Cafe, Bar Tapearte

Tapearte sits at the seaward end of S'Illot, on Avinguda del Llop, where the last row of houses runs into the rocky shore. The name plays on “tapear”, the Spanish verb for going out for tapas — and a round of tapas is indeed what most guests come for. The menu, though, reaches a good deal further than the name suggests. The house sees itself as a restaurant on the shoreline, with a terrace where the breeze sits down at the table with you. Its stated specialities are traditional paellas, homemade croquetas and the fish and seafood of the day, alongside a cocktail list of its own. It is listed as a Mediterranean restaurant, a tapas bar and a family restaurant — a description that matches what guests report: big rounds of friends, children at the table, sometimes a corner decorated for a birthday. What the kitchen at Tapearte sends out The anchor of the menu is rice. Paella Mixta is the dish guests name most often, with Paella Valenciana beside it, and a rice with lobster turns up as well. The house talks about homemade paella of the kind a grandmother used to cook. In practice that mostly means one thing: a rice dish is not made on the side, it needs its time over the heat, and you can taste whether a kitchen takes that time. The second constant is the croquetas. They are made in house and are the item that shows up most reliably when guests describe a meal here. Around them lies a tapas repertoire without experiments: ensaladilla rusa, patatas bravas, prawns, fried calamares, small grilled squid. The allioli draws praise strikingly often — the point at which a Spanish kitchen quickly shows whether someone in it is paying attention. Anyone not after tapas will find a broader menu: fish and seafood, meat from the grill, burgers and bocadillos. Eating vegetarian works here without special requests, and vegan dishes are provided for. And the cocktails come up in guest accounts almost as often as the food — for a house that calls itself a tapas bar, the bar is no afterthought. A terrace at the edge of the village The address is a corner plot, less than a hundred metres from the rocky shore. The footpaths along the water start right behind the building, the village's sandy bay lies a few hundred metres further on, and the neighbourhood is S'Illot in miniature: hotels, apartments, bars, everything within short reach. Sitting outside is the normal case here — the house itself advertises the terrace and the sea breeze, and guests describe the fit-out as hand-made and homely rather than styled. When the trip is worth it S'Illot is a holiday resort, and Tapearte is a resort restaurant in the best sense: unpretentious, with a menu that can fill a mixed group without anyone having to compromise. The house sits in the middle price range, and guests keep coming back to the relation between what arrives at the table and what it costs. If you want to be sure of a table, call ahead; the house asks for exactly that in its own announcements. For an evening where some want to share tapas, others want a burger and the rest want a cocktail on the terrace, Tapearte is an uncomplicated address — and anyone who has come for the rice is in the right place anyway.