RESTAURANTE ES VENTA LL Michelin Plate IIO We returned to one of our favourite places in Sant Antoni de Portmany (San Antonio): Es Ventall. The restaurant has been open for over 35 years. Since 2005, when the younger José Miguel Bonet took over, the traditional dishes have been given a much more inventive twist. However, they still include many of the Island's favourites. These include rice dishes, such as paella, fideuá, arroz a banda, bullit de peix, and fish and seafood

CASA TONI Casa Toni is a small, basic bar/restaurant that at first glance doesn’t look like much. However, give it a try. The food is excellent for the price, and there are always plenty of locals, which is usually a good sign. You can find extra seating upstairs. Please note that the dishes they typically serve are generous portions, so keep this in mind. This is the place to try offal (i.e., animal innards), such as the mollejas (sweetbreads, often mistakenly believed to be

RESTAURANTE LA PRIMERA We were looking for a restaurant in Madrid for 12 friends to have lunch, and we decided La Primera was the place. The restaurant is located in an ideal spot to enjoy Madrid, on the first floor (hence the name) of an iconic building on the famous Gran Vía. The interior design is elegantly minimalist, with a Scandinavian aesthetic and a dark yet cosy colour palette. It is spacious and comfortable. They offer a fine-dining interpretation of traditional Spa

ANTONIO BAR If you sometimes need a change of pintxo bars from the Parte Vieja (old town) or the Gros area across the bridge, head to the central location and Antonio Bar. It’s an unassuming, tiny place that’s always busy, with primarily local customers. You will find a few seats inside by the bar and more outside, where the jovial waiter will serve you. Finding a space may take a minute, but the turnover is pretty quick. It is a great spot to enjoy, Txistorra (spicy sausage

MANERO ALICANTE - MANERO MOLLÁ On our few-day trip to Alicante, we ate on a Monday evening at Bar Manero Alicante—Manero Mollá —which was quite busy for a Monday. This is an elegant and lively tapa bar in the middle of town, not just in style but also in food quality. The deli counter has carefully prepped plates of food above the beautiful mosaic floor. The tapas menu sticks to the standards but is thriving with every one of them. After sitting down, we had an appetiser.

TITAS GASTROBAR This is the second restaurant our friend Howard Goldsmith, who lives in the area, took us to. It was a completely different experience from the first one, which was very traditional, but both were very good in their own way. Titas gastrobar is in the old historic centre of Villena and serves tasty, well-presented food, whether you are vegan, vegetarian or carnivorous. There’s a real buzz about the place, with many locals sharing tapas at the bar. This gastrob

ALQUERÍA EL BROSQUIL This restaurant is a bit out of the way. You will have to go down an old farm road off the highway, then turn onto a gravel road that leads to a car park inside a beautiful orange grove. It is a bit like a farmhouse in the middle of a town and only 15 minutes from the city centre. You can have drinks outside on the terrace and take in a bit of the sun before taking your seats inside the restaurant. There is also a fun board in the terrace, where you can p

CAL PEP This place has been here since September 1989 and is as much a tapas bar as it is a restaurant. In fact, it is said to be “the best tapas bar in the world” and certainly one of the first of its type. The London restaurant Barrafina is supposedly based on the concept of Cal Pep. There are only twenty of the coveted seats at the bar, so to grab one, you need to queue on most days around twenty minutes before each service, which starts at 1 pm or 7.30 pm. There is also a

BAR SAN JUAN After a few local recommendations, we have been meaning to come to this restaurant in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, on the outskirts of Manchester, for some time. On this cold Monday evening in November, we finally made it. This restaurant is a traditional bar, serving authentic tapas. The atmosphere indoors is cosy and full of character, with bullfighting posters. This is a nice place to go to eat in Manchester. We picked quite a few of the tapas: Jamo croquetas (ham croq

CAN RAMONET UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2025: We believe the restaurant is now owned by Pikes Hotel (just down the road), so prices, opening times, and conditions may have changed. This is a typical roadside café/bar/restaurant you will find when driving inland in Ibiza. It's a great place to disconnect from the island's hustle and bustle. Just past Pikes, on the way from Sant Antoni de Portmany (San Antonio), we stopped one day for a quick cold drink. A very happy waitress was singin