With everything? It is one of the questions that is raised the most at the Bar Mavi in Palma de Mallorca. Starting at half past eight in the morning and throughout the day, this historic venue in the city -in operation since 1955- dispenses Mallorcan variat in three sizes and with an, a priori, explosive combination. Above all, because the essence of this tapas, as many call it, is that on the same plate there is a squid pica, meatballs, kidneys, tripe, croquettes, gabardine prawns, breaded vegetables, mushrooms meat in sauce and a generous portion of Russian salad that crowns this invention that amazes many and horrifies others.
As its name indicates, the grace of the variat lies in the diversity of ingredients that can compose it. Chosen to taste by the client or with already predefined options (complete, battered, mountain, classic... we read in the Mavi menu) to speed up the choice a bit. The truth is that at first glance it shocks. When everything is more or less separated and ordered, nothing happens, but in the end the borders between tripe, salad and company are diluted and everything ends up being a delicious and somewhat crazy concoction of sauces not suitable for palates looking for photogenic.
Anything goes on this seemingly endless list of tapas? "Since this dish has been made for more than 60 years, we could say that limits have been established on what a canonical variat should or should not contain, if such a thing exists," explains David Valdés, author of the Instagram account @variatmallorqui, a true reference among lovers of this dish.
Variate with things
What can't be missing on the plate? Valdés is clear about it: “without salad there is no variat, it is what unifies all the dishes and gives them creaminess”. From there, three other categories make up this symphonic cover. One or more cuttlefish pica, tripe or piles; one, two or more tapas from a long list of options (meat in sauce, tongue with capers, loin, octopus with onion…); and, at least, a batter that gives it a crunchy point. The croquette is a classic, but it can be squid or battered vegetables.
Of course, the variat has its own controversies and theories. For example, there are those who defend that the traditional Majorcan fried food can be part of this dish and others argue that it has its own entity and it is a crime to put it there. There is also a list that is more or less prohibited or that, according to connoisseurs, turns the variat into a combined dish. Or, to use the similar acquaintance of paella, in a variat with things.
“Potato omelette, frankfurter sausages with ketchup, chorizos, chicken wings, boiled egg, mussels, knuckle, cooked prawns, surimi, snails, all i oli potatoes, padrón peppers, fried egg, Galician octopus, flamenquines, choricitos with cider, half a bikini…” listed from @variatmallorqui. The list is much longer, proof that over the years they have found everything on their plates.
Or, rather, in the clay pot (greixonera) where it is usually served. But hey, it's not a proposal that seeks preciousness or aesthetics either. The Mallorcan photographer Cristina Ortega knows a lot about this, who took care of illustrating El Llibre del Variat Mallorquí, published at the end of 2018 at the initiative of Sebastià Marí and Fernando Conde, from SER Radio Mallorca.
Although a mixture of tripe, with salad and a croquette on top is not one of those images that is rampant in these times of Instagram and avocados, she portrayed almost twenty variats for this book and achieved, based on a white background and lots of light, that they will be showy
A local and morning dish
His photos surely also had something to do with the success of this book, published first in Mallorcan and then also in Spanish, English and German. But do tourists also give the variat? It is an eminently local dish and above all from the towns, Valdés points out, although interest in it has skyrocketed in recent years. In the Bar Mavi they confirm it. “Those who ask for it are usually people from here, but also from abroad and foreigners, who don't know what a variat is and dare to try the tapa of tapas. Some love it, some don't."
In fact, one of the theories about its origin points to tourism in the 50s and 60s as the origin of the idea. They came and asked for a variety of tapas and that's how the dish came to be. Other stories bet on the use as a reason for being. At least it is the version that Ortega has heard the most: "the remains of food from previous days were gathered on Sunday and became the appetizer after leaving mass and before eating."
Despite this apparent link with the snack time in its origins, it is actually a morning dish, linked to the Mallorcan breakfast. “It is taken at early hours, from 6:30 to 11 in the morning. In fact, in many places they have a rigorous schedule for roasting and after a certain hour they no longer serve it or some of the tapas that make up the variat are not expected to remain," explains David Valdés, who since 2018 and with his wife has managed to popularize this dish on social networks.
Obviously, in many places the hours are much longer and, in addition to the early risers, it is possible to enjoy a variat at mid-morning, for an aperitif, lunch or even at dinner for the bravest.
Where to eat it?
In each town and almost in each place it is done differently. Something that, added to the tastes of each one, means that when asking for the best on the island we can get many answers. But if we trust the criteria of @variatmallorqui, who for something are a true authority on the subject, there are a few that you have to visit for sure.
Mention five essentials in Palma: Can Frau, Ca na Martina, Bar Atlético Baleares, Can Biel Felip and Bodega La Rambla. We add, of course, the Bar Mavi where we ended up on the recommendation of locals and in whose bar we were very happy opening ourselves with a complete variat in a large version.
Outside the capital, five other recommendations to tour the island jumping from variety to variety: Casa Miss (Sa Pobla), Can Moragues (Muro), Plaça 10, (Búger), Celler Sa Vinya (Binissalem) and Bar Granja Ses Voltes ( Campos). The list managed by the photographer Cristina Ortega is very similar, although her favorites also include S'Estanc Vell en Villafranca.
It is a small selection because at @variatmallorqui there are already two hundred proposals. And, although the list of ingredients seems to leave little room, yes, there are also vegetarian or vegan varieties. It was the trick they did last year from this Instagram account -they tell us- and it turns out that some places do offer it for real.
In the end, summarizing, it is a question of claiming a unique dish that can only be found in Mallorca and that should be part of the classics that must be tried when visiting the island, just like sobrassada or ensaimada.
