Ca'n Jan

Honest Cuisine

The fideus vermar get to our table in a small clay pot with a characteristic spicy touch, al dente pasta and generous pieces of lamb – tasty and tender. A delicacy.

Author: Aina Coll

Photographer: Jaume Oliver

In the square of Binissalem, at noon during the week, there is a relaxed and quiet atmosphere but nonetheless there is constant movement. Children carrying their backpacks are heading home while workers look for a place to eat in the middle of their workday, just like us. We have come to this beautiful town famous for its winemaking history and, among the different options that we find around the square, we decided to go to Can Jan, a restaurant from which customers do not stop coming and going. That's a good sign.

At the door we discovered the set menu and immediately detected a typical and emblematic dish of the town: vermar fideus. With such an enticement, we have no choice but to enter and try the most renowned local dish, which is traditionally cooked in September during the harvest.

Can Jan is a spacious restaurant with contemporary aesthetics and attention to detail. As soon as we enter, we are greeted by a very friendly waitress, who accompanies us to what will be our table and offers us the set menu -although we have already set our mind to one option-. While we ruminate on the rest, we ask for water and we get a pleasant surprise: at Can Jan they collaborate with Sonrisa Médica and, for each bottle they sell, they donate 50 cents to this pioneering NGO in Spain in the field of accompaniment of hospital clowns to patients.

Finally, we made up our minds and ordered a menu for two: fideos de vermar and cannelloni as a starter, and scrambled eggs and grilled sea bream as main courses. While we wait, to whet our appetite, the waitress offers us a basket of bread that we drizzle with delicious Binissalem olive oil with Denomination of Origin Oli de Mallorca. Soon our starters arrive, in generous portions and with an undeniably homemade appearance.

The cannelloni are well filled with plenty of minced meat and drizzled with a light béchamel sauce that brings together the flavors in every bite. The fideos vermar  arrive in a small clay pot with a characteristic spicy touch, al dente pasta and generous pieces of lamb – tasty and tender. A delicacy. Although the portion is generous, we leave the pot empty and we are not the only ones who have succumbed to this tasty dish, because the characteristic aroma of this traditional recipe reigns on all the tables around us.

It's time to taste our mains: scrambled eggs accompanied by seasonal mushrooms and a grilled sea bream accompanied by a small salad. Two tasty and light choices that combine phenomenally with the first, without a doubt, more forceful.

Onto our desserts and we choose one of each, two very different choices that round off this meal: an exquisite oreo cake -very sweet but not over the top- and a fruit salad, ideal to refresh the palate and end this meal at Can Jan with a very good taste in our mouths.

With seasonal products and traditional Mallorcan recipes, Can Jan is home to local flavour in a carefully presented way. The dishes have convinced us with their taste and the value for money, which is undoubtedly excellent. In addition, its terrace in the town square in front of the church and its imposing bell tower is another setting in which to enjoy this cuisine that transmits the know-how of the island's gastronomic culture. More than recommended.