The best way to try a bit of everything: the variat

It is said that back in the 1950s, the first groups of tourists would walk into the island’s bars, restaurants and wine cellars eager to try every single typical dish Mallorcan gastronomy had to offer. In those days, such curiosity meant ordering a plate of meatballs in sauce, a plate of frit, a plate of tongue with capers or a plate of snails. This continued until the owner of one wine cellar thought that if he placed a bit of everything into a small clay dish and served it at a reasonable price, visitors would leave more than satisfied. The idea became a triumph in that establishment and, before long, local venues began preparing their own specialities following the exact same philosophy. Everyone had their own version. Mallorcan people loved the idea too, and it spread across the entire island. The Mallorcan variat was born.

But what exactly goes into a variat?
Versions are endless, but essentially you can find: meatballs in sauce, cooked snails, offal or pork frit, veal tongue with capers, pica-pica (spicy cuttlefish or squid stew), croquettes, battered squid rings, tripe, Russian salad (practically the only dish served cold), and any other house speciality. These dishes, usually displayed on the bar counter, are combined in groups of three or four together in a greixonera (clay dish). This typically comes in two sizes depending on the portion: large or small.

In Inca, right in the heart of Mallorca, this culinary curiosity is naturally one of the most common choices among patrons of gastronomic establishments. Therefore, to eat one you only need to visit a classic bar, a restaurant or, better still, a traditional wine cellar (celler). In the capital of Es Raiguer, we can find some legendary spots such as Bar Malprats, where local produce is the main attraction, or Can Ripoll, the classic wine cellar that started serving food in 1940 but has housed wine barrels since 1768. Who knows if they were the first…

Whether for a mid-morning snack, an aperitif before lunch, or a dinner amongst friends with beers and laughter, the variat is a classic of our gastronomy.

If you would like to discover some of Inca’s temples of the variat, we invite you to visit some of our suggestions: Bar Novedades, Mercantil, Barra Miceli, Bar Kiko, S’Avinguda or Ca’n Pedro.