La Mar de Vins

Healthy recipes in remarkable environments

The green surroundings match the gastronomy of La Mar de Vins, where you can have an organic coffee or taste ingredients from the market.

Author: Joan Ramis Boscana

Photographer: Jaume Oliver

Mallorca is filled with surprises, gifts that we could not pack because landscapes cannot be stored; their place is in the location to which they belong. That is why today we have moved to the Parc Natural de la Península de Llevant, an enclave that harbors a wild diversity that connects us with the dawn of nature. After our feet have wandered through almond groves and we have looked out over the sea from some cliffs, we take the car and head for Artà, a municipality that we already know and feel attracted to for many reasons. Several of these reasons are clustered in the carrer d'Antoni Blanes Joan, a cobbled street where the Joan Peix gallery and Cristina Bennàssar's jewelry shop stand out. Notes of emotion float in the atmosphere of the town, which is preparing for the festivities of Sant Salvador who watches us from his hill. The restaurant La Mar de Vins also observes us from its facade. Its shutters and its bluish awning seduce us with a discreet charm.

We enter the premises and we immediately notice its essence. The project of La Mar de Vins has been built in an old house that still preserves its rusticity, a white-walled house that still maintains certain vestiges of the past: a set of beams crosses the ceiling of the entrance and some stones from  immemorial times protrude from the floor. A bunch of grapes painted on the wall welcome us next to a blackboard. On its surface we can read the following: cocina con amor (cooking with love). The colorful chalks give us an idea of the richness that reigns in its menu, based on a Mediterranean and vegetarian philosophy: spinach and couscous salad with marinated tofu, a variety of vegan pates with crudités, mini cocotte of cheeses with truffle aroma... These are some of the starters that La Mar de Vins offers, a presentation that invites us to cross a long corridor that leads to the patio where we are seated. The restaurant's façade had already warned us, as one of its signs said that it had an interior garden. But what we did not expect was to be left breathless.

We are in an orchard that looks like a forest. Loquats, Adam's ribs and lemon trees make up the perimeter of this courtyard. We have just left the Parc Natural de la Península de Llevant to fall into another park. The green that surrounds us matches the gastronomy of La Mar de Vins, where you can have an organic coffee or taste ingredients that come from the market. From their kitchen they try to promote the consumption of a balanced diet. While the chirping of birds fills our ears, we fill ourselves with the menu: zucchini noodles with almond and coconut curry, squid wok with vegetables and Asian sauce, potato omelette with marinated tomatoes or the dish of the day, which is a sea bass with vegetables that almost won us over. The proposal of La Mar de Vins knows how to reward all kinds of palates, as its dishes also satisfy those who would not do fish a disservice.

However, it is one of their vegan ideas that they bring to the table: a beet burger with caramelized onion, pickle, guacamole and fries. The dish is hearty enough for us to give it our approval before tasting it. Against all odds, we thought the beet was going to be a bit doughy, but it is combined with a milk mayonnaise that ends up being the real surprise of this invention. This is a dish that is filling without being heavy, that speaks in a polyglot language so that all its ingredients are expressed in their own particular code. Its garnish does not fall short, a refreshing accompaniment composed of apple slices, cherry tomatoes, dried cranberries and green shoots. The potatoes are an ode to a job well done: crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. If anyone is thinking of gobbling down a burger that is out of the ordinary, that leaves the stomach smiling with pure joy, come to La Mar de Vins, where you can refresh yourself with a homemade lemonade in which coriander and ginger do their own thing.

We decided to put a finishing touch to the meal with a vegan brownie with banana and vanilla ice cream. A dessert that, far from being overloading, leaves us wanting more.