Al Faro Beach

Al Faro Beach sits on the Carretera de l'Arenal, the beachfront road of Playa de Palma, roughly halfway between Ca'n Pastilla and s'Arenal. The house describes itself as bar, lounge and restaurant in one — a modern tapas bar with a large wine bar attached, and a kitchen that gives the grill and the sushi counter equal standing. The name sounds like a beach club, but what you get is a restaurant: there is an indoor and an outdoor terrace, no sunbeds and no pool. The place grew out of the experience of the original house, “Al Faro”. Behind Al Faro Beach stand Axel and Marcela with their team, which includes Marijus and Filip. The idea was to take what works in the original restaurant down to the beach and add a few turns you will not find elsewhere along Playa de Palma. The kitchen at Al Faro Beach Most people start with the tapas variation: pan y mas with two kinds of bread, alioli and Mallorcan olives in a house marinade, pimientos de Padrón with Mallorcan salt, gambas al ajillo, the trio de frito of squid rings, small fried squid and prawns, queso y higos with seared goat cheese and sweet figs, and jamón y mas. Alongside it comes jamón ibérico de bellota as a plate of its own. From the sea side the menu offers pulpo a la parrilla, a salmon fillet of Label Rouge quality and clams in a spicy tomato sauce. The oysters are French Fin de Claire, which the house keeps in its own oyster tank in Llucmajor — plain with lemon, with ponzu, salmon caviar and nori, or with spinach and hollandaise. A step above that sits Beluga Imperial caviar, served with toast, butter and crème fraîche. The Japanese side is no afterthought. There is nigiri and sashimi of salmon and bluefin tuna, poke bowls with sushi rice, edamame, avocado and cucumber, and the house's own rolls: the Dragon Roll with tiger prawn and flame-seared salmon, the Al Faro Roll with flame-seared raw beef fillet, asparagus and hollandaise, the Spicy Double Tuna Roll and a Veggie Roll. Meat from the beefer at eight hundred degrees The heart of the meat menu is a beefer that works with eight hundred degrees of top heat. On offer are Black Angus from Australia in corn-fed quality, US Prime Black Angus and New Zealand grass-fed beef — as beef fillet, as the smaller “Ladycut”, as rib-eye and as chateaubriand, carved at the table. Next to it stands a rack of lamb with vegetables and rosemary potatoes. Every dish comes with a side and a sauce of your choice, from sweet potato fries and grilled vegetables to herb butter, jus and hollandaise. And then there is the section that sets Al Faro Beach apart from its neighbours. The “Gold Digger” is a premium steak of your choice, covered in twenty-four carat edible gold and served with a small show. The same idea comes as Golden Sushi, a roll of your choice under gold leaf, and as a tasting menu in “Dubai Style” that bundles jamón, oysters, caviar, sushi and the golden steak into one sequence. The house makes no secret of having brought the idea back from Dubai. Sharing, tasting menus and the sweet finish A lot here is built for sharing. The “To Share” platter for two combines New Zealand beef fillet, pulpo and rib-eye with an assortment of sides, and the tasting menus run through the card in three levels — Al Faro Style, Deluxe and Dubai Style — across three to five courses. To finish there is cheesecake in a glass, brownie, coulant de chocolate, crumble with apples and vanilla ice cream, and the pistachio bomb of pistachio mousse and crumble that is finished at the table with mango and passion fruit sauce. Anyone after something simpler sticks with Bruno's ice cream cups, waffles, crêpes and milkshakes — the ice cream corner sits in the same house as the steaks. To drink there is a wine list with regional and international growers, plus champagne, sangría, smoothies or one of the cocktails. Terrace, music and guests on four paws Indoors as much as outdoors you sit at terrace tables, and the tone is relaxed without being careless. On some evenings a DJ plays, otherwise the house playlists run. Dogs and other pets are expressly welcome: the water bowl is free, and a bowl of wet or dry food comes on request. The team will put on celebrations of any kind if you ask.