De Tokio a Lima, Valldemossa
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.
by Jan Edwards
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.
The word ‘barefoot’ conjures up memories of summer in Mallorca but is also a metaphor for a lifestyle that’s relaxed and closer to nature. ‘Barefoot’ seems an appropriate name for a restaurant that has the bonus of being in one of the island’s most picturesque coastal locations.
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.
Inca-born chef Andreu Genestra is having a moment. In the news for moving his eponymous Michelin-star restaurant to the rural Zoetry Mallorca Wellness & Spa Hotel near Llucmajor, the dynamic chef also designed the Mediterranean menu for the dinner show at the new Lío in Palma.
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.
Canarian cuisine with creative modern touches awaits you at La Vieja de Jonay Hernández – located in the increasingly trendy Plaça de Raimundo Clar, in the regenerated area of Sa Gerreria, in Palma.
No self-respecting foodie should miss the opportunity to try the Michelin-starred cuisine at Marc Fosh restaurant in Palma de Mallorca – where an excellent-value lunch is on offer.
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.