Last year after a trip to its east coast, we became fully paid-up fans of the Balearic island of Menorca, evangelising to pretty much everything we met about how great it was. From the low-rise buildings and nature reserves to its fabulous food and drink, we loved it all. This summer, we made a return trip to the west side of the island, focusing our attentions around Ciutadella. Here's our more complete guide to how to eat and drink well, across the island of Menorca.
Ciuitadella and surrounding countryside
This is the old capital of the island, and it's an incredibly picturesque city with an absolutely buzzing food and drink scene. For our most recent trip we covered the city, the southern district of Son Blanc and the surrounding countryside.
Son Vell
Camí de Son Vell, 07769
This relatively new addition to Menorca's luxury hotel offering (it opened in 2023) is set in a beautiful 18th-century manor house with extensive grounds that run down to the sea. Executive chef Joan Bagur is Menorcan-born, although he's spent much of his time working in Mexico. Here his menu at the hotel's restaurant Vermell is all about local, seasonal food with a supporting role played by an amazing Menorcan-focused wine list.
Getting to the hotel does require a taxi, as it's in the middle of the countryside, around 20 minutes from Ciutadella. But once there, we'd strongly suggest enjoying a cocktail in the bar out in the beautiful gardens before heading into Vermell. It's a jaw-dropping room, with a large terrace and an option to go for a la carte or tasting menu.
The back of the hugely impressive Son Vell, with its terrace bar
A fantastic Carabinero prawn tartare, with salad foam, pineapple in syrup, and prawn mayonnaise (35 euros)
Lamb cannelloni - slow-cooked lamb with a pistachio beurre blanc and lamb reduction (38 euros)
Slow-cooked suckling pig, with textures of apple, cinnamon and roasted lettuce heart (£36)
Cas Safrà Gastrobar
Carrer de sa Carnisseria, 9, 07760 Ciutadella
This modern restaurant is tucked away in the oldest part of Ciutadella. Chef Alex Lamas serves up a menu of contemporary Menorcan dishes so starters we tried included braised sweet potato with prawn, black pudding and Mahon cheese sauce.
Entre Suros
Carrer de Sant Pere, 16, 07760 Ciutadella
One for the natural wine lovers, this wine and tapas bar has a great selection of low and no intervention wines by the glass and bottle, along with an innovative, changing menu of tapas.
La Margarete
Carrer de Sant Joan Baptista, 6, 07760 Ciutadella
More of a picky bits place than somewhere to go for a full meal, the real USP of this tucked away bar is its massive garden. You'd honestly have no clue that this was here, if you didn't know.
Ultramarinos Casa Lola
Carrer de Sant Onofre, 10, 07760 Ciutadella
A fun, buzzy bar in the heart of Ciutadella that's great for a late night pitstop and snack when energy levels are running low.
Bar Imperi
Plaça des Born, 5, 07760 Ciutadella
This is a cafe/bar that's been open since the 1940s and grabbing a spot on the terrace here is ideal. It's a friendly spot and while drinks on the terrace are great, the real attractions here are their excellent llonguet sandwiches. Go for the one with sobrasada, cheese and honey and pair it with an ice-cold beer.
Watson
Carrer des Palau, 6, Carrer Major des Born, 9, 07760 Ciutadella
If you're bored of beer and wine and are looking for somewhere that makes a really good cocktail, then this speakeasy tucked away behind a secret door at the Moriarty Gintonic Club is the place to go. The deco is a bit cheesy, but there's some serious talent behind the drinks.
Gelateria Deliri
Plaça de la Llibertat, 6, 07760 Ciutadella
One of a handful of ice cream shops in the city that boast a permanent queue outside, even in the wee small hours of the morning. it's all about seasonal artisanal flavours here. Our favourite, the queso de Menorca gelato made with the island's famous cheese and honey.
Paralia
Av. de la Platja, 07769 Cala Blanca
A mile or so south of the city, this beachside restaurant hewn out of the rockface by Cala Blanca beach is incredibly popular, so needs booking ahead particularly at weekends. Paellas are their signature dish and you can't go wrong if you order them as our photo of the fabulous fillet steak paella we had there shows.
Maó
As the capital of the island, Maó (also written as Mahon in English) is one of two places you're definitely going to want to check out for interesting restaurants (the other is the city on the other side of the island, Ciutadella).
Cantina
Diseminado Illa del Rei, 07700
Cantina was one of the reasons we even began looking at Menorca as a holiday destination. This beautiful restaurant from Artfarm, the boutique hospitality arm of Hauser & Wirth and the team behind London’s Mount St. Restaurant and The Audley, is set on the historic Isla del Rey in Maó’s harbour, where Hauser & Wirth also have a modern art gallery. Everything about our dinner here was magical, starting with the fact that you have to take a boat to get there (the island has its own boat service, which we pre-booked).
After a wander through the galleries, checking out the new Cindy Sherman exhibition, we headed over to Cantina. The restaurant is an alfresco affair with tables scattered across the lawns that lead down to the sea. In the height of summer, it's very much a dress-up place - the people-watching here is unparalleled.
As for the food, while you're more than welcome to take a seat in the bar and enjoy a drink and some tapas, booking a table for a full-blown meal is what we'd recommend. The food is Menorcan and highly seasonal.
Literally everything about the look and feel of Hauser & Wirth on the Illa del Rei has been curated to perfection
Cantina seafood and market fish black rice with alioli (56 euros) - an amazing paella dish served under the stars.
As the light goes down, Cantina is a pretty spectacular setting for dinner.
Oysters Menorca "Mahón"
Carrer de Bastió, 7, 07703 Maó
A very chic seafood and caviar bar, this is just the kind of place that would do very well in East London. The oysters are, as you would imagine, fantastic - we particularly liked the spicy vodka sauce they came with.
The tables to get in summer out on the pavement outside Oysters Menorca
King crab brioche - the bread comes from the Pigalle bakery opposite the restaurant.
Restaurant Ses Culleres
C. Pont des Castell, 6, 07701 Maó
Recommended to us by a Hot Dinners reader who has a home on the island, this is one of those restaurants that is all business in the front, party at the back. The unassuming entrance gives no clue that the restaurant opens out into a terrace with amazing views over Mahon harbour. The menu leans towards seafood and we honestly had the best calamari of our life here.
God-tier calamari at Ses Culleres
Bar Nou
Carrer Nou, 1, 07701 Maó
For almost four decades, this atmospheric bar has boasted great views over the Placa de la Constitucio and the historic cathedral of Santa Maria de Mao. Inside, it's all drinkers of a certain age playing dominoes, outside on the balconies it's more of a younger scene. The hardest thing is finding the entrance, which is via an unmarked door in the street down below.
We see now that we should have had a glass of Mahon beer for this shot...
BB Cocktail Bar
Pl. de España, 2, 07701 Mahón
The group behind this bar also owns the same-named bar in Binibeca, which we also spent an evening in, so we can recommend both of these as decent spots for a cocktail. This is very much an OTT drinks place though, so don't come here looking for the perfectly made martini. It's more of a flaming Mai Tai bar, so perfect for the holidays. Extra points for gummy bears as bar snacks.
Spicy margarita with a tajin rim at BB Cocktail Bar
Rest of the island
As we were staying here for just five nights and based in the south east side of the island, our food recommendations skew to that area. We're hearing amazing things about Ciutadella and that side of the island too, so we'll have to make a return visit. We had two more nights to go out on the town and we think we filled them wisely.
Bodegas Binifadet
Cami De Ses Barraques, S/N Ctra. Sant Lluís, 07710
Just when we thought we'd reached the pinnacle of restaurants that were as beautiful to look at as the food they were serving up, we had dinner at Binifadet. Set around 10 minutes from Mahon, this is one of the oldest wineries on the island. In addition to a massive wine shop and the option to tour the vineyard, it also has a large restaurant, with tables threaded through the winery, on the terrace and out into the vines. It is so pretty that eating here feels almost like being on a movie set.
The good news is that the food here is really good - we had an amazing steak, a rice dish with local mushrooms and a baked cheesecake that we're still talking about. And of course, the wine list is great, with almost everything available by the glass too.
The beautiful terrace setting for dinner at the Binifadet winery
Organically grown local tomatoes with Stracciatella and Menorcan extra virgin olive oil (17,50)
Bambu
Passeig Marítim, 38, Binibequer Vell, 07711 Binibèquer
Set right on the dunes in the gorgeous white washed village of Binibeca on the south coast of the island, Bambu is probably a better place to book for drinks with a group, or for a romantic dinner a deux. If you can, try and time your visit for the sunset, which is pretty spectacular here. Everyone, including us, wanders off mid-meal or mid-drink to go and take selfies down on the beach - it's that kind of relaxed place.
The very vibey Bambu right on the beach in Binibeca
Actual sundowners at sunset at Bambu
Where to stay
We honestly couldn't recommend our hotel to you (that's our bad for booking a cheap all-inclusive in an attempt to save money), but there are plenty of nice-looking boutique hotels on the island and next time we'd definitely look into booking a villa.
Hot Dinners dined as guests of Cantina and Son Vell. All prices correct at time of publication.
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