No 31 RESTAURANT

No 31 is not where you would first look in Port de Pollença. Walk only the seafront promenade and you will miss it: the house sits a few streets inland on Carrer de Vicenç Buades and opens up only once you are past the entrance, onto an interior courtyard. That patio is exactly why guests keep calling No 31 a hidden find. You are not sitting in the beach traffic but between walls, and the evening turns noticeably quieter there than a few streets away at the water. The menu is kept short, and that is a decision rather than an embarrassment. A handful of starters, a handful of mains, meat and fish side by side — but almost every line carries a signature that is rare in the north of Mallorca: Mediterranean and Spanish foundations combined with Asian accents. People describing the place for the first time almost always reach for the same phrase — Mallorcan cooking with an Asian twist. What happens in the kitchen at No 31 The fillet steak is the classic of the house. It gets named more often than anything else, and whoever writes about it usually mentions in the same breath that the beef is specially sourced. Alongside it stand braised lamb and cod served with redcurrants — a pairing you remember. Starters that come up again and again are clams in a robust sauce, crisp duck rolls, a burrata salad and bao buns. Pasta and tacos have their place too. This is not a menu that could be pinned to one national cuisine, and it has no ambition to be. The finish stays homemade. The apple crumble is mentioned almost as often as some of the mains, next to it cheesecake and profiteroles, and afterwards a limoncello made in the house. Diets are not an afterthought here Vegetarian and vegan dishes are a fixed part of the menu, and gluten-free is more than a token line: guests who depend on it report that practically the whole menu could be eaten gluten-free. The house itself says it can accommodate dietary needs if you book in good time. You should book anyway — the courtyard holds only a manageable number of tables, and the house takes reservations through its own booking system and by telephone. Bar, wine and the tone of the house No 31 explicitly calls itself a restaurant and bar, and the second half is meant seriously. Cocktails are mixed individually and from scratch; for many guests they are the reason to come back a second time. Then there is a wine list where the recommendation from the house counts: the hosts are in the room themselves, advise at the table and rarely send you off with the most obvious glass. The tone is warm and unhurried, the price level upmarket, the mood intimate rather than showy. Port de Pollença around it The harbour town in the north of the island is flat, easy to grasp and comfortable on foot. From No 31 it is a few minutes to the water, to Plaça Miquel Capllonch and to the Pine Walk, the pine-lined promenade along the eastern shore of the bay. Anyone planning an evening here likes to pair dinner with a walk along the harbour — and then works out that the quiet corner on Carrer de Vicenç Buades is the more pleasant place to sit.