Guide to eating and drinking in Mallorca familiar food and local cuisine Mallorcan wine Holidays in Mallorca

Majorca (Spanish and Catalan: Mallorca) is the largest island of Spain. It is located in the Mediterranean Sea and part of the Balearic Islands archipelago. The name derives from Latin insula maior, "larger island"; later Maiorica. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Cabrera archipelago is administratively grouped with Majorca (in the municipality of Palma). The anthem of Majorca is La Balanguera. Like the other Balearic Islands of Ibiza, Formentera, and Minorca, the island is a popular tourist destination. In Germany, the United Kingdom and to a lesser extent, Ireland, where package tourism to the island started in May 1952, Majorca has remained a popular destination.

Restaurants and other food outlets in Mallorca are very much geared to northern European tastes and international cuisine. If you don’t like taking risks with food and like what you know, you will easily find enough to eat in Mallorca. In the tourist resorts, you actually have to work quite hard to find authentic Mallorcan food.

There is a wide variety of restaurants in Mallorca: Italian, Chinese, Indian, Thai… even a Japanese buffet in Puerto Alcúdia. And this is not to mention all the British places, German places (for the German tourists, who are the other main group) and American-style places.

If you are interested in trying some Mallorcan specialities, you’ll find more authentic food in the less touristy areas inland. Remember that the locals eat later than we do, particularly in the evening, so if you want to blend in, don’t have your dinner before 9 pm. (Personally, I find this gives me indigestion and bad dreams, so if I’m going out for a meal in Mallorca I tend to do lunch.)

Supermarkets in Mallorca

The supermarkets sell mainly Mallorcan, Spanish, British and German produce – as well as pasta and pizza, which everybody seems to like.

In the section marked Productos Británicos at Eroski, you can find cereals, English tea bags and other staples of the British kitchen.

Mallorcan produce, including sausages and cheeses, can be found in the section marked Sa Nostra Terra. Do try the Queso Mallorquín (Mallorcan cheese). The Queso Maó, made in the capital of Menorca, is good too. Most supermarkets bake every day, so you can get nice, fresh bread to go with your cheese.

Supermarket wine is astonishingly cheap. Eroski’s own brand, which comes in a tetrapak, is really not bad and it costs less than a euro.

Traditional Mallorcan food

Once you get off the beaten track, you’ll be able to sample some real Mallorcan food. Since Mallorca is a small island with fertile ground and indigenous black pigs, Mallorcan cuisine tends to be based around pork, seafood, vegetables and large amounts of olive oil.

Some specialities to look out for are:

Pa amb oli is a staple of Mallorcan culture (see the book by Tomás Graves below). It literally means bread and oil, though it usually involves some tomato as well, and it’s served pretty well everywhere you go.

Sobrasada is a Mallorcan pork salami-style sausage, with added red chilli pepper.

Tumbet is layers of potato fried with aubergine, tomatoes, peppers and garlic.

Arroz brut literally means dirty rice and is the Mallorcan paella, generally cooked with pork and/or chicken, with vegetables.

Ensaimada, a sweet, rolled pastry, is another famous Mallorcan speciality. You can find this easily in the supermarket and it makes a nice breakfast.

The mayonnaise (mayonesa) is particularly good in the Balearics. The name is said to derive from Maó, the capital of Menorca.