Restaurante BUEN NORTE

Buen Norte does not sit where Santa Ponsa takes its postcards. Instead of the seafront promenade, the restaurant stands a few streets inland, on the corner of Via Puig des Teix and Gran Via Puig des Galatzó, in the middle of the town's residential grid. A handful of other places share the same block, otherwise it is neighbours' houses. People who eat here have usually made a point of coming, rather than taking the nearest free table with a sea view. That sets the tone of the house. Buen Norte is run by the family that owns it, and you notice quickly: the hosts are in the room themselves, greeting, clearing, asking. In what guests say afterwards, the service comes up almost as often as the food — and at the end of the evening a small digestif tends to land on the table that nobody asked for. The name reads literally as “good north”. The kitchen itself looks squarely at the Mediterranean. The kitchen at Buen Norte The house describes its cooking as Mediterranean, and the menu is built just as broadly. It is organised into chapters you can work through in order: small things to share, salads, pasta, burgers, fish, dishes from the grill, paellas, pizzas and something sweet at the end. This is not a menu that pushes you in one direction. It is built so that a table with four different preferences can eat together. Two strands carry it. One comes off the fire: the grill sends out steaks, spare ribs and a meat skewer that guests keep describing as the best thing of the evening. The other comes from the sea and from the paella pan — paella has a chapter of its own, alongside grilled prawns, salmon and mussels. To start, bruschetta and nachos work well set down in the middle. Pizza and pasta stand alongside as equals and are not treated as a concession. Portions are generous and the price band stays down to earth — one reason many guests come back more than once within the same holiday. Eating vegetarian takes no searching here: salads, pasta and pizzas cover it. Hosts, terrace and booking The room is unfussy, casual and cosy, with no design ambition. There are seats outside, and because Buen Norte is not on the promenade, sitting out there is quieter than down by the water. Families with children belong here as naturally as larger parties, and the house is set up for groups. Dogs are welcome. Entrance, seating and toilet are step-free, and you can park free of charge right outside — in Santa Ponsa that is worth more in summer than it sounds. Booking is worth it, especially for a group: Buen Norte takes tables by phone and also runs its own online booking system. If you would rather eat where you are staying, the food is available to take away and by delivery. Buen Norte in Santa Ponsa Santa Ponsa is a fully developed resort in the south-west of Mallorca, with hotels, coves, a promenade and plenty of international restaurants. Buen Norte belongs to the part of town you cannot see from the beach: a place in the residential quarter, a few corners away from the bustle, living on people who come back. The address says something about the island too. Puig des Teix and Puig de Galatzó are mountains in the Serra de Tramuntana. Santa Ponsa named its streets after them, even though the peaks themselves lie considerably further north.