N’Apolonia Restaurant, Artà

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.

Artà has a large choice of eateries along the town’s attractive main street, C/ de la Ciutat, but you’ll need to turn into one of the side streets to find N’Apolonia – a family-friendly restaurant specialising in Neapolitan pizzas.

N’Apolonia opened in December 2023 and is owned by Mallorcan chef, Jaume, and his charming Polish girlfriend, Bea, who works front of house.

The restaurant has tables on a pavement terrace in front and an attractive interior, with some interesting local art on the walls. We ate indoors, watching Jaume at work in the open kitchen, which contains an impressive, tiled pizza oven.

Jaume was trained to make the classic dish of Naples by a Neapolitan pizza maestro. Jaume’s long-fermented and highly hydrated dough has a 24-hour pre-ferment, resulting in a dough that’s easier on the digestion. He combines the time-honoured tradition of pizza-making with a modern twist.

Jaume uses high-quality ingredients and directly imports some from Italy. Essential for him is the San Marzano tomato, which comes from the San Marzano sul Sarno region and is the only tomato recognised for authentic Neapolitan pizza thanks to its Protected Designation of Origin. This type of tomato is sweeter, less acidic, has fewer seeds, and a higher ratio of flesh to water.

N’Apolonia is not a full Italian restaurant but specialises in pizzas – classic and gourmet.  The starters on the menu include Designation of Origin cold cuts and buffalo mozzarella, and burrata. We opted to share a plate of Prosciutto di Parma DOP, creamy burrata, cherry tomatoes, and rocket (12€). With a basket of crispy Sardinian flatbread, it was the perfect size for sharing. We drank Es Tren Rosado from the winery Tianna Negre at 5,50€ a glass.

On our visit, there were 12 classic and nine pizzas on the menu, with prices ranging from 9€ to 18€. Both tomato and white-based pizzas are available. We chose a classic prosciutto e funghi (13€) and the gourmet prosciutto di Parma (18€). Both pizzas were excellent and satisfying, with the promised light dough. There are some vegetarian and kids’ options.

Desserts are home-made here and include the classic tiramisu (6€). We didn’t have room for one even to share on this occasion but shall return for sure to enjoy another  taste of Naples in Artà.

The new season’s menus were delivered by the printer while we ate our dinner, and Bea told us there will also be salads on the menu by the time you read this.

Photos: Jan Edwards

Prices correct at time of writing.