Palet – Greek-Mediterranean Tavern, Palma

You can eat cuisine from around the world in Palma, thanks to the wide variety of restaurants in Mallorca’s capital. But if it’s authentic Greek food you want, you’ll need to walk a little further from the touristic heart of Palma. You’ll be rewarded for your walk by Palet, a Greek-Mediterranean tavern, offering a good-value set lunch menu (weekdays except Fridays), appealing interior, friendly staff, and Greek chef/co-owner Stavros Gkouliamanis’s delicious food.

To get to Palet, we strolled the length of Parc de ses Estacions behind Palma’s railway and bus station. After exiting the gates at the back of the park, we were only a couple of minutes away from our lunch destination. Palet has terrace tables at the front, but we ate in the appealing dining room for this visit.

Palet offers a weekly changing lunch menu from Mondays to Thursdays (except public holidays) for a bargain 14,90€. This includes a drink (small beer, soft drink, water, or glass of house wine), and either a coffee or a dessert. The menu offers a choice of three starters and four mains, and all dishes on the day we visited were free from gluten and lactose – bonus points for Palet.

Few Greek restaurants have survived long in Mallorca, but Palet seems to have found a successful formula that appeals to locals: dishes on that keenly priced lunch menu are mainly Mediterranean with some Greek influences.

My two girlfriends and I wanted authentic Greek dishes, so we turned to Palet’s à la carte menu, which offers the classics of the country’s cuisine. To begin, we shared a plate of mezze, which included good pita bread, some delicious feta cheese, Santorini fava, grilled eggplant, keftedes, dolmadakia, and tzatziki. We all agreed this was a tasty starter.

For the main course, I chose Istanbul casserole – a very satisfying dish of stewed spinach and minced beef, topped with Greek yogurt (12,90€). My friends enjoyed ‘Saganaki’-style prawns in a home-made tomato sauce with herbs and feta cheese (14,90€) and souvlaki – marinated pork skewers (13,90€). I was pleased to note that the food was hot rather than lukewarm, as I’d once found on my brief, long-ago visit to Athens.

We had little space for one of the home-made desserts but were persuaded by our server to share a portion of baklava (5,90€). It’s a dessert that’s a little too sweet for my taste (I’m more of a savoury girl), but we finished it between us, and if you like baklava, you’ll enjoy this.

If you’re unfamiliar with Greek dishes, you’ll find Palet’s website helpful, as the menu offers a description and photo of each dish.

Most of the wines on Palet’s short and sensibly priced list (also shown on their website) are from the Peninsula, but Mallorca gets a showing with wines from Sa Rota, and there’s a retsina for those who want the full Greek experience. All except the retsina are available by the glass or bottle. Prefer a beer? Palet’s good choice includes one they import from Greece.

For a taste of authentic Greek cuisine in Mallorca, take a walk in the park and head for Palet.

Kali Oreksi (bon appétit)!

Photos: Jan Edwards

Prices correct at time of writing.