Restaurante de Tapas & Paellas Casa Rufino

Casa Rufino is a tapas and paella house in S'Arenal, the eastern stretch of the Platja de Palma, and it makes no secret of that double billing: the restaurant's full name sets tapas and paellas side by side, and the kitchen is measured against exactly that. The place sits on Carrer del Germà Bianor, a short street running inland from the beach. What comes out of the kitchen is market cooking: typical Mallorcan dishes, recipes from the Spanish tradition and chef's suggestions written afresh each day, with a declared interest in seasonal produce. The tapas selection, the house says, was put together deliberately to show the best of each Spanish region — which is why Galicia, Andalusia and Mallorca genuinely stand next to each other on one menu. The house defines itself through the cooking and through close, unfussy service rather than through an elaborate setting. The team puts it this way itself: they want to offer the right frame for guests to feel at home — just without the washing-up. The paellas are the heart of Casa Rufino The rice dishes are why most guests come, and the menu draws finer distinctions between them than you would expect on the Playa de Palma. The paella de marisco is the one the house calls its flagship — fish and seafood carry the rice, with nothing else getting in the way. The mixed paella brings chicken and seafood together, with the rice running as the thread through all the flavours. Two versions deserve particular attention. The paella ciega arrives without bones and without shells: the meat is taken off the bone, the prawns are peeled, so you eat straight through without needing your hands. The same idea also comes in black — there, cuttlefish ink darkens the rice and gives it a deep, briny note. Anyone eating vegetarian or vegan is not left out: the vegetable paella is expressly suitable for vegans and turns out lighter than the meat and fish versions. Every paella is cooked for two people upwards — not an obstacle, simply the logic of the pan. Tapas from the regions of Spain The tapas list reads like a small map. From Galicia comes the pulpo a la gallega, the octopus cooked to just the right point of tenderness and then finished with pimentón, Maldon salt and olive oil; Galician too are the pimientos de padrón, small, olive-green and intense in flavour — as the saying goes, some burn and some do not. Andalusia turns up three times over: calamares a la andaluza as rings that stay crisp outside and tender inside, boquerones al vinagre as anchovies cured in vinegar with garlic, parsley and a pour of olive oil, and the fried boquerones, which come from Málaga and leave the oil golden brown. Then the Spanish mainstays: gambas al ajillo with well-browned garlic and a sharp edge to them, patatas bravas in irregular dice with a house-made salsa brava, a tortilla española the kitchen deliberately makes without onion and keeps juicy, dátiles con bacon as the sweet-and-salt counterweight, and creamy chicken croquettes from a family recipe. The jamón ibérico is cut by hand by the house's own ham carver. Mallorcan dishes on the menu Alongside the Spanish classics, the house keeps its link to the island. The pa amb oli here is no token gesture but built the Mallorcan way: toasted brown country bread, ramallet tomato rubbed across it, olive oil, and then a choice of serrano ham, cheese, sobrassada or tuna. The choricitos give the island away too — they are seasoned with tap de corti, the Mallorcan pepper variety that lends those small sausages their colour and aroma. Anyone who wants neither rice nor tapas will find meat dishes: the beef entrecôte, cooked from rare to well done as you ask, with chips and pepper sauce, and the Escalope Casa Rufino, which the kitchen names alongside its tapas and paellas as one of its flagship dishes — with a house-made pepper sauce and crisp chips. The mixed salad with tuna rounds off the menu.