Restaurant Reviews in Illetes — 4 of Our Favourites

I've been to this restaurant several times because I love the simplicity and great taste of its food, and it offers great value for money. During the week they have a day menu, 'El Plato del Dia', for 9.50€ which includes a cut of beef served on a wooden board with a baked potato, traditional chimichurri sauce, a green salad and a drink, either a glass of wine, beer or soft drink. The choice is between short ribs 'tira de asado', flank 'vacío', and skirt steak, 'entraña'. I highly recommend the succulent entraña which is consistently good. The vacío does tends to be tougher, although I'm told it's an acquired taste.

For those with a larger appetite there's an all you can eat grill, 'La Parrillada Libre', for 15.90€ which, in addition to choices of meat, includes creole sausage, an empanada and a slice of pizza. Only one drink is included in the menu, but a bottle of house wine costs a very reasonable 10.90€, and there's a great selection of Spanish and Argentine wines on the list. The children's menu is 8.90€, and the choice is between pizza or beef and potatoes, with a soft drink and ice cream.

All the meat is sourced locally from one of the oldest butchers' on the island. The exceptions being the Angus steak (30€) from Ireland, and Argentine Entrecote, either 300g (19.50€) or 500g (30€). The menu will please those looking for typical Argentine dishes, such as grilled 'mollejas'. The texture is somewhere between chicken and prawn, and even tastier when you don't know what it is. Gizzards, if you must ask. You might also fancy some cow tongue in vinaigrette. The portions are generous so I was a bit too full to try the latter, unfortunately...

Desserts vary during the week and are all freshly made. My companion and I had the generous sized homemade brownie with vanilla ice cream and crepe with dulce de leche, both delicious.

The restaurant has been open since 1991, and is run by a family with Asturian roots, and has passed from father to daughter. It is a warm, welcoming space, decorated with photographs and souvenirs from Argentina. The staff are friendly and I've always found the service to be efficient.

Parrilla Buenos Aires welcomes families and big groups, but being a small restaurant it's best to book in advance. It's most popular with Spanish, but also frequented by German and Argentines who are on holiday. Their menu has an English translation so don't worry about mixing your intestine with your skirt steak. There are salads and pizzas for the less carnivorous, although vegetarians might be happier left at the beach!

The restaurant is open from Monday to Sunday from 13.00 - 00.30. The 'Plato del Dia' is only available on weekdays until 17.00. It is busiest in the evenings and on weekends.

When their 19 year old daughter, Lise, visited on holiday, they told her, "Go to Bugambilia, you'll be in safe hands there." They didn't mean for her to take it quite so literally. She married Julio a few years later. Lise is now the beating heart of the restaurant, running it alongside her husband and 'los chicos', her two sons, Miguel and José.

Could there be a more relaxing place to eat? This is a restaurant where you can eat in your beachwear. It is an unpretentious, open-air seaside bar, which prioritises the taste of its food and welcoming atmosphere over sophisticated decor. It's set against a glittering turquoise sea and on the edge of a sandy bay. The warm caress of the sea breeze and hush of the waves lulls you into an unbelievable sense of peace. Don't be offended if your lunch partner stops talking to you during the meal. It is the silence of the deeply contented.

The specialties are the grilled fish, homemade burgers and 'paella ciega', literally meaning 'blind paella'. The waiter explained that a blind dish was invented to be suitable for the blind, therefore a blind paella has no bones or shells. I couldn't resist the thought of a delicious seafood feast and promptly ordered.

With a generous helping of succulent seafood, tender pork and perfectly cooked rice, the paellas at Bugambilia are both flavoursome and filling. Make sure you go with someone who shares your taste though, as the minimum order is for 2 people, and costs 15.50€ per person. Enjoyed with a cold beer (2.95€) or glass of Sangria (4€), you'll soon find yourself sinking deeper into a state of bliss.

If paella isn't your thing, then their menu offers plenty of variety of salads, meats and fish (mains costing 9€ - 19€). For the sweet tooth amongst you, try the carrot cake or homemade brownie with ice cream. From Monday to Friday their special set menu includes a starter, main, dessert and a drink for 15.50€.

Watching the owner warmly greet people as they arrived, it felt that nearly everyone was a returning client and already familiar with the establishment. Lise revealed that 50% of their customers were residents or regular tourists with nearby holiday homes. They are the same people that swim and sunbathe in the adjoining bay, a perfect place for a post-lunch siesta or invigorating swim.

From mid June, Bugambilia will start opening until midnight and you'll be able to sit at the edge of the sea and watch the sunset and twinkling lights of distant marinas. Lise assures me that her boys make "the best mojitos in town", and after trying her fruity favourite, Cava Sangria, I'm inclined to believe her.

An absence of fine tableware doesn't make it any less popular and my advice is to book in advance to avoid disappointment - and you will be disappointed if you arrive and find yourself without a place to savour the fantastic view.

When you go to Restaurante Bugambilia, it isn't just your taste buds that come alive. It's all your senses. Will I go back? To be honest, I'm quite surprised I managed to leave.

• Restaurante Bugambilia, Carretera de Andratx, 29 Bajos
• Tel: +34 971 402 741
• Tables Reserved for lunch from Monday to Sunday 13.00 -16.00
• Street Parking
• No Disabled Access

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So there are definitely times when you need to take yourself away from it all, and just stop. A world of five-star luxury perhaps, where you can be cocooned from the outside world for a short time. One such place within easy reach of Palma de Mallorca is the Hospes Maricel Hotel, located on the seafront in Cala Major, Majorca. The Frenchman and I had clocked this place a while ago, and had decided that this was the ideal place to escape to in times of stress. Sadly unable to stay for a night, we had opted instead for a simple dinner in their Senzone Restaurant. The prospect of ‘revitalising' and ‘rejuvenation' promised by the hotel website was irresistible.

The hotel is set in a palatial manor house right on the sea, with huge doors and a magnificent lobby area. This is not however, a traditional, old-style grand-dame hotel. The interior is cool, calm and contemporary, with a wonderful sense of elegant space and views to the sea. The restaurant is located on the lower floor right next to the sea front. Al fresco dining on the terrace allows for an uber-romantic setting, with views of Palma Bay and the sound of waves lapping gently against the sea wall. The adjoining dining room has a modern, minimalistic design, which taken together with the neutral palate, places the emphasis on the natural surroundings - an ‘awakening of the senses' as the tag line goes.

We were greeted in the restaurant by two of the tallest waiters I have seen in Majorca. They greeted us warmly and escorted us to a table by the panoramic windows (outdoor dining not an option at this time of the year, although we did step outside on to the magnificent terrace and imagined ourselves dining alfresco to the sound of the waves just below). The twinkling lights of Palma city could be seen in the distance. The menus, in keeping with the simplicity theme, offered a small but choice selection of Mediterranean dishes, all of which we could have happily eaten. We placed our order and were rewarded with warm fresh bread and Soller olive oil.

There is an emphasis on Mallorcan produce in the Maricel and we were delighted to taste a ‘Mallorcan' mojito (not entirely sure what was Mallorcan about it but it was really delicious). The waiter also recommended some Majorcan wine for us to try from a modern wine maker called Susana (sempre) - red for the lady, and white for The Frenchman. My cabernet sauvignon/montenegro/merlot blend from Binissalem was young, fresh and fruity, and was pleasingly served chilled. The white mix of chardonnay and semillon was rich and well rounded - again, its youth meant it tasted clean and buttery without the powerful oak that can overtake the senses. We were impressed.

We were served a rather wonderful appetizer of moist llampuga fish with romesco sauce. With flecks of salt and seaweed, the combination of flavours was excellent. It left us salivating for more. I had chosen the unusual sounding mozzarella soup with lobster ravioli & sweetened tomato for my starter, and was happy to see that the star of the show was the monster ravioli itself. It was sitting in a light frothy sauce of mozzarella milk, and had been garnished with tomato flavoured caramelised onions and a big fat lobster claw. The Frenchman looked on enviously, as he awaited his starter of lobster tartar. This was a special of the evening, and the lobster had been marinated with orange and ginger to produce a distinctly Asian flavour. The fresh and cleansing sauce was a very good counter-balance to the richness of the lobster.

The stylish cuisine continued into the main courses. I had plumped for roasted suckling pig with a lemon cream and snow peas. A big chunk of pork was accompanied by some marmite (well, maybe not marmite, but you get the idea) flavoured pearl barley - the rich saltiness (in a similar fashion to crackling) went brilliantly with the juicy pork. The lemon cream was served separately, and for me, didn't quite complement the rest of the dish. The Frenchman's seabass was beautifully cooked and was served with a bundle of black squid noodles and alioli sauce - another very good combination of flavours.

Thanks to the sensible portion sizes, we were able to squeeze down dessert without bursting the belts. My hazelnut couland was a delicious fondant style timbale of warm hazelnut sponge filled with a luscious hot chocolate-hazelnut sauce. Utterly decadent and delicious. A beautifully presented apple tart was the Frenchman's choice. Served with a green apple sorbet, the tart was light and delicate and the apples were firm but soft - exactly the right kind to use in a hot dessert.

Petit fours completed our evening, along with a Majorcan daiquiri - a very fruity strawberry slush puppy - recommended by our friendly waiter and slurped down happily by The Frenchman, although it could have been a sorbet dessert in its own right. You can expect to pay in the region of €80 per person for a 3-course dinner with wine at the Senzone restaurant. The simple but sophisticated cuisine is well thought out and is neither too rich, nor too plain. Those watching the waistlines will enjoy the light healthiness of the choices available; we also liked the use of Mallorcan produce wherever possible. We left the restaurant feeling refreshed and pleasantly full, and we prolonged our stay by taking a moment on the glorious terrace to listen to the sea.

An evening at the Marciel is definitely one of stylish simplicity and luxury. There is calm majesty to the place, helped by it's location, but also created by the interior and the unfailingly polite and charming staff. We can't wait to return again.

The Frenchman and I had passed this restaurant a number of times in the car and had always wondered if it was a roadside tourist trap, or if it could offer a dining experience fit for a king. We did a little research online - Trip Advisor rates it as a Top 10 restaurant in Mallorca (but with two pubs in the top five, we couldn't help but take this ranking with a pinch of salt). But there were enough good reviews (‘breathtaking', ‘top class', ‘hidden treasure') to persuade us that Il Paradiso was worth a visit. It seemed that this was a restaurant to be taken seriously, so we booked a table, dug our glad rags out and headed over.

Valet parking was our first indication of how the evening was going to proceed. A very nice touch we thought, and were soon escorted into the rather wonderful and ornate dining room. As we admired the typically Italian intricate plasterwork on the walls & ceiling we were asked if we would like to dine on the terrace or remain in the dining room. The Frenchman and I eyed the gathering black clouds, and gambled with taking a table on the terrace. With a canopy for protection and outside heaters for extra warmth, it seemed we would be safe. And boy were we pleased with our choice. This has to be one of the best dining terraces on Majorca. High on a cliff top overlooking the sea and facing west, you can hear the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks as you dine. Couples can enjoy extra intimacy by choosing a table on a more secluded curved balcony - brownie points to all men who secure one of these tables for their romantic date.

We started with a very decent cocktail and eyed the storm clouds nervously. Our fellow diners seemed to be a refined kind of bunch - well dressed & elegant with international credentials. But to our relief, the atmosphere felt relaxed and friendly, with no stuffiness in sight.

The very charming waiter introduced himself and served us fresh focaccia with baby onions in red wine, truffled cream cheese and tiny, soft black olives. We began to feel quite grown-up as we perused the refined menu. The focus is on quality Italian dishes, some familiar, others less so, but all sounded simple and elegant. The wine list, unusually for Mallorca, contained only Italian wine - starting around the €20 mark.

I was delighted to find out that there was no traffic noise from the adjacent road; or perhaps I was just distracted by songs from the 80's playing gently in the background. As we enjoyed the sea views, our starters arrived. My finely sliced prawn carpaccio was served with spicy rocket and slices of avocado. It was silky smooth and utterly divine. The Frenchman had some juicy homemade sundried tomatoes served with a very good piece of fresh mozzarella. Both were some of the simplest, yet finest Italian cuisine we have ever been served.

From the elegant starters, we switched to the more homely pasta dishes for our mains. The Frenchman had chosen big wide strands of papadelle pasta with a tomato, prawn, black olives, capers and chilli sauce. Freshly made, it had a wonderful salty tang, and the Frenchman only just held back from licking the bowl. My penne came with strips of beef filet in a creamy marsala sauce with mushrooms, peas and truffles. Billed as the house speciality, it was rich and very filling.

As the pasta had almost finished us off, we decided to share a dessert and we plumped for a white chocolate mousse, with passion fruit and summer berries. The mousse was light and fresh with an almost gooey meringue type texture. The sweet red fruits and the sharp passion fruit made an excellent counter-punch to the mousse. It was a very good dish to finish on.

The Frenchman and I rarely seem to eat in Italian restaurants, as our favourite pasta dishes are so easy to prepare at home. But Il Paradiso has made us think twice about that unconscious decision. Simple fresh ingredients, immaculately prepared and beautifully presented, we would come back to Il Paradiso a flash. The setting is dreamily romantic and you won't be disappointed with the quality of the food. Fit for king? Most certainly.