Iām all for restaurants, even beach front ones, banning shirtless customers. I really do not want some sweaty fellow North European walking past and spraying me while Iām trying to enjoy lunch.
One of the problems here is that several areas of Mallorca have developed themselves as party resorts for, mainly, young Britons, Germans and Dutch who spend their holiday drinking heavily. You simply donāt see that sort of drunken behaviour in other parts of the island, such as the Pollensa area in the north which is where we stay.
I agree with Harters and we have spent the past week dining in delightful Pollensa and SĆ³ller with absolutely none of that behavior, thank goodness.
Weāre now in Palma for another week far away from the rowdy crowds, and while summer dress is casual due to the heat, we just havenāt seen any of that in the Old Quarter, in and around the Passeig del Born at the Llotja or in Santa Catalina, the trendy restaurant neighborhood.
Oh, Iām so envious, Maribel. For one reason or another, itās now over 5 years since we were last in Pollensa. Back maybe next year. Fingers crossed.
My wife and her two sisters have recently had a few days in Soller. One of the sisters is married to a guy from the town. They met when she was on holiday, over 40 years ago. They lived there for a good while but moved to the UK about 25 years back.
Hi maribel, oh wow Iām such a fan of Sollerā¦ 
Letās keep it between us here how wonderful this part of Europe is. The beach is perfect for lounging and walking barefoot on the boulevard drinking cocktails. Have you found any good restaurants? We visited a fish restaurant on the beach a few times, I believe it is called Kingfisher. We stayed at hotel Finca Caās Sant, really wonderful oasis.
In Palma I want to visit this new place next time, itās by the owners of Barrafina London -
Mrs H tells me that they ate at four restaurants, all in the port and all decent enough in their own way:
Es Canyis (back in the day, before Puerto Soller became gentrified, this was the ābestā restaurant in the area)
Campo Sol - a longterm family favourite. Good local food, slow service
And two fairly new places - Caān Ribes and So Caprichos
They didnt try anywhere in Soller itself, due to the almost impossibility of getting taxis.
2 of my aunts used to cook at Es Canyis back in its heyday. People used to call in (especially from France) and ask if my Tia Flora was going to be cooking on a particular night. Best cook Iāve ever met.
The Port has changed so much as things tend to do. The budget-seeking crowds have moved on to other locales, leaving it for the older, more moneyed crowd. I kind of miss the old days.
Sadly, I havenāt been back to my hometown in 6 years, so I have no idea what the food scene is like anymore.
Hi Jack and welcome to the forum.
I remember, back in the days when we first visited the Port, there were always a lot of French tourists. My BiL told me that, historically, Soller always had strong links with France because it was easier to do business across the sea, than over the mountains to Palma.
Itās quite a number of years sinceIāve been. But my partner has been more often and says the food scene is much improved in recent times - presumably thatās on the back of the more wealthy tourists now visiting.
Hi damino,
We too became great fans of SĆ³ller on this last visit. And yes, we found several great restaurants, the very best one being LUNA 36 on Carrer Lluna, the main shopping street. Itās run by a lovely Norwegian lady, Helle Alexandersen and her chef, Claudio Bernaschi. It has an artfully decorated interior courtyard where we had a fabulous lunch. Our hosts at The Salvia (which recently closed their restaurant after the chef departed) told us it was considered the best restaurant in town.
http://www.luna36.es
We also enjoyed CāAN PINTXO for small plates (farm to table, all local purveyors), CāAN BOQUETA for their executive menu at lunch, and in Port SĆ³ller, drinks on the terrace at the Hotel EsplĆ©ndido, followed by another small plates meal at the charming and very Spanish EL SABOR. For all we had to reserve in advance!
https://www.canpintxo.com/en/
http://www.canboqueta.com
https://www.facebook.com/elsaborsolleric/.
Unfortunately in Port SĆ³ller. we couldnāt fit in Kingfisher or Es Canyis, which our hosts also recommended.
SĆ³ller reminded us of a ProvenƧal town, but with a heavy dose of Moderniste architecture and a German accent! (lots of German visitors). It became very wealthy during the 19th century because it was more accessible for the citrus merchants to Barcelona and southern France than it was to Palma because of Tramuntana mountain range, cutting it of from the rest of the island. Thus, the beautiful mansions built by the citrus barons inspired by French Art Nouveau and Barcelonaās Modernisme. The Salvia is one of those beautiful citrus merchant mansions.
We then moved on north to Pollensa, which we also loved, in a different way and which is also blessed with several fine restaurants.
We really enjoyed R3SPIRAR for a lunch of fantastic seafood risotto, away from the busy PlaƧa Major.
We enjoyed several meals at probably Pollensaās best bistro and wine bar, Q11, on the PlaƧa Major (very, very popular).
https://www.q11restaurant.com.
In the wine bar the sommelier introduced us to two local wineries, CAN VIDALET and CAN AXARTELL, making superior whites and rosƩs.
https://www.canvidalet.com
https://www.canaxartell.com
We also discovered a great and inexpensive, authentic Galician spot for seafood tapas, TRISQUEL BAR ALHAMBRA, hidden away from the tourist crowds.
In Port Pollensa we loved our lunch of lobster paella at LA TERRASSA of the Hotel Ila dāor, arguably the best hotel in town.
Both SĆ³ller and Pollensa and also Palma are loaded with Italian restaurants that we didnāt try.
Damiano, I wish I had seen your recommendation of El Camino in time! We passed by it several times and now have it on my list for a return trip. If I had knownā¦
Our outstanding Palma meals:
SA DRASANNA in a very fashionable art gallery near the Llotjaāheavenly small dishes
LA VIEJA BY JONAY HERNANDEZ (with a nod from Michelin and Repsolāimo, it merits a Repsol sun for its very creative dishes and most clever presentations from an Islas Canarias chef)
http://www.lavieja.net
LA MALEVA RAIMUNDA (on the same square) for excellent grilled meats from an Argentinian chef.
https://malevamallorca.com/maleva-raimundo/
We had an informal lunch on the rooftop with sea views of the Hotel Llorenc but didnāt get to try their signature restaurant,DINS SANTI TAURA (1 Michelin star, 2 Repsol suns).
Ditto to lunch on the rooftop terrace of the Hotel Es Princep in lieu of the Michelin-starred ZARANDA (we had experienced Arellanoās cuisine long ago in Madrid).
https://zaranda.es.
For the cityās best ensaimadas, we headed to the venerable Cāan Joan de sāAigo, Forn des Teatre- Fornet de la Soca and Horno Santo Cristo.
And we noshed at the much loved and always bustling BAR JOAN FRAU-CAN FRAU of the Mercado Santa Catalina, which reminded us of Casa Dani in Madridās Mercado de la Paz. The Santa Catalina area has become the lively, trendy restaurant district of Palma.
Hi maribel, oh wow so many new tips! We did visit Luna 36 and loved it as well. Too bad you didnāt go to El Camino - I havenāt been there either but I know their London restaurants well and they are 100% authentic and just serve wonderful food.
In Pollensa we went to Cellar La Parra, which is the type of restaurant I love. Very traditional and great food. Unfortunately I wasnāt able to find a similar place in Soller. As we didnāt stay in Pollensa but in Soller, we just did a day trip and Cellar La Parra was the only restaurant we visited there.
Cellar La Parra is one of my favourite places in Puerto Pollensa. Very, ahem, individual decoration. But damn good food.
Last trip, we also ate at Stay, Clivia, El Posito (back street place with a bargain lunchtome menu del dia), 365 (at the Son Brull hotel), Eu Centro & Caān Cuarassa.
I would not normally think a buffet was worthy of mention on a food forum but we also had lunch at Menestralia at Campanet. Itās next to the glass factory showroom which had been the main object of the trip. Probably the best buffet Iāve ever visted. Better than the Chinese and Asian ones at home. Better than the ones Iāve experienced in the States. Thereās considerable choice. We started at the salad end of the buffet by way of making up a starter plate. Thereās the usual greenery and a rice salad, sitting next to the choice of three soups. And thereās some meats at this end ā sausages, steaks, thick bacon. At the far end, thereās local dishes ā lomo con col, frito, braised beef, fried fish fillets, whitebait, snails and a paella that my companion in life rated highly ā right down to the crusty soccarat at the bottom of the pan. And thereās veg and spuds of course. And wine and water is put on your table. It was packed with locals.
Thanks Harters and damiano for the Celler La Parra recommendation. Duly noted for our next visit, and we have a good friend headed to Port Pollensa soon so I wanted to give him some dining recommendations in addition to La Terrassa and 365 at the Son Brull.
Clivia is now permanently closed, but R3spira nearby served us well in Pollensa.
Mrs Harters will be distraught at that news. We both rated it the ābestā place we knew in the area.
