# Best Restaurants in Santa Catalina, Palma > Santa Catalina, Palma: 16 restaurants, including Michelin-listed Stagier Bar and Sumaq, Repsol-recommended Vandal and Nus, and Isaan's Thai kitchen. - **Canonical URL:** https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/best-restaurants-santa-catalina - **City:** Mallorca, Spain - **Published:** 2026-08-07 - **Author:** Justin Mota, Guidavera founder - **Reading time:** 10 min ## Introduction Santa Catalina is Palma's most concentrated restaurant neighbourhood, a former fishermen's quarter around the Mercat de Santa Catalina that's turned into the city's busiest strip of kitchens. Sixteen restaurants make this list, from Michelin Guide-listed Stagier Bar and Restaurante Sumaq to Repsol Recomendado addresses like Vandal and Nus Palma. ## Key picks at a glance - **Best for a Michelin-listed splurge** — [Stagier Bar](https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/stagier-bar): Tiny seven-table room with a Michelin Guide listing and a smoked wagyu hanger steak on the menu. - **Best for groups** — [Restaurante Diecisieteº](https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/restaurante-diecisieteo-diecisiete-grados): A separate reserved area built for private lunches and dinners, on top of the terrace and main dining room. - **Best value** — [Bendito Gusto](https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/bendito-gusto): Set menus stack from pasta and sauce alone up to pasta, sauce, a drink and dessert. - **Best for a late night out** — [Vandal](https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/vandal): Dinner-only, loud and moody-lit, with cocktails paired to a menu you build country by country. - **Best for vegetarians** — [LÕA](https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/loa-restaurante-wine-bar-cocktail-bar): The carta lists a vegan avocado ceviche with quinoa and a vegetarian heirloom tomato variation. - **Best for takeout when a table's full** — [Isaan Thai Cuisine](https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/isaan-thai-cuisine): Runs its own takeout and delivery through its site, with satee skewers and spring rolls to go. ## A guide to Restaurants in Santa Catalina, Palma in Mallorca ### The scene The range runs wide. Bernabé Caravotta's country-by-country tasting format at Vandal sits blocks from Irene Gutiérrez's Peruvian kitchen at Sumaq and Irene Martínez's japoandaluza taberna at Nus Palma. Elsewhere in the neighbourhood there's a sin-themed steakhouse (Santa Restaurant), a classical French bistro run by a Rhône-and-Cáceres partnership (OSMA), a Nikkei sushi room (Nagami Nikkei), an Italian-Japanese tasting menu (Kurobota), a fire-and-cocktail bar (LÕA), a holm-oak charcoal grill running since 2004 (Diecisieteº), a handmade-pasta spot (Bendito Gusto), a Mexican kitchen pressing its own nixtamal tortillas (Xólotl), and a small Palma fusion group with roots in Portixol (Mola). A handful of entries here carry lighter documentation than the rest, so their write-ups stick closely to what's confirmed rather than filling gaps. Book ahead where you can: several of the best rooms in Santa Catalina seat well under twenty covers. ### Which Santa Catalina restaurants are in the Michelin Guide? Stagier Bar and Restaurante Sumaq are both listed in the Michelin Guide (Selected) as of this writing. Neither currently holds a Michelin star. ### Which Santa Catalina restaurants hold a Repsol Recomendado listing? Vandal and Nus Palma both hold a Repsol Recomendado listing in the Guía Repsol. Neither currently holds a Repsol Sol. ### What does 'japoandaluza' mean at Nus Palma? Japoandaluza is chef Irene Martínez's term at Nus Palma for cooking that applies Japanese technique to flavours from Andalusia in southern Spain, using Mallorcan produce, served as small plates for sharing. ### Which Santa Catalina restaurant makes its own tortillas? Xólotl presses its tortillas in-house from nixtamal, the traditional lime-treated corn dough used in Mexican cooking. Ceci and Xavi founded the restaurant in 2015. > "In Santa Catalina you can eat your way through nine countries at one table at Vandal, then walk two minutes for tortillas Xólotl presses in-house from nixtamal." ## How we built this list We built this list the slow way, walking Santa Catalina's blocks rather than assembling it from a desk. The neighbourhood's kitchens run wide, so we weighed the same signals we use everywhere: professional recognition like a Michelin Guide or Repsol Recomendado listing, what consistent diners actually say, and the real menus each place is running now. A handful of entries here carry lighter documentation than the rest, and where that's true we've kept the write-up close to what's actually confirmed rather than filling in the gaps. Book ahead where you can: several of the best rooms in this neighbourhood seat well under twenty covers, so a table isn't guaranteed just because you showed up. ## The 15 best Restaurants in Santa Catalina, Palma, compared | # | Restaurant | Neighbourhood | Price | Distinction | Signature dish | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | 1 | [Vandal](https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/vandal) | Santa Catalina | €€€ | Repsol Recomendado | Pisco Bloody Mary Oyster | | 2 | [Stagier Bar](https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/stagier-bar) | Santa Catalina | €€ | Michelin Selected | Smoked butter, Sourdough bread from 'Amadip Esment' (Gluten, Milk) | | 3 | [Santa Restaurant](https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/santa-restaurant) | Santa Catalina | € | — | Sourdough Bread (with smoked butter) | | 4 | [Restaurante Sumaq](https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/restaurante-sumaq) | Santa Catalina | €€€ | Michelin Selected | Trampo Mallorquin (Traditional tomato, pepper, and onion salad, served with pickles and smoked sardines) | | 5 | [Duke Restaurant](https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/duke-restaurant) | Santa Catalina | €€ | — | — | | 6 | [OSMA - Table Française](https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/osma-table-francaise) | Santa Catalina | €€€ | — | Sobrasada maison de maquereau / House made mackerel "Sobrasada" | | 7 | [Nus Palma](https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/nus-palma) | Santa Catalina | € | Repsol Recomendado | — | | 8 | [Nagami Nikkei](https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/nagami-nikkei-nagami-nikkei-santa-catalina) | Santa Catalina | € | — | — | | 9 | [Bistro Esencia](https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/bistro-esencia-vino-y-cocina-contemporanea) | Santa Catalina | €€€ | — | MALLORCA IN A BITE (Almonds croquette, olives, dry tomatoes, orange, sea fennel) | | 10 | [Isaan Thai Cuisine](https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/isaan-thai-cuisine) | Santa Catalina | €€ | — | KAI SATEE (6 Chicken grilled brochettes marinated in yellow curry served with peanut sauce) | | 12 | [LÕA](https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/loa-restaurante-wine-bar-cocktail-bar) | Santa Catalina | €€ | — | — | | 13 | [Restaurante Diecisieteº](https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/restaurante-diecisieteo-diecisiete-grados) | Santa Catalina | € | — | — | | 14 | [Bendito Gusto](https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/bendito-gusto) | Santa Catalina | €€ | — | Menú 1 - Pasta Clásica + Salsa | | 15 | [Xólotl | Restaurante Mexicano](https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/xolotl-restaurante-mexicano) | Santa Catalina | €€ | — | Guacamole | | 16 | [Mola](https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/mola-grupo-mola-locations-portixol-santa-catalina-and-mallorca-country-club) | Portixol | €€ | — | — | ## The 15 best Restaurants in Santa Catalina, Palma in Mallorca ### 1. Vandal *The neighbourhood's headline modern kitchen, chef Bernabé Caravotta cooked at Mirazur and Noma before building a menu you navigate country by country.* - **Neighbourhood:** Santa Catalina - **Address:** Plaça del Progrés, 15, 07013 Palma, Spain - **Price:** €€€ - **Distinction:** Repsol Recomendado - **Website:** https://www.vandalpalma.com/en_en - **Full profile:** https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/vandal Vandal's menu is organised by country rather than by course: you choose the destinations you want to eat through, and chef Bernabé Caravotta's kitchen sends out dishes built from wherever you pick, currently running through Thailand, Peru, France, Japan, Mexico, Spain, India, Colombia and Italy. Guía Repsol calls the style cocina mestiza, fusion cooking rooted in Mallorcan produce. Caravotta cooked at Mirazur in France and under René Redzepi at Noma in Denmark, trained at Thailand's Blue Elephant cooking school, and settled on the island in 2007. Sebastián Pérez runs the dining room and pairs cocktails to the food rather than listing them separately. The room sits on Plaça del Progrés in Santa Catalina, dinner only, seven nights a week. Book online at vandalpalma.com or by phone, it fills up. **Order:** - Pisco Bloody Mary Oyster - Slices of foie gras, acid strawberry and camomile reduction - Spider Crab with romescu sauce over sushi crispy rice ### 2. Stagier Bar *Seven tables and a Michelin Guide listing, the neighbourhood's most talked-about recent opening.* - **Neighbourhood:** Santa Catalina - **Address:** C/ d'Espartero, 11, 07014 Palma, Spain - **Price:** €€ - **Distinction:** Michelin Selected - **Website:** https://stagierbar.com/en - **Full profile:** https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/stagier-bar Stagier Bar is run by a Chilean-Peruvian couple out of a room of around seven tables, small enough that it reads more like a dinner party than a restaurant, and it's earned a Michelin Guide listing. The chef trained in well-known Spanish kitchens before building a menu that riffs on those roots: Gillardeau oysters, duck-and-foie-gras croquettes, a sea bass and grilled octopus ceviche in rocoto tiger's milk, lomo saltado gyozas, smoked steak tartare and a smoked wagyu hanger steak, finished with a warm chocolate and lucuma cake. Hours shift with the season, dinner only through summer with a Tuesday-to-Friday lunch added in winter, and it's closed Sundays. Because the room is so small, book ahead through stagierbar.com or by phone. **Order:** - Smoked butter, Sourdough bread from 'Amadip Esment' (Gluten, Milk) - Chimichurri butter, Sourdough bread from 'Amadip Esment' (Gluten, Milk) - Truffle butter, Sourdough bread from 'Amadip Esment' (Gluten, Milk) ### 3. Santa Restaurant *A steakhouse built entirely around a menu themed on sin and temptation.* - **Neighbourhood:** Santa Catalina - **Address:** C. de la Fàbrica, 18, 07013 Palma de Mallorca, Spain - **Price:** € - **Website:** https://www.thefork.com/restaurant/santa-r699635 - **Full profile:** https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/santa-restaurant Santa calls itself a vanguard steakhouse, and the concept runs through the whole room: menu and dining room built around sin, temptation and the tug between good and evil, on Calle Fàbrica in Santa Catalina. The menu opens with sourdough bread and smoked butter, toasted coca de cristal with crushed ramallet tomato, and baked provolone with sun-dried tomato pesto, before moving into a Santa choripán, crispy bravas potatoes with kimchi sauce, black Angus cecina with confit egg yolk, seared red tuna, and a grilled Australian black Angus burger with smoked white cheddar. It's dinner only, closed Tuesdays, and rated 4.4 out of 5 on Google from 401 reviews, a buzzy, theatrical pick for a date night rather than a quiet dinner. **Order:** - Sourdough Bread (with smoked butter) - Toasted "Coca de Cristal" Bread (with crushed ramallet tomato and extra virgin olive oil) - Baked Provolone (with sun-dried tomato pesto and basil oil) ### 4. Restaurante Sumaq *A Peruvian kitchen in Santa Catalina since 2013, Michelin-listed, run the whole time by chef Irene Gutiérrez.* - **Neighbourhood:** Santa Catalina - **Address:** Carrer de Cotoner 44, 07013 Palma de Mallorca, Spain - **Price:** €€€ - **Distinction:** Michelin Selected - **Website:** https://www.restaurantesumaq.com - **Full profile:** https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/restaurante-sumaq Chef Irene Gutiérrez opened Sumaq in June 2013 on Carrer de Sant Magí and moved it the following year to its current address on Carrer de Cotoner. The name comes from Quechua, where 'sumaq' means delicious, sumptuous or beautiful, and the kitchen backs that up with Peruvian cooking that draws on the country's coast, Amazon and Andes alongside Mallorcan touches. The à la carte runs long, with a dedicated ceviche section, from the causa de confit de pato a la huancaína to a ceviche mixto exótico of salmon, corvina and red tuna, plus a bacalao gratinado finished with lime cream. There's also a tasting menu for those who want the kitchen to choose. It's listed in the Michelin Guide, and reservations run through the CoverManager system in Spanish, English or German. **Order:** - Trampo Mallorquin (Traditional tomato, pepper, and onion salad, served with pickles and smoked sardines) - Flor de Calabacin (Zucchini flower in tempura, stuffed with Mahonés cream cheese, zucchini salad, pickled cucumber, melo - Coca "Poblera" (Majorcan coca with honey roasted aubergine, charcoal red pepper and grilled eel) ### 5. Duke Restaurant *Open in Santa Catalina since 2009, with a Mediterranean, sourcing-first kitchen from chefs who came up in Greece and Valencia.* - **Neighbourhood:** Santa Catalina - **Address:** Carrer Soler 36, Palma de Mallorca, 07012, Spain - **Price:** €€ - **Website:** https://www.dukepalma.com - **Full profile:** https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/duke-restaurant Duke has been running in Santa Catalina since 2009, led by chef Ronny Portulidis, from Greece, and chef Jorge Esteve, from Valencia, and its own line is that it was 'never about one thing only,' balancing food, service, ambience and location. The kitchen sources with intent, produce from farmers it knows, meat from trusted butchers, fish from sustainable Mediterranean fishing areas, and turns it into a genuinely global spread: Peruvian chifles, Greek pita bread, Korean firecracker chicken, Lebanese lamb kebabs, a Thai green mango salad and a classic ceviche the menu calls Duke '09. It's dinner only, Monday to Saturday, closed Sundays, with the menu run digitally via QR code rather than a printed carta. ### 6. OSMA - Table Française *Classical French cooking from a Rhône-and-Cáceres partnership, built on sauces and stocks worked the traditional way.* - **Neighbourhood:** Santa Catalina - **Address:** Carrer de la Pursiana, 18, 07013 Palma de Mallorca, Spain - **Price:** €€€ - **Website:** https://www.osma-restaurante.es - **Full profile:** https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/osma-table-francaise OSMA is a small room on Carrer de la Pursiana run by a couple: Marion, from France's Rhône region, handles wine and hospitality, while chef Javier, from Cáceres, spent years cooking in French estates and grandes maisons before opening here. The cooking stays classical French, sauces, stocks and traditional technique worked with seasonal produce, aiming, in the kitchen's own words, for balance, depth and sensitivity without artifice. The carte runs from a house-made mackerel sobrasada and a daily pâté en croûte to foie gras mi-cuit with puff pastry brioche, Calvisius caviar with cauliflower and bone marrow, a red partridge escabeche, and frog legs served as a tribute to Bernard Loiseau. It's open Tuesday to Saturday evenings only, closed Sunday and Monday, and small enough that booking ahead matters. **Order:** - Sobrasada maison de maquereau / House made mackerel "Sobrasada" - Pâté en croûte du moment / Pâté en croûte of the day - Foie gras mi-cuit, brioche feuilletée / Foie gras mi-cuit, puff pastry brioche ### 7. Nus Palma *A japoandaluza taberna built around chef Irene Martínez's father's old carpentry workbench, now the restaurant's communal table.* - **Neighbourhood:** Santa Catalina - **Address:** Carrer d'Anníbal, 11, 07013 Palma de Mallorca, Spain - **Price:** € - **Distinction:** Repsol Recomendado - **Website:** https://nuspalma.com - **Full profile:** https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/nus-palma Nus is chef-owner Irene Martínez's project, a japoandaluza taberna that blends Japanese technique with Andalusian flavours and Mallorcan produce as small plates for sharing. The name nods to her carpenter father: 'nus' is Catalan for a wood joint, and his old workbench now serves as the restaurant's communal table. Martínez trained in Mallorca under Tomeu Martí at Arume and Santi Taura at Dins, then under David Muñoz at DiverXO in Madrid, before travelling through Asia, including Japan and Vietnam. The carta runs from a crispy oyster with tartare sauce and kombu-marinated snapper to tuna cooked on the kamado and an oxtail à la royale, and there's a set sharing menu, A Mesa Puesta, at €49 a head, whose own tagline is 'no pienses, solo come.' Closed Sunday and Monday; TheFork puts the average spend around €45. ### 8. Nagami Nikkei *Straightforward Nikkei in Santa Catalina, with a private group lounge built in.* - **Neighbourhood:** Santa Catalina - **Address:** Carrer de Caro, 30, 07013 Palma de Mallorca, Spain - **Price:** € - **Website:** https://www.nagaminikkei.com/en - **Full profile:** https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/nagami-nikkei-nagami-nikkei-santa-catalina Nagami Nikkei sits on Carrer de Caro, cooking in the Nikkei tradition that unites Peruvian and Japanese food with local Mallorcan products alongside global flavours. The menu is structured the way Nikkei kitchens usually run, cold starters, hot starters, sushi rolls, mains and desserts, with dishes like causa limeña, ceviche Nikkei, tiradito Nobu, usuzukuri de atún and a duck korokke on the list. It's dinner only, open Monday to Wednesday and Friday to Saturday, closed Thursdays and Sundays, and keeps a private group lounge for larger bookings alongside gift-experience options. Reservations run online or by phone. The venue's own record here is thinner than most in the neighbourhood, with no listed chef name or founding story to draw on. ### 9. Bistro Esencia *An informal-fine-dining bistro built around wine, with a vegan tasting menu running alongside the seasonal à la carte.* - **Neighbourhood:** Santa Catalina - **Address:** Carrer de Sant Magí, 68, 07013 Palma de Mallorca, Spain - **Price:** €€€ - **Website:** https://www.bistroesencia.es/en/home-2 - **Full profile:** https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/bistro-esencia-vino-y-cocina-contemporanea Bistro Esencia bills itself as informal fine dining, and the plates back that up: a Mallorca-in-a-bite starter of almond croquette and olives, a roasted watermelon carpaccio with ponzu and wasabi, spinach gnocchi with fresh black truffle, and braised eco Mallorcan pork cheeks in Mantonegro wine with fresh truffle and quince. Two tasting menus run alongside a seasonal à la carte, REVOLUTION at €60 and a five-course GREAT CLASSIC at €65, and there's a vegan tasting option too. The wine list leans local, km0 and organic, with picks from Spain, France and Italy. Tables seat up to six, children over 12 are welcome, and it's evening service only, Wednesday to Sunday. Book by email or WhatsApp. **Order:** - MALLORCA IN A BITE (Almonds croquette, olives, dry tomatoes, orange, sea fennel) - WATERMELON CARPACCIO (Roasted watermelon carpaccio, tartare sauce, ponzu, wasabi, black sesame) - SPINACH GNOCCHI WITH BLACK TRUFFLE (Soft spinach gnocchi, fresh black truffle, hazelnut, sweet and sour onion) ### 10. Isaan Thai Cuisine *Named for Thailand's Isaan region, with an open kitchen.* - **Neighbourhood:** Santa Catalina - **Address:** Carrer de la Pursiana, 14, 07013 Palma, Spain - **Price:** €€ - **Website:** https://isaanthaicuisine.myrestoo.net - **Full profile:** https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/isaan-thai-cuisine Isaan takes its name from one of Thailand's wildest, least touristy regions, in the country's northeast, and the restaurant cooks in a fully renovated Santa Catalina space with an open kitchen you can watch from the table. The menu runs to grilled satee skewers, chicken and prawn, spring rolls with and without chicken, a grilled beef salad with mint and lime, and a chicken larb with roasted rice, all served across a few spice levels. There's also a set menu for two or more at €43 per person, covering starters, a beef salad, pad Thai and a red curry. The full English carta is a downloadable PDF on the site, and Isaan runs its own takeout and delivery; online booking goes through Restoo, though the nearest dates often show full. **Order:** - KAI SATEE (6 Chicken grilled brochettes marinated in yellow curry served with peanut sauce) - KUNG SATEE (6 King prawns grilled brochettes marinated in yellow curry served with peanut sauce) - TOFU SATEE (6 Tofu brochettes served with peanut sauce) ### 12. LÕA *Restaurant, wine bar and cocktail bar in one room, with fire cooking from a Gaucho Piccadilly alum.* - **Neighbourhood:** Santa Catalina - **Address:** Carrer Cotoner, 47, 07013 Palma de Mallorca, Spain - **Price:** €€ - **Website:** https://loapalma.com/en/restaurant-cocktail-bar - **Full profile:** https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/loa-restaurante-wine-bar-cocktail-bar LÕA runs as a restaurant, wine bar and cocktail bar together on Carrer Cotoner, framed by the team as a personal manifesto where hospitality, multiculturalism, art and music meet. The kitchen is fire- and grill-driven, from chef Jhon Chavarriaga, who the restaurant says worked as sous chef at Gaucho Piccadilly in London before refining his fire cooking in Mallorca alongside Stefan Brunner of Schwaiger Xino's, and the carta runs from grilled black cod and marinated hamachi to a dry-aged ribeye tataki, an onsen egg, and vegan and vegetarian options like an avocado ceviche with quinoa and a heirloom tomato variation. Alessia Giorcelli leads the cocktail programme. Hours vary by day and sometimes by season, so confirm directly before you go. ### 13. Restaurante Diecisieteº *A holm-oak charcoal grill running in Santa Catalina since 2004, with a private room for group lunches and dinners.* - **Neighbourhood:** Santa Catalina - **Address:** Santa Catalina neighbourhood, Palma de Mallorca, 07012, Spain - **Price:** € - **Website:** https://diecisietegrados.com/en - **Full profile:** https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/restaurante-diecisieteo-diecisiete-grados Diecisieteº has been grilling in Santa Catalina since 2004, at Calle Fábrica 12, and keeps its whole identity around one idea: aged meat cooked over holm-oak charcoal, paired with a list of Spanish wines. The parrilla vasca-style carta opens with grilled olives and aioli, salted or pickled anchovy, and a Caesar salad, before moving into fresh burrata, a salmorejo diecisieteº and a bluefin tuna tartare. The space splits into a terrace, an indoor dining room and a separate reserved area for private lunches and dinners, useful for groups. Book online through the restaurant's own system at diecisietegrados.myrestoo.net. ### 14. Bendito Gusto *Handmade pasta with gluten-free options.* - **Neighbourhood:** Santa Catalina - **Address:** Carrer d'Anníbal, 26, Ponent, 07013 Palma de Mallorca, Spain - **Price:** €€ - **Website:** https://benditogusto.shop - **Full profile:** https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/bendito-gusto Bendito Gusto keeps things simple: fresh, handmade Italian pasta cooked al dente, with gluten-free options for anyone who needs them. The set menus stack up from pasta and sauce alone to pasta, sauce, a drink and dessert, and the carta runs to dishes like a four-cheese mezzelune, with tiramisu and chocotorta to finish. It's open Monday to Saturday from midday into the evening and a shorter Sunday lunch service, and reservations go through the restaurant by phone. It's a relaxed, good-value neighbourhood spot rather than a special-occasion table, and the record here is thinner than most of Santa Catalina's other kitchens: there's no listed chef name or opening year to point to. **Order:** - Menú 1 - Pasta Clásica + Salsa - Menú 2 - Pasta Clásica + Salsa + Bebida - Menú 3 - Pasta Clásica + Salsa + Bebida + Postre ### 15. Xólotl | Restaurante Mexicano *House tortillas pressed from nixtamal, made by a family kitchen running since 2015.* - **Neighbourhood:** Santa Catalina - **Address:** Plaça del Progrés, 18A Bajos, 07013 Palma de Mallorca (Santa Catalina), Spain - **Price:** €€ - **Website:** https://xolotl.es - **Full profile:** https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/xolotl-restaurante-mexicano Xólotl was founded in 2015 by Ceci and Xavi, with Ceci's mother Cecilia later joining the kitchen to sharpen the cooking into proper Mexican home food. The signature move is the tortillas, pressed in-house from nixtamal, the traditional lime-treated corn dough, and they turn up under tacos al pastor, enchiladas verdes, gorditas de chicharrón and a ceviche. The cocktail list runs from a Margarita Premium to a Mezcalita and a Paloma. It runs split lunch and dinner service, Sunday to Thursday until 11pm and Friday and Saturday until half past, and closes Mondays. Book online at xolotl.es/reservas or by phone. **Order:** - Guacamole - Nopales a la mexicana - Nachos Clásicos ### 16. Mola *A Palma fusion group that grew from a single Portixol spot in 2018 to three locations, including a Santa Catalina outpost near the market.* - **Neighbourhood:** Portixol - **Address:** Mola Santa Catalina: opposite Mercat de Santa Catalina, Palma; Mola Portixol: Portixol, Palma; Mola in the Club: Avinguda del Golf 20, 07180 Calvià, Spain - **Price:** €€ - **Website:** https://www.grupomola.com - **Full profile:** https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/restaurants/mola-grupo-mola-locations-portixol-santa-catalina-and-mallorca-country-club Mola started small in Portixol in 2018, expanded to a Santa Catalina spot near the market in 2021, and later added a third site, Mola in the Club, inside the Mallorca Country Club in Calvià. All three run under Grupo Mola on a Mediterranean-fusion kitchen with international touches and new daily suggestions. The Club location's own menu runs from a Tom Yum soup and tempura prawns with wasabi mayonnaise to a bluefin tuna tartare with tangerine ponzu and a salmon inside-out roll, finishing on a passion-fruit cream with pistachio ice cream, though the Portixol and Santa Catalina cartas may differ. The Club site runs daily from 9am to 10pm; book per location through the group's site. ## The Restaurants in Santa Catalina, Palma scene in Mallorca Santa Catalina is Palma's most concentrated restaurant neighbourhood, a former fishermen's quarter around the Mercat de Santa Catalina that's turned into the city's busiest strip of kitchens. Within a few blocks you'll find Bernabé Caravotta's country-by-country tasting format at Vandal, Irene Gutiérrez's Peruvian cooking at Sumaq, and Irene Martínez's japoandaluza small plates at Nus Palma. Beyond those there's a sin-themed steakhouse, a classical French bistro run by a Rhône-and-Cáceres partnership, a Nikkei sushi room, an Italian-Japanese tasting menu, a fire-and-cocktail bar, a holm-oak charcoal grill running since 2004, a handmade-pasta spot, a Mexican kitchen pressing its own nixtamal tortillas, and a small Palma fusion group with roots in Portixol. That range, sixteen restaurants deep, is what defines the neighbourhood: a former market quarter that's become dense enough to eat your way through several countries' worth of cooking without leaving a few square blocks. ## Know before you go ### 1. Book ahead for the small rooms: Stagier Bar seats around seven tables, and OSMA and Bistro Esencia are similarly compact. ### 2. Several kitchens serve dinner only, including Vandal, Duke, Nagami Nikkei and OSMA, none of them open for lunch. ### 3. Closing days vary block to block: OSMA and Xólotl close Mondays, Duke and Stagier Bar close Sundays, Bistro Esencia closes Monday and Tuesday, Santa Restaurant closes Tuesdays, and Nagami Nikkei closes Thursdays and Sundays. ### 4. A few restaurants (LÕA, Diecisieteº, Kurobota) don't have fully confirmed hours available online, check the restaurant's own site or call ahead before a special trip. ### 5. Isaan Thai Cuisine and Xólotl both run takeout and delivery through their own websites if a table isn't available. ## Frequently asked questions ### Which Santa Catalina restaurants are in the Michelin Guide? Stagier Bar and Restaurante Sumaq are both listed in the Michelin Guide (Selected) as of this writing. Neither currently holds a Michelin star. ### Which Santa Catalina restaurants hold a Repsol Recomendado listing? Vandal and Nus Palma both hold a Repsol Recomendado listing in the Guía Repsol. Neither currently holds a Repsol Sol. ### What does 'japoandaluza' mean at Nus Palma? Japoandaluza is chef Irene Martínez's term at Nus Palma for cooking that applies Japanese technique to flavours from Andalusia in southern Spain, using Mallorcan produce, served as small plates for sharing. ### Which Santa Catalina restaurant makes its own tortillas? Xólotl presses its tortillas in-house from nixtamal, the traditional lime-treated corn dough used in Mexican cooking. Ceci and Xavi founded the restaurant in 2015. ### What's the difference between Restaurante Sumaq and Nagami Nikkei? Both serve Peruvian-influenced food but take different routes. Sumaq is a Peruvian restaurant led by chef Irene Gutiérrez with a dedicated ceviche section and tasting menu. Nagami Nikkei serves Nikkei cuisine, the Japanese-Peruvian fusion style, across sushi rolls, ceviche-style starters and mains. ## About the author **Justin Mota** — Guidavera founder Justin Mota is the founder of Guidavera. He has lived in Spain for over 10 years and runs a native AI agency alongside building this platform. Food has always been the way Justin connects with friends, and Guidavera started as the list he kept sending to everyone visiting Barcelona. He built it for himself and his friends first, and now hopes it can transform the way people discover great food experiences everywhere. More: https://guidavera.com/about --- This guide is the canonical machine-readable version of https://guidavera.com/spain/mallorca/best-restaurants-santa-catalina. Every claim is verifiable against the linked restaurant profiles. Source: Guidavera (https://guidavera.com).