Menorca’s cooking comes down to three products: Mahón-Menorca cheese, with Protected Designation of Origin; lobster stew (caldereta), the dish Fornells is famous for; and Mahón gin, with Protected Geographical Indication, drunk neat or as pomada, with lemonade. Add sobrasada, carn i xua and ensaïmadas from the market.
Lobster stew (caldereta)
A lobster stew that is Fornells’ best-known dish. It is expensive —usually over €60 per person, depending on the fishing season— and worth booking, especially in summer.
Where to have it and when to book, in lobster stew in Fornells.
Recommended itinerary
2 days
Food and local markets
Flavours of Menorca
Two days of markets, gin, Mahón-Menorca cheese and lobster stew in Fornells.
Mahón-Menorca cheese
With Protected Designation of Origin, it is made from cow’s milk and sold at different ages; there is also a traditional raw-milk version. You can visit a dairy such as Hort de Sant Patrici in Ferreries.
At Hort de Sant Patrici the guided tours end with a tasting (Tuesday to Saturday at 11:30, booking required).
Sobrasada, carn i xua and ensaïmadas
At Maó’s Mercat des Claustre you’ll find sobrasada, carn i xua —a cured pork sausage typical of Menorca— and ensaïmadas, as well as the island’s cheese.
The Mercat des Claustre opens all year; next door, the Mercat des Peix has tapas counters with the catch of the day.
Recommended itinerary
1 day
Food and local markets
Maó in a day, on foot
Markets, museum, tapas by the harbour, a gin tasting and dinner in Cales Fonts, no car needed. Ideal for cruise passengers.
Mahón gin and pomada
Mahón gin is distilled in copper stills heated with wood, as at the Xoriguer distillery on Maó harbour. Pomada, gin with lemonade, is the drink of Menorca’s fiestas.
You can taste both in the shop of the Xoriguer distillery.
Where to try it all
At the counters of Maó’s Mercat des Peix (Tuesday to Saturday until 14:00), at Menorcan restaurants such as Es Tast de na Sílvia (Ciutadella) or Es Molí d’es Racó (Es Mercadal, open all year), and on Fornells harbour.
Es Tast de na Sílvia serves Slow Food cooking from old recipes: book by phone and bring cash. What to take home, in what to buy in Menorca.
Take it organised
Itineraries with the order of each day, how to get there and where to eat, ready on your phone.
2 days
Food and local markets
Flavours of Menorca
Two days of markets, gin, Mahón-Menorca cheese and lobster stew in Fornells.
1 day
Food and local markets
Maó in a day, on foot
Markets, museum, tapas by the harbour, a gin tasting and dinner in Cales Fonts, no car needed. Ideal for cruise passengers.
