dogs and this one was no trouble and only approached people who encouraged it, but I add this for the benefit of anyone who’s either afraid of dogs or doesn’t want to share a restaurant with one.

The lane up to Binicanella crosses the Via Verde, so this could be a good restaurant for a break during a walk or cycle on this path between Manacor and Artà.

Photos: Jan Edwards

Prices correct at time of writing.