Majorca - Food and Drink
Good food and wine really matter in Mallorca and if you look for the restaurants where the locals go, you are sure to get a good meal.
Eat before 9pm and you are likely to find yourself in a tourist restaurant with the tourists or alone in a Spanish restaurant. The Mallorquins like to eat late and dining out is a serious business. There are over 1.200 restaurants in Mallorca offering cuisine of all possible types but logically, the islanders themselves like to eat the produce they grow and a typical Mallorcan restaurant will offer the true taste of the island.
Mallorcan gastronomy is a result of a typical Meditarrenean agriculture rooted in local ingredients, with olive oil, wines and meats, especially pork. The local dishes make full use of delicious local produce including almonds, olives and the local tomato called ramallet which is native to the island. Mallorca is also rich in its fruit and vegetables, so vegetarians are well catered for. One local speciality is tumbet, made with the same Meditarrenean vegetables as ratatouille namely aubergines, onions, tomatoes, peppers, garlic and the added ingredient potatoes.
Pork is very popular in Mallorca and can be found in numerous recipes. Perhaps the most typical to the island is porcella or suckling pig, a delicious roast pork which is gently roasted in the oven for hours. Also popular is llom amb col or pork wrapped in cabbage leaves with pine nuts and raisins. The blood red sausage or Sobrasada as it is known on the island is also a local speciality which derives from the pig and is famous to the island. It comes in a number of varieties from spicy to mild and juicy and can be spread on Mallorcan bread as a snack or cooked and used in numerous recipes. It is indeed part of the staple diet of Mallorca and can be seen hanging up in all the local supermarkets.|
From the pig too comes the lard which makes yet another Mallorcan speciality, which can only be found on the island. No other product is more typical or famous to the Balearic Islands than the ensaimada, a delicious yeast bun coiled into a spiral shape and dusted with icing sugar. Attempts to make it elsewhere off the island are never successful, as it is said that it is the sea air which makes the dough rise. That is the reason that so many Spanish visitors from the mainland carry back boxes of the dessert to their family and friends. The traditional ensaimada is made just with dough, but in recent years the ensaimada has been filled with a variety of fillings from pumpkin jam, cream caramel, chocolate and even sobrasada itself. The large ensaimada is more than often eaten at family get togethers and the smaller variety is found more in bars and is a delicacy for breakfast, especially when dipped in your morning coffee.
Another Mallorquin favourite and an essential snack for all Mallorcan children is the famous PAMBOLI. This is Mallorcan bread rubbed with garlic and the ramallet tomato and sprinkled with olive oil. It is also usually served with cheese and Spanish cured ham. It is a favourite for all the family and eaten at all hours. Other snacks found in the local bakerys include empanadas, round pastry pies filled with pork and peas, coca rois, delicious Mallorcan pasties with various vegetable fillings including raisins and coca, pizza type vegetable slices.
Other classic dishes which are normally cooked in traditional cooking pots known as greixoneras include fideua, the local paella made with noodles instead of rice, salted cod dishes, fresh fish and numerous lamb dishes. The local equivalent to the Spanish paella is arroz brut translated as dirty rice. This is saffron rice cooked with chicken, pork and vegetables. Also popular with the locals are sopes mallorquines, a thick broth of thinly-sliced brown bread and vegetables and frito mallorquin, a fry up of liver, pork, fennel, potatoes and onions.
Mallorcan wines are also gaining in popularity and at present the island´s wine production is regaining its former success. Highly praised red and white quality wines are produced in Binissalem, Petra Porreras and Consell.
Make the most of your time in Mallorca and visit the local bars and restaurants to sample the wonderful Mallorcan diet!