Holiday destinations that leave a good taste in the mouth are unforgettable. And our island is full of culinary pleasures thanks to its traditional and very tasty recipes, fresh fish and seafood, top-quality local produce, and an immense passion for good food, which is reflected in an excellent range of restaurants. An island good enough to eat. And have seconds.
Ibiza’s fertile soil and the richness of its seabed supply the pantries of its houses and restaurants with top-quality raw ingredients. Because of this, the cuisine has become one of the great attractions of our island, and travellers can savour both typical local dishes and new contemporary Ibizan cooking, as well as culinary offerings from the most diverse corners of the world. Enjoy a seafood paella on the beach, savour the products of the Ibizan sea with some grilled fish or a bullit de peix (fish stew), share a tasty sofrit pagès (meat and potato dish), try the island’s sheep and goat cheeses or its tasty sobrasada (cured pork sausage), end the meal with a portion of flaó (cheesecake) and a glass of Ibizan herb liqueur, explore tempting haute cuisine, drink a toast with a glass of Ibizan wine… It will take you many trips to sample the full menu of delicacies that our island has to offer!
An age-old culinary heritage
Ibizan cuisine is the sum of the culinary knowledge and traditions of the peoples who have inhabited the island over the centuries. Phoenicians, Romans, Moors and Catalans have all left their mark on the seafood and rural recipe book, which features no shortage of preservation techniques, such as marinating, pickling and curing. Ibiza offers travellers an age-old culinary tour through its tastiest traditional dishes. Seafood products are used to prepare, for example, fried octopus, bullit de peix (a fish stew boiled with potatoes and accompanied by seafood rice), calamares a la bruta (squid stuffed with sobrasada), borrida de rajada (skate stew), gerret (picarel) in pickled sauce or in rice with cauliflower, fried raor (pearly razorfish) and many other dishes featuring Ibiza red lobster, grouper, John Dory, red scorpion fish, espardenyes (sea cucumber), Ibizan prawn, monkfish, sirvia (greater amberjack), and dentex, among others.
Meanwhile, the land provides the key ingredients for more rustic dishes, such as arròs de matances (a rice and meat dish), tomato salad with dried fish and crostres (croutons), frita de porc (fried pork dish), faves ofegades (literally, drowned broad beans), sofrit pagès (meat and potato dish), cuinat (a type of potage), coca de pimientos (pepper cake), and more. And then there are the desserts, which include flaó (a cake made with sheep or goat cheese and mint), greixonera (a type of ensaimada pudding), bunyols (fritters) and orelletes, a spongy dessert with the aroma of lemon and aniseed in the shape of an ear.
Good food and wine
Red potatoes and watermelons are two of the high- lights of Ibiza’s fertile countryside, whose market gardens supply markets and restaurants with a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, as well as a growing number of organic products: tomatoes, broad beans, peas, cabbages, aubergines, figs, citrus fruits, melons, avocados, peppers, medlars, asparagus, strawberries, artichokes, pumpkins… Not to mention sea salt, the native breeds of livestock (Ibicenca sheep, Pityusic goat and black pig), and the three products with Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status: Hierbas Ibicencas (Ibizan herb liqueur); Ibiza, Vino de la Tierra | Vi de la Terra (Ibizan wine) and Aceite de Oliva de Ibiza | Oli d’Oliva d’Eivissa (Ibizan olive oil).
