Café Inca, Inca

If you like the thought of an eatery that helps disadvantaged people into meaningful employment, you should have a warm feeling when eating at Café Inca in, you guessed it, Inca.

Opened in 2021, Café Inca is part of Esment, the organization founded in 1962 to provide professional catering apprenticeships and work opportunities for those with mental disabilities. Esment is also behind the popular Café Palmanova and Palma’s Café Es Pes de sa Palla.

The Inca branch is open for breakfast, snacks, drinks, lunch, and tapas – and for buying excellent bread and baked goods from Esment’s bakery Can Pa. Some of the organic vegetables used here are grown at Esment’s finca in Son Ferriol.

Café Inca is an eight-minute walk from Inca railway station, but if you’re travelling by car, there’s a large, freecar park across the road. There’s a terrace for good weather but we ate indoors.

The large interior has an open kitchen at one end and an industrial-chic decor, with attractive lighting, a variety of seating options, and red brick and exposed concrete walls. The ambience was inviting. For those who like to watch their food being prepared, there are stools at the kitchen counter.

The autumn/winter menu is printed on a paper placemat and, in addition, there’s a blackboard of the week’s suggested dishes. The menu was in Catalan but is also available in English. At Café Inca you can eat as little or as much as you want, and we opted for a three-course lunch.

We each began with a baby lettuce leaf taco filled with chicken and vegetables (4€), noting the freshness of the vegetable elements. There are similar tacos with lamb or smoked salmon. Of course, we didn’t miss the opportunity to have a basket of Can Pa bread (3,25€) and, when we didn’t finish it, our server offered us a paper bag so we could take what was left home.

Café Inca has a Kamado grill, and we were tempted by the dishes from that (14€-22€), but seeing the number of paella pans suspended from the kitchen ceiling, we shared a rice dish with calamari and red prawns at 19€ each. As in many restaurants, the rice dishes are for a minimum of two people.

All the desserts are made by Esment’s bakery, and our server recommended the cheesecake. It’s always a test of an eatery’s dessert quality, and Café Inca’s passed with flying colours. The silky confection was accompanied by fruity, home-made jam, and a crisp shard of biscuit.

The menu has two wines: Gallinas & Focas (4€/24€) and Sa Cussa Antònia (3,75€/21€) – both from the partnership of Esment with Felanitx winery 4 Kilos Vinícola, and available by the glass or bottle.

My friend and I had a long, chatty lunch, and were surprised to notice we were the only customers left. Unlike quite a few restaurants in Mallorca now, the Spanish tradition of sobre mesa – lingering in conversation after a meal – continues at the lovely Café Inca.

Photos: Jan Edwards

Prices correct at time of writing.