What and Where to Eat in Mallorca

The traditional cuisine of Mallorca is typically Mediterranean, although it is becoming increasingly difficult to find restaurants that haven't adapted their dishes to the tastes of the millions of tourists who invade the island each year. Therefore, the search for authentic local cuisine must go beyond the areas frequented by English and German vacationers to find less touristy and harder-to-find locales.

The last bastions of Mallorcan cuisine are the cellers (wine cellars) that take their name from the old restaurants housed in places where wine was produced and stored. There are several cellers both in Palma de Mallorca and in other villages around the island. The most well-known are in Sineu, Inca, and Petra.

In these restaurants, you can find typical Mallorcan dishes, such as soups, made with thin slices of bread in hot broth with vegetables and pieces of meat. The trempó is the classic summer salad, made with tomatoes, garlic, olives, vinegar, salt, and red pepper. Among the meat dishes, the king of the table, as in all of Spain, is pork. The Arròs Brut is a dish made with rice and a lot of meat, supplemented with some vegetables. The paella here is called Arròs sec, but rest assured that in tourist restaurants you will find it labeled as paella. Characteristic of Mallorca is the Frit Mallorquí, also known as Freixura, made with fried offal and served with fried potatoes or vegetables.

The Mediterranean is the basis for many dishes in local cuisine, such as Peix al Forn, baked fish, or stuffed calamari. The Mallorcans eat their lunch accompanied by pa mallorquí (Mallorcan bread), a loaf made without salt. The Spanish charcuterie tradition in Mallorca takes the form of sobrassada, pork meat with plenty of paprika, and Botifarrons, a meat and blood sausage. The same process is used to make Camaiot.

Among desserts, the queen of the table is the ensaïmada, a spiral pastry made with saim, pork fat, so be careful with it. Other typical sweets include Gató, usually served with ice cream, and greixonera de brossat, a fresh cheese cake.

The wines of Mallorca have two DOCs: that of the municipality of Binissalem producing a red and a rosé, and that of Pla de Llevant, whose wines have delicate flavors. The best productions come from Binissalem and Santa Maria, located at the foot of the Serra de Tramuntana, in a humid and fertile area. The local saying in Mallorca goes that in Binissalem "there are girls who know how to sew, men who know how to farm, and good vineyards for making wine".