Eivissa is eaten and drunk by all its coasts and interiors. And it is that, far from the sun and beach, from the nightlife and unbridled leisure that have made the island of Pitiusa world famous, is its gastronomy. The one that is made with products from the land and the Ibizan sea: pure km 0.
Chefs and restaurants stock up on their fantastic vegetables, their native breeds and their products taken from the sea to prepare recipes that range from traditional to avant-garde cuisine. No one forgets the raw materials offered by this iconic island, which has all the ingredients to shine as a first-rate gastronomic destination.
The president of his Academy of Gastronomy (of Eivissa and Formentera) already says so. “We are a territory with the capacity to surprise gastronomically, as a reflection of a natural and gastronomic heritage that has evolved over the centuries,” said Pedro Matutes. With him and many other academics from all over Spain we have gastro-explored the island, within the framework of the III Forum of Autonomous Academies of Gastronomy, with Eivissa as the gastronomic capital.
Eivissa boasts wine (and vermouth and Ibizan herbs), like those of Can Rich and Ibizkus; EVOO, such as those from Joan Benet and Miquel Guasch, and honey. All these products have a recognized denomination of origin. But the island also treasures a fantastic orchard (red potato, watermelon) and ancestral cereal varieties such as xeixa wheat, with which bread is made, are being recovered.
It also has native breeds (chicken, lamb and goat) and boasts the black porc racial group, a pig breed with which fantastic sausages are made, such as black botifarró. Do not forget other typical products that come from pork such as sobrassada, white sausage, fuet, camaiot or cap de porc.
We do not say it, but the Financial Times: Casa Jondal is the best beach bar in the world. This is how the British newspaper chose it. And the entire island, say the locals. It is enough to visit the restaurant to applaud the compliment. Go ahead the pleasure of eating with your feet in the sand, in the shade of junipers and listening to the waves of the sea.
This paradise located at the foot of the beach that gives it its name (in Sant Josep) bases its menu on a top-quality product that prioritizes local and Mediterranean XXL fish and shellfish. There is also meat. Rafa Zafra (formerly of El Bulli and owner of Estimar in Barcelona and Madrid) and his partner Ricardo Acquista are the creators of snacks such as grilled toast with butter and caviar, an oyster with tapioca and trout roe, a red shrimp carpaccio, grilled squid with black butter or grilled sea bass with Bilbao. A show! Because here, more than a dish, the product is chosen.
Day or night, looking towards Dalt Vila and the port is always a pleasure for the eyes. Eating lunch or dinner with that horizon in the background is, if possible, a privilege. The Calma restaurant (or Sa Calma, as it is also known), in the Marina Ibiza marina, makes this possible on its terrace on the pier, although it also occupies a glass-enclosed building that, when the weather is not good, allows you to enjoy the fantastic panorama from the inside.
At the helm of the restaurant is José María Xic, an Ibizan with a long hotel tradition who offers hearty dishes from the island and Mediterranean cuisine. Like fresh squid sautéed with sobrassada or a wide assortment of fish: San Pedro rooster, sirvia or rotja (Ibicenco scorpionfish), among many others. Don’t forget to order a portion of flaó, the typical Eivissa cheesecake.
For some time now, the French chef David Grussaute settled on the island to fuse his homeland and Mediterranean cuisine, using fresh, seasonal products of the highest quality that come to Unic Restaurant (carrer de les Begònies, 18, Sant Josep de sa Talaia) from small local producers.
Its La Xanga tasting menu (€95) includes snacks such as warm brioche stuffed with duck sobrassada and watermelon pickle; stingray, oxalis and lemon caviar; Posidonia and Ibizan red shrimp; seafood consommé made from posidonia and a katsuobushi of red shrimp bodies and heads; island tuna and posidonia bread; pressed wheat xeixa, stuffed belly sausage and warm French oyster in a sauce of black pork and oyster juice or -putting the sweet note- a dessert based on different elaborations made with Eivissa honey, mead and fresh flowers, and another made from the parts of the pine tree (pine cones, bark, pine honey, pine nuts and needles). The entire island is harvested and eaten. The Grussaute thing is Km 0 by conviction.
The highest distinction for restaurants that offer exceptional cuisine has also reached the island. Álvaro Sanz from Es Tragón, Óscar Molina from La Gaia and Paco Budia from Etxeco Ibiza boast a Michelin star and know how to elevate local produce to the highest and most sophisticated gastronomy. In Etxeco, which in Basque means home, the Cantabrian flavors of Martín Berasategui add to the uniqueness of the island’s products from the sea and the land. In front of the restaurant, located inside the BLESS Hotel Ibiza, located in Cala Nova, Paco Budia offers gourmet snacks that you can enjoy à la carte or on their tasting menu (€180).
At the Ibiza Gran Hotel (Passeig Joan Carles I, 17, Eivissa), Óscar Molina combines the best local and Mediterranean produce with Nikkei cuisine. Or, as he calls it, japeruvian, his personal vision of the japo-peruvian fusion. La Gaia, the first restaurant to obtain a Michelin star on the island, is an example of sustainability and commitment that extols the quality of Eivissa’s natural resources with a proposal of two tasting menus: Tanit (€150) and Posidonia (€180).
Es Tragón (Carretera Cap Negret s/n, Sant Antoni de Portmany) is a country house surrounded by pine trees, with the Mediterranean Sea as its starting point, which collects and reinterprets recipes from ancient civilizations with innovative techniques. Therein lies its magic. Like a gastronomy artisan, Álvaro Sanz weaves a traditional-avant-garde cuisine based on stews and long cooking. The restaurant focuses on self-sufficiency with its own preparation of salted meats, cheeses, breads, and carries out sustainable actions by recovering marginal endemic plants or atmospheric water. The chef has created two menus: Erizo (€180) and Payés (€135).
