Restaurants

It's hard to find authentic Ibizan cuisine. The clientele and often the chefs are mainly from continental Europe, and the menu choices cater almost exclusively to their tastes.

Because of the lack of agriculture on some parts of the island, fish has always been the mainstay of the local Mediterranean diet. But budget travelers may be put off by the price of some of this fare. Once the cheapest item you could order on a menu, fish is now one of the most expensive. The fish is sautéed, baked, or broiled and might be blended into a rice dish called arroz a la pescadora. Parrillada and zarzuela are two stewlike dishes containing an assortment of fish.

As in Majorca, pork is important in the local diet. Some islanders feed figs to these animals to sweeten their meat, which is turned into such pungent cooked sausages as sabrosadas or longanizas.

A local dish occasionally offered on some menus is sofrit pages, a stew made with three kinds of meat and poultry -- chicken, pork, and lamb -- then cooked with pepper, cloves, cinnamon, and garlic. One of the best seafood plates is borrida de rajada, crayfish in an almond sauce.

The most famous dessert is flaó, a kind of cheesecake to which mint and anisette are added for flavoring. Greixonera is a spiced pudding, and maccarrones de San Juan is cinnamon- and lemon-flavored milk baked with cheese.