Es Cruce

On the Palma–Manacor road, level with Vilafranca de Bonany, there's a vast car park that's nearly always full and a queue at the door at lunchtime: this is Es Cruce, the roadside restaurant half of Mallorca knows. It opens very early for breakfast and the kitchen runs all day, with big dining rooms, a shaded terrace and a table turnover that makes the queue move faster than it looks. The menu is long and plainly Mallorcan, and what holds it up is a handful of dishes ordered at almost every table. First is arròs brut, the soupy inland rice with meat, vegetables and spices, in portions that are a meal on their own. Then come the quails and roast porcella (suckling pig), crisp-skinned and served with allioli, and the snails, which many people try here for the first time. Frit mallorquí, tumbet and tongue round out the island cooking; for straightforward meat, there's a big T-bone and escalope with pepper sauce at very modest prices. For dessert, almond granita, gató (almond sponge) with almond ice cream and a home-made carrot cake that has a following of its own. Don't expect finesse or quiet: it's loud, quick and very cheap for what you get, which is why Mallorcan families, workers on the road and travellers coming back from the Caves of Drach all end up at neighbouring tables.

Reviewed in November 2026