Pizzeria Mucho Gusto

Pizzeria Mucho Gusto is a small pizzeria on Carrer Berga in S'Arenal, a few streets back from the beach, at the Llucmajor end of the bay of Palma. The place does not sit on the promenade but in the grid of streets behind it, among hotels and holiday apartments — an address you either know or get recommended. What the kitchen does is quickly told and still not interchangeable: pizza from the oven, plus burgers, pasta and a short row of starters. The base is thin and comes out crisp rather than soft and doughy — that is the quality guests bring up most often about this house. Pizza comes in a single generous size; if you want to try two toppings, you order two and share. The business is small and run by the owners themselves, and you notice it in the tone. Takeaway orders are as much part of the day as the table inside, and the menu can also be had through the usual delivery services. The pizza menu at Pizzeria Mucho Gusto The base is the same everywhere: tomato, mozzarella, oregano. On top of that sits a menu that stays deliberately classic — and carries considerably more fish than you would expect in this price bracket. From the Margherita it runs through the Caprichosa with mushrooms and cooked ham to the Salami with mushrooms and the Pepperoni with spicy salami; the last of those is the one that goes over the counter most often. The Diavolo combines onion, chicken and pepper with heat, the Be keeps it plain with bacon, the Hawái with pineapple and cooked ham. The fish side of the menu stands out. The Tono carries tuna, onion and olives, the Putanesca olives, capers and anchovies, the Fruti di Mare seafood with olive oil, garlic and onion. The Salmone brings together spinach, smoked salmon and garlic. Then there is the four-cheese pizza of mozzarella, gorgonzola, cheddar and parmesan, the Gourmet with serrano ham, and the Vegetariana with courgette, mushrooms, onion, olives and pepper. If you prefer it closed, there is the Calzone with cooked ham and mushrooms. Burgers, croquettes and the house alioli Alongside the pizza there is a short burger list, and it has one detail that lifts it out of the neighbourhood: every burger carries a house-made alioli set with roasted pepper. That is not a sauce off the shelf, and it runs through all the variants. Lettuce, tomato, onion, sweet-sour gherkins and chips come with all of them. The plain version leaves it at that; from there the list steps up through cheese, bacon, egg and cooked ham to the double with two layers of meat. For starters there are chicken croquettes and chips, with melted cheese if you want it. Pasta is on the menu too and is regularly ordered alongside the pizza. Where the place sits S'Arenal is the eastern end of the Playa de Palma and administratively belongs to Llucmajor rather than to Palma. Carrer Berga lies in the dense grid of hotel streets that opens up behind the beach promenade — not a spot you happen to pass, but one you head for. That shapes the crowd too: holidaymakers from the buildings around, residents, and people picking something up on the way back from the beach. For a quarter shaped heavily by fast catering, a pizzeria with a thin, crisp base and its own alioli recipe is more than the location leads you to expect.