Mestizä Chiringo & Cocktail Bar - Tapas & Burger

Mestizä Chiringo & Cocktail Bar stands on Avinguda del Rei Jaume I in Santa Ponsa, on the south-west coast of Mallorca and close enough to the water that the terrace looks out over the beach and the bay. The house sums up its own line in a single phrase: flavours from around the world, with a flamenco undertone. On the menu that reads surprisingly literally — Tex-Mex nachos sit beside poké bowls, a wok with ramen noodles beside thin, crisp American pizza, and in the middle of it all lies the charcoal, where striploin, ribeye, fillet and a chateaubriand for two are cooked. Sitting here for the first time, it is easy to underestimate how wide this house casts its net. It starts at breakfast — a full English with egg, bacon, sausage and hash brown, a Spanish one with serrano ham and crushed tomato, or a vegetarian version with mushrooms, spinach and cheese croquettes — and ends with the cocktails the chiringo passes out to the terrace. The menu at Mestizä Chiringo The burgers are the best-known part: the classic Angus smash burger with cheddar, pickles and the house sauce, a version with a fried egg, an American burger with double cheddar, bacon and an onion ring, plus chilli, blue cheese and pulled pork variants. If you do not eat meat, there is the vegan burger of quinoa, vegetables and Japanese rice. Behind that sits a starters page where the Latin American streak of the house comes through most clearly. Chorizo criollo arrives with chimichurri, the nachos come once with chipotle beef, guacamole and pico de gallo, once Texan with pulled pork and pickled red onion. Alongside them: a chicken and bacon quesadilla, patatas bravas with kimchi aioli, beer-battered onion rings, garlic prawns, grilled vegetables with goat cheese and pistachios, and loaded baked potatoes in four versions. The pizza is deliberately thin and crisp, American rather than Neapolitan, on a base of mozzarella, tomato and oregano. The toppings run from pepperoni and five cheeses through tuna with prawns, crab and anchovies to tikka chicken with pineapple; if you prefer, you assemble five ingredients yourself. The grill also sends out half a chicken with rosemary and thyme, pork ribs with BBQ sauce, and an Ibérico shoulder cooked long and slow before it meets the open flame at the end. From breakfast to the chiringo evening The breakfast menu runs well into the afternoon — in a resort where the morning tends to be spent by the water, that is more than a footnote. After it, the rest of the card takes over: poké bowls with salmon, chicken or vegetables alone, spaghetti Alfredo, salmon with teriyaki, a wok of monkfish and prawns with ramen noodles and Thai chilli. The digital menu carries an allergen filter, every dish shows its symbols, and it exists in Spanish, English, German, French and Italian. For a crowd that arrives in Santa Ponsa from half a dozen countries, that is more useful than any description. Towards evening the house shifts in the direction of the chiringo. Mojito in three versions, piña colada, frozen daiquiri, paloma, Hugo, Aperol Spritz, espresso martini, and alcohol-free versions alongside. The wine list stays closer to the island than you would expect at a burger house: two Ses Nines from Mallorca, a Syrah of Mallorcan origin, plus Rueda, Valdeorras and Ribera del Duero. To finish, sticky toffee pudding, American cheesecake with blueberries or crêpes. Santa Ponsa on the doorstep Mestizä belongs to Grupo Unicum, which runs several houses in Santa Ponsa — from tapas and paella through pizza and kebab to a steakhouse by the beach — and two more in Palma. That explains why the menu is so broad without feeling arbitrary: every section has a counterpart within the group. In practice that means a car park of its own, dogs are welcome, a large terrace facing the bay that is also used for celebrations and larger groups, and a children's menu with nuggets, margherita and spaghetti bolognese. For a place where many restaurants serve a single audience, that is an unusually wide span.