ES GARUM, Lloseta
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.
One gastronomic gem is in the small town of Lloseta, which is on Mallorca’s railway network. A five-minute walk from the station and you’re in chef David Palomo’s restaurant, Es Garum. It’s David’s first restaurant, which opened in April 2022 and is named after the fermented fish sauce first made by the Greeks and Romans in ancient times. But David didn’t just randomly pick the name for his restaurant: he’s passionate about the dark, umami-packed liquid and makes his own garum, using salt from Es Trenc and anchovies from the market, used to good effect in some of his dishes.
David is originally from the Valencian Community but has travelled extensively. He worked for six years in Scotland and still visits each year. It was while working later in Menorca (for six years again) that he met his Mallorcan future wife. The rest is history.
The Mediterranean cuisine is a mix of traditional and avant-garde, based on produce that David sources locally. He offers a seasonal à la carte menu that changes four times a year (on a previous visit we had excellent venison), and an appealingly priced tasting menu of five courses with petits fours for just 32,50€ which changes each month.
July’s tasting menu began with sour cherry gazpacho – the perfect opener on a hot evening. David brought us a basket of warm bread rolls (bonus points from me) with his own flavoured butter tasting of seaweed, smoked paprika, and black pepper. Delicious.
I won’t describe every dish as you should go to Es Garum and discover David Palomo’s flavourful cuisine for yourself – and I don’t want to give too much away.
Es Garum has a reasonably priced wine list and although we were travelling on the train, we both wanted different wines, so we each had a generous measure at 5 € a glass.
David spent some time explaining his dishes and the history and process of making garum. I could have spent hours listening to him because his passion shines through. I wasn’t surprised when he told us he was “very obsessed with flavours.” It shows in every mouthful.
Photos: Jan Edwards
Prices correct at time of writing.