The Mediterranean, by candlelight.
Forty seats by the old harbour, in the shadow of the cathedral. One tasting menu drawn from what the island’s fishermen landed this morning.
Request a tableMar, n. — the sea.
We cook what the boats bring into Palma this morning, and nothing that had to fly to get here. The Mallorcan pantry is generous but plain — salt, olive oil, almonds, sun and extraordinary fish — and we think that is exactly its beauty.
Island waters only
Every fish and shellfish is landed in a Mallorcan port. Red prawns come from two trawlers out of Sóller; rock fish, cuttlefish and razorfish from the small llaüts that still work the bay of Palma.
Sun & patience
On our roof, octopus and grey mullet roe dry slowly in the sea breeze, and our fish sauces age in clay for a year — the island’s old ways of making the good weeks last.
One sitting, one room
There is a single menu each evening, served at an unhurried Mediterranean pace. The kitchen is open to the room, and the chef brings most courses to the table herself.
Pa amb oli
Our sourdough, ramallet tomato, new-harvest olive oil from Caimari, sea fennel
Red prawn
Raw, fresh almond, fennel, a few drops of its own head
Raor
Razorfish, the island’s autumn prize, fried whole in olive oil, lemon, salt
Cuttlefish
Cut like noodles, black-ink broth, sobrassada crumb, spring onion
Sea urchin
On toasted coca, cultured goat’s cream, bitter orange zest
Cap roig
Scorpionfish roasted on the bone, saffron and potato, wild fennel
Frit de mar
Our one nod to the island’s kitchens: a seafood frit with peppers, onion and wild herbs
Figs & carob
Late figs from an orchard near Llucmajor, carob ice cream, sheep’s-milk curd
Almond & salt
Gató d’ametlla, almond ice cream, flor de sal from Es Trenc
- Tasting menu
- €165
- Balearic wine pairing
- €110
- Juices & infusions
- €55
A sailmaker’s house, re-lit.
Mar occupies an 1870s sailmaker’s workshop a few steps from the old exchange, where canvas was once cut for the island’s fishing fleet. We kept the sandstone vaults, the worn floor tiles and the harbour window, and lit it almost entirely with beeswax candles.
Above the dining room, Es Terrat — the terrace room — seats up to fourteen at one table, with shutters that open onto the cathedral, for celebrations, small gatherings and long dinners among friends.
- Dining room40 guests
- Es Terrat, private8 – 14 guests
- Whole restaurantUp to 40 guests · Mon – Tue
- Es Terrat minimum spend€2,400
Aina Ferrer Bestard
Chef & ownerAina grew up in Portocolom, sorting her grandfather’s catch on the quay before she could ride a bicycle. She left the island at nineteen and spent twelve years in kitchens in Barcelona, Lyon and London — always, she says, cooking fish that was a day too old.
She came home in 2020 with a simple idea: serve the best seafood in the Mediterranean where it is caught, and let the island’s old kitchen traditions do the talking. Mar opened the following spring.
“Here, the sea decides the menu. My job is mostly to not get in the way.”
What critics have written
The most honest plate of seafood in the Balearics — and possibly the most beautiful room to eat it in.
A red prawn so sweet and cold I still think about it on grey Tuesdays. Worth the flight on its own.
Ferrer cooks with restraint and nerve in equal measure. Mar is the reason to come to Palma in autumn.
Keep us a seat.
Send us a request for any evening in the next two months and we’ll confirm personally by email within a day. For parties larger than six, or for Es Terrat, please call us.