Andreu Genestra is already a classic of contemporary Mallorcan cuisine, a pioneer of the post-Bullinnian avant-garde on the island who anticipated the current brilliant moment in which chefs such as Maca de Castro, Fernando Pérez Arellano, Santi Taura, María Solivellas, Adrián Quetglás, Benet and Jaume Vicéns and a long etcetera make up a brilliant culinary scene.
After the star he achieved in 2015, which was joined by a green star in 2021, there is a long career in kitchens such as those of Marc Fosh, Jean Louis Neichel or Juan Mari Arzak, places like Mugaritz, Espai Sucre and last season in the Bulli. But even more important than this previous tour is the work that the chef has been developing in his restaurant, throughout more than a decade of existence, which a few weeks ago moved to a new location.
Genestra’s work around the gastronomic Mediterranean has led her to establish collaborations with local producers, such as the butcher Xesc Reina, from Can Company, or Monserrat Pons, the man behind the prodigious Son Mut estate. His interest, however, has not been confined to the island, which has led him to work on what he considers to be the guiding threads of the Mediterranean gastronomic personality, present with nuances in different territories.
That baggage now finds accommodation in a spectacular location. The Zöetry Mallorca hotel, in the heart of the Sa Torre estate, in Llucmajor, occupies an old noble house from the 14th century, a place of absolute tranquility that, from the entrance, next to the 17th century mill, creates a charged atmosphere of historical connotations.
This is where Genestra and her team have found their place and where they opened the restaurant’s doors just two months ago. The chef’s gastronomic commitment follows the same line as up to now, but he finds here a space that covers and envelops him, not only because of the undoubted packaging of the building, but also because of the historic orchards that the chef has begun to work inside the property and that become one more element that plays in favor of the diner’s experience.
The current menu is proposed under the name of Mediterranean and can be adapted according to various formulas to suit the client’s taste: the Mediterranean Extreme option adds three dishes to the set, Mediterranean Verde reformulates the menu in a vegetarian key and there is still a last option in which the Clients can choose two or three dishes from the menu if they prefer a lighter proposal.
The tour begins with a wink, which will be resumed at the end: the snacks are aesthetically planned as petit-fours, through which a first tour of flavors of the island is proposed: a potato churro, olives and vermouth to start, a peanut fritter, a Mahón cheese and butifarró cake and a Mallorcan brown bread bonbon with sobrasada followed by a false almond butter that is offered together with olive oil and different breads.
Roasted peppers, beef stew and eel. A wonderful first course in which a traditional cap i pota is proposed served in a potent, sweet and slightly acidic broth of roasted peppers, along with diced eel. The artichoke confit with a concentrated juice of roasted vegetables is also very pleasant, served together with a velvety cream of spinach and zucchini and accompanied by a butter croissant for dipping.
Duck and mussel. The first sea and mountain of the route, a really interesting combination in which the iodized and soft texture of the Menorcan mussels contrast with the greater resistance of some intense duck gizzards, with a light and spicy almond cream, acting as a link between the two elements.
The lobster, barely cooked to respect all the tenderness of its meat, is served on foie gras in a clarified consommé of its head and accompanied by a coca de aceite with yolk, a revision of one of the iconic products of the island. The view then turns to more humble elements of the tradition, in this case the rice with rabbit, which is presented with the boneless animal, like a sausage, emulating the classic cooked sausages of the Mediterranean tradition, accompanied by a powerful vegetable rice, a pea mustard and, as in previous dishes, a counterpoint (two, actually): in this case some rabbit rillettes with boot sardines and a beetroot smoothie.
A new sea and mountain: laminated, steamed and lightly marked squid, cured cheese, jerky, goose egg yolk and smoked sauce from its trimmings. Like a carbonara, somehow, in a Mallorcan version. The firm texture of the squid, almost crunchy, the contrast with the smoothness of the sauce, the meaty touch as a counterpoint to the iodized and the squid meatball that, once again, is served separately, give shape to a wonderful dish.
The fish of the day on this occasion was a serranito (pez serrano, serrano real, serrà, cabrilla), an inshore fish, a smaller relative of grouper and grouper that is a common catch in Mallorca. It is proposed, boneless, on a green tomato Bloody Mary and accompanied by cockles, green apple, celeriac and an apple jam, looking for iodized, acidic, earthy and spicy nuances in each bite.
The salty section ends with a quail with fig molasses, stuffed with its salmís, lacquered with a roasted fig nectar from the Son Mut estate (the roasted figs are hung on a cloth so that, due to their own weight, they release their juice) and accompanied by a turnip raviolo stuffed with pickled figs; a dish of academic roots passed through the filter of the product of the island.
An important presence also in vegetable desserts and a concern not to add more sugars than those of the product. As in the parsnip bacon, very successful, with butter sponge and toasted hazelnut sauce or in the date sponge with apple, pear ice cream and vanilla cream, which we accompany with a little luxury: a brandy from Bodegas Suau (a one of the oldest on the island, founded in 1851), from which the cook made a barrel, a complex callet grape brandy from old vines, with toasted and peppery nuances that becomes, in this case, a counterpoint of the dessert, following the same dynamic as in a large part of the menu.
End of the tour retaking that initial nod in which the snacks were dressed as petit-fours. In this case it is the other way around and they propose a pickled apple olive, a burnt cream croquette and a white chocolate “tortilla”.
The proposal of the Andreu Genestra restaurant, in this new stage, successfully combines local flavors, sea and mountain dishes and a measured academicism in an eclectic tour that has the pantry and the Mediterranean gastronomic heritage as its common thread. All of this, hand in hand with an unquestionable product and in a location like the current one, wins points both for convincing international customers looking for a fine dining experience and for those who come looking to peek into a personal and contemporary Mallorcan cuisine.
The work of Genestra and her team fits perfectly with a location like the Zöetry hotel, a radically Majorcan enclave capable of escaping clichés at the same time, offering the timeless character of a historic building and adding all the comfort expected of a hotel of these characteristics.
The restaurant, an essential piece of the hotel proposal, is capable of becoming an attraction on its own, apart from an environment that complements and enriches it. His current line of work demonstrates a maturity, a clarity of ideas and a commitment to the environment that make it a basic proposal to understand the great moment that cooking is going through in Mallorca.
