Bella italia Ristorante Pizzeria

What comes together in the Bella Italia kitchen

One thread runs through the whole menu, and it is black: truffle. The taglierini arrive with fresh truffle in a parmesan nest, the lentil soup gets fresh truffle too, the beef fillet a Marsala and truffle sauce, and the pizza list carries two truffle versions, the Tartufo and the Primavera with San Daniele ham, buffalo mozzarella, rocket and cherry tomatoes. For a house on a village square that is an unusually consistent decision.

The pasta section works with shapes that demand their own sauce: orecchiette with salsiccia in a roast pepper cream with mozzarella stracciatella, paccheri with black tiger prawns, cherry tomatoes and green asparagus, house-made ravioli filled with ricotta and spinach in butter and sage with parmesan flakes. Beside them a risotto with beetroot, green asparagus and taleggio.

Among the starters it is striking how often orange appears: in the pear carpaccio with caramelised goat cheese, in the vitello tonnato with capers and orange slices, in the fennel salad with Taggiasche olives and tuna belly, in the dressing over thinly sliced beetroot with feta and walnuts. Fennel and orange are almost a house motif here.

Pizza, fish and meat

The pizza list is long and classically built, from the Margherita through Quattro Stagioni and Quattro Formaggi to the Diavola. It gets more interesting at the upper end: a Bresaola with Grana Padano and rocket, a Porchetta with rolled roast pork and stracciatella, a Mortadella with pistachio and burrata cream, and a Sei Formaggi with guanciale on which Grana Padano, gorgonzola, buffalo mozzarella and taleggio come together.

From the sea there is cod alla Livornese with capers, tomatoes, asparagus and potatoes, and a pan-fried variation of fish with herbs and vegetables. The meat side holds calf's liver with butter and sage, pluma ibérica with Jerusalem artichoke and spinach, and the beef fillet with potato gratin.

The dolci list is worth reaching: a torta della nonna with lemon cream and pine nuts, a house-made chocolate and orange tartlet, tiramisù classico, crème brûlée, and a baked cheesecake with chocolate hazelnut cream and strawberries.

Toni, Stefano and the Plaça Espanya

The menu is written in three languages, led in Spanish and translated into German and English. That says something about who eats here: Bella Italia draws locals, residents and holidaymakers alike. You can hold a table by phone or through the booking form on the venue's own website, and if you want to sit outside you had better do it early.

Llucmajor itself gets overlooked by many visitors to Mallorca, because it lies neither on the sea nor on one of the big roads to the beach. That is exactly what makes the Plaça Espanya: a real market square with trees, old façades and cafés all round, where in the evening it is the neighbours out and about rather than the coaches. Bella Italia sits in the middle of it.