Can Gelat

The first thing you see as you walk in is the counter: a long display case with the day’s tapas already cooked, in earthenware dishes, so you choose with your eyes. Can Gelat, on Carrer del Centre in Santanyí, calls itself a café and tapas bar serving home cooking with local produce, and it delivers. It looks small from the street, but inside it opens into several rooms decorated with island bits and pieces and an inner terrace that in summer is the coolest spot in the village. The tapas list reads like a Mallorcan home kitchen: frit mallorquí (a fry-up of offal and vegetables), tongue with capers, botifarró meatballs (the island’s spiced sausage), stuffed courgettes, trampó (a tomato, pepper and onion salad) with salt cod, stewed cuttlefish, tripe and beef stew, alongside less expected things like quiche lorraine and lasagne, which have their own fans. Every day there’s also a dish of the day (chicken escaldums, a rice) and homemade puddings that surprise people: the mango tart is the one that keeps coming up. The best plan is half portions of several things, bearing in mind that a half varies a lot in size from dish to dish. Mornings bring breakfasts with bocadillos and variats (a mixed plate of small tapas), and almost everything can be taken away.

Reviewed in November 2026