Mahón is the extreme east of Menorca, the Balearic Islands and Spain; Almost as close to Cagliari (Sardinia) as to Valencia, the city, like the island as a whole, has a very marked gastronomic personality, loaded with differential facts that make it especially interesting.
With just 30,000 inhabitants, Mahón and its immediate surroundings host a surprising and diverse gastronomic offer: from restaurants focused on tourists who want to explore the topics of the island without sacrificing quality to places more focused on a local public or those who seek to immerse themselves in the island gastronomy in another way, without haste and without shortcuts; bars, eateries and restaurants of all types and for all budgets.
This is our proposal to start soaking up what Mahón and the south of the island have to offer in terms of gastronomy:
Sa Pedrera d'es Pujol was born in the 1960s, about 5 kilometers from the center, as a picnic area that grew to become one of the best-known restaurants on the island today. The reason is a personal cuisine based largely on classic Menorcan recipes, revisited by the Asturian Daniel Mora.
Proposals such as the oliaigua with figs -a classic that has been on the menu for 20 years and that is made with four types of tomatoes and figs in textures- the Carn Freda, a terrine from stately island cuisine that is prepared with seven different types of meat, or Wellington formatjada, which is served with the traditional gravi sauce, share the limelight with dishes such as black butter skate with capers and sea fennel, sautéed squid with cured sobrassada and almonds or black pork chops with pomegranate sauce and a farcellet of cabbage.
A charming restaurant in a quiet street in the center, close to the nerve centers, but far away from the tourist excesses, Ses Forquilles is a perfect option for those looking for a local gastronomic experience without rigidities, based on an excellent product and with a updated.
A shrimp tartare with coca de aceite, some grilled prawns from the island, its famous (and rightly so) à l'ast chicken croquette or the ensaimada bikini, with sobrassada and honey, are perfect to share while you decide the main one, perhaps some Menorcan veal sweetbreads glazed with pickles, some crispy pig's trotters with mustard and quince or a piece of grilled fish. Accompanied by a cocktail of his interesting proposal and enjoyed at one of the patio tables, if possible.
El Romero, once a small gastrobar in Plaça de la Conquesta, has evolved into a restaurant with a strong personality, which handles the island's produce from its own point of view without straying from a contained price range.
Its cuisine dispenses with meat, focusing on the garden and, above all, on the sea, with proposals such as scallops with Jerusalem artichoke and roasted beetroot, toasted octopus with spicy chard and Menorcan saffron gel or pickled spits with spheres of dressing, which share space on the menu with some vegetarian proposals, such as the aubergine with plum and ginger tzaziki.
A stone's throw from Mahón, in Es Castell, is S'Arravaló, a project with the punk soul of chef Pere Bolet; a house of meals with no more pretensions than to feed rich and with common sense.
Crispy mask, snail cassola, pressed pig's head, zucchini carpaccio and smoked sardine... proposals to share, to eat with your hands, to enjoy without complexes, among which the Tupina de Conill stands out, a homemade rabbit preserve that should be in any command. For those who want more, hamburgers and meats on the stone of native breeds. And, to finish, the Belgian chocolate ingot with oil and salt, which is already one of the hallmarks of the house.
Mahón is, above all, an environment, a rhythm; something that can only be detected walking around without haste, stopping here and there to have a drink. It is worth doing a small gastronomic route, just 400 meters away, to enjoy that atmosphere and the more informal offer in the heart of the city.
A good starting point is the terrace of Bar Augustin, strategically located in front of the fish market and the church of Es Carme; the perfect place to sit and watch the city go by, perhaps while having a glass of one of its natural wines accompanied by a selection of cheeses or its wonderful country pâté.
From there to the Vinoteca Dolce Vita, on Carrer de Sant Roc, which has a small but interesting selection of wines by the glass and some snacks to accompany it. And a few more meters to Plaça Bastió, where before choosing where to sit, you have to go to the Pigalle bakery, on Carrer del Bastió, just 50 meters away, to get one of its wonderful French-style breads.
Back to the square, Pipet
El Rais enjoys a strategic location, with a terrace that overlooks the marina and Isla del Rey.
Its cuisine offer navigates between more informal proposals, such as slices of salt-cured beef with pickles, the salad with Binissaida vegetables and crystal prawns or the fish
Pintarroja, in the port of Es Castell, is the latest -so far- proposal by Eugeni de Diego from Bullin; a summer project with the soul of a beach bar and a lot of kitchen background.
Its menu is divided into two sections: To Snack, where natural oysters share space with fried eggs with potatoes and prawns or with mussels with sobrassada and De La Plancha, with a classic proposal of prawns, langoustines and sardines. All this, on a small terrace overlooking the sea, with an atmosphere that makes one think of that Menorca that was and that is increasingly difficult to find.
In San Climent, barely a kilometer from the airport, Es Molí de Foc can perfectly be a last meal on the island to leave with a good taste in your mouth. In an old 19th century cereal mill in the center of this small town, the restaurant of the Valencian Vicent Vila offers cuisine in which rice dishes have a special and well-deserved fame.
Rapa soup with crayfish, rabbit and tuna honey, señoret paella with Menorcan snails, vegetable with duck and meatballs... Es Molí de Foc's is probably the most diverse range of rice dishes on the island.
