Mallorca’s inland village of Petra seems likely to have more visitors this year. Not only is it the birthplace of the 18th-century Franciscan friar Junipero Serra, who founded missions on the West Coast of America, but it’s also the home of two new 4-star boutique hotels that have just opened.
The Manacor area has a new restaurant – and it’s one to try if you enjoy rural settings, no parking hassle, and, most importantly, delicious food made from the freshest of produce.
CRU in Manacor is a cosy restaurant appealing to those who enjoy home-cooked food and natural wines made from organic grapes, without additives. CRU is one of only two establishments in Manacor featured in the international natural wine and food lovers’ digital guide Raisin (the other is the tapas bar, Origen).
My previous Restaurant of the Week was in a winery; this week’s also has a point of difference because it has a small museum on site. The restaurant Molí de Son Rafal is in the inland town of Llubí, which is also home to the Rosselló company – famous for its production of olives, oils, vinegars, and pickles.
Many wineries in Mallorca offer space for private events, including dinners, but so far, only one bodega has a restaurant open to the public. The family winery, Blanca Terra, in Montuïri opened its restaurant for the first time in mid-March this year, and as it’s the sole winery restaurant on the island, it had to be tried.
Now is an excellent time to eat out in Mallorca – and here’s why: The second edition of Mallorca Restaurant Week has begun and, despite its name, this special promotion featuring some of the best restaurants on the island lasts for five weeks this year, until March 31st.
Food with flavours of the world, made from local produce, is on the menu at Übeck in Manacor. Chef Javier Hoebeeck – who moved from leading the Michelin-starred Fusion 19 to work at the Four Seasons Resort Mallorca in Formentor this year – opened his own Manacor gastro-tavern four years ago and has since expanded opening hours to seven days a week. Javier has also opened a second Übeck in Palma, following the success of the Manacor operation.
This week I’m not featuring a conventional restaurant, but a farm-to-table experience in the beautiful, rural valley near Manacor known as Sa Vall.
Close to the east coast around Cales de Mallorca is a place that feels a world away from the resort eateries. Around 11km from Cales de Mallorca in the direction of Manacor, the four-star hotel Principal Son Amoixa is nestled in a 16th-century rural estate.
One of my favourite seasonal eating-out places isn’t a bricks-and-mortar restaurant, but out in the countryside around Manacor. Terragust is a farm-to-table dining experience and a gastronomic success story in Mallorca.
You do not have to be a golfer to enjoy eating at Rotana La Reserva, the beautiful hotel with a private nine-hole golf course and vineyards. Located in the scenic Sa Vall, just a few minutes’ drive from the Via Palma – the main road through Manacor – it’s the perfect place to escape the bustle of the town and the summer visitors.
Photo: https://cafenou.com
Is it a pub? Is it a café? Is it a restaurant? Cafè Nou in Marratxí’s Sa Cabaneta district successfully manages to be all these things and more. For us, it was an unscheduled stop for a light lunch during a day of appointments. We hadn’t booked but were lucky to get a table. If you want to eat at Cafè Nou, I recommend that you make a reservation.
The rural hotel Finca Serena, near Montuïri, more than lives up to its name, with its tranquil, elevated setting offering surrounding views of the Pla de Mallorca. But you don’t have to be staying in one of this 5-star hotel’s 25 luxurious rooms and suites to spend some time here: Finca Serena’s restaurant, Jacaranda, is also open to the public and nourishes the soul as well as the body.
It’s not difficult to find a good pizza in Mallorca, especially if you’re in Palma where several pizzerias are known for them. But if you’re in the northeast of Mallorca and want to eat freshly cooked authentic Neapolitan pizza, where do you go? Try N’Apolonia Restaurant in Artà.
Paddington Bear isn’t the only notable – albeit fictional – export from Peru. The South American country’s gastronomy has fans around the world, for its flavours, textures, and some exotic native produce.
Now is an excellent time to eat out in Mallorca – and here’s why!
Restaurants serving Italian dishes are plentiful in Mallorca, but a proper Italian restaurant owned by an Italian chef serving authentic dishes from his country’s cuisine is noteworthy. Ristorante Terra di Vino is in Binissalem, making it perfect for lunch or dinner if exploring this wine-producing area.
For Can March restaurant in Manacor, 2025 is an important year because this iconic family business celebrates its centenary. First opened in 1925 as a café serving the good folks of Manacor, one hundred years later it’s a smart restaurant with an enviable, island-wide reputation. Can March will mark its centenary with some special events during the year and the publication of a book about the business and its history, in several languages including English.
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.
For a town that was once the capital of Mallorca (from the start of the 13th century until the mid-14th century), Sineu is a sleepy place when it’s not market day. On an autumn Monday evening, our footsteps echoed on the cobbled pavements as we walked through the quiet streets and lanes to our destination, Bar Ten.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.