Raimundo Burger

Raimundo Burger sits on Plaça de Raimundo Clar in the middle of Palma's old town, and the name is meant literally: the house is named after the square it stands on. Since 2017 a kitchen has been working here that concentrates on one single thing and deliberately leaves out everything else. The owners now run a second place on Carrer de Blanquerna in the north of the city; when people on the island say Raimundo Plaza, they mean this one, on the square. The whole thing is told through a character: Rai, a young and many-sided artist on one of the most beautiful islands in the Mediterranean, who wanted to make the best burgers on the island. The sentence the house writes above everything goes like this: Raimundo's secret lies not only in the burger, but in who you share it with. The ambition is gourmet burgers, not fast food, and that starts with the buying. The meat is aguja from Galician cattle, the shoulder cut, and it goes over the griddle. The bun is baked by Lluís Pérez, one of Mallorca's best-known pastry chefs — a brioche that stays soft and still holds together. Alongside come vegetables of the day, pickles, confits and sauces made in house; potatoes and sweet potatoes are cut on the premises. The burgers at Raimundo Burger carry names, not numbers The menu is short and stays that way. La Italiana combines melted mozzarella, grated parmesan, lettuce, tomato and pesto. La Mexicana goes for guacamole, cheddar, goat cheese, red onion, chipotle mayonnaise and corn tortillas. La Americana is the classic line with cheddar, crisp bacon, fried onions and barbecue sauce. La Raimundo is the house's own: triple cheese, triple bacon. Melted Edam and grated parmesan sit inside the burger, along with onion jam and bacon-flavoured corn chips — and a camembert cream that is injected only at the end. La New York brings caramelised onion jam, smoked bacon, shoestring potatoes, double melted Monterey Jack and a fried egg off the griddle. La Vegetariana works with a Beyond Meat patty, goat cheese, tomato and guacamole. In principle every burger can be ordered vegetarian, and every one of them can be made gluten free. What the Battle of the Burger brought At the first edition of the Battle of the Burger on Mallorca — a competition in which every participating house develops its own small burger for the visitors — Raimundo entered La Francesa: grilled beef, Roquefort, sliced mushrooms tossed in butter and a compote of caramelised onions with red wine and chocolate. The public and the jury each gave it first place. At a later edition at Son Fusteret, La Canadiense won, and it has remained the best-known burger of the house ever since: peanut butter, melted cheddar, smoked bacon, Granny Smith apple, spicy raspberry jam — and the maple syrup that is injected with a pipette. The house describes it as its version of the American peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Starters, sides and sweet things Before the burgers come Nachos Raimundo — corn tortillas with melted cheese, homemade chili con carne, jalapeños, pico de gallo and guacamole, with meat or without — and a salad with goat cheese, tomato, guacamole, red onion and peanuts caramelised in honey. To share there are fries with rosemary and sweet potato fries with parmesan and lime. For dessert the menu carries an Oreo brownie with vanilla ice cream and the cheesecake of the house. On top of that the kitchen regularly designs a burger of the month, and has worked with pastry chefs and cooks from the island on it. The place on Plaça de Raimundo Clar The room is small: a few low tables in front of the open kitchen, high tables and a counter by the entrance, plenty of wood and a window front that lets daylight in. Outside, the terrace stands on the square, and on warm evenings that is the real reason to come early. Booking goes through the house's own reservation system, which keeps a separate form for this location — given the size of the room, that is not a bad idea. Takeaway and delivery are possible too.