Cami de Balafia is a family restaurant at San Lorenzo, in the farmland between the centre of the island and the north coast, run by the Mari family for over thirty years. The tables sit in an orange grove and the kitchen is a wood-fired grill.
The menu is short and does not change: free-range chicken, lamb chops, steak, and chips peeled by hand. It is the opposite of most of what Ibiza is known for, which is why people who live here have been coming for decades.
How it works
Book ahead, and further ahead than you think. It is a small restaurant with a following, and summer tables go weeks out.
Bring cash. Cards are not accepted.
Hours are narrow and seasonal. In summer it opens in the evening, Monday to Saturday, and in winter it is lunch only, Tuesday to Saturday. It closes on Sundays year round. It also shuts entirely for five months of the year, from November to March.
What it is like
Tables under the orange trees in summer, the grill working in the open, and a room inside for the cooler months. It is unfussy and family-run in the literal sense, and the service is the same for everyone.
Portions defeat most people. Order less than instinct suggests.
Quick answers
What kind of food? Wood-fired grill: chicken, lamb, steak, hand-cut chips.
Do you need to book? Yes, and well in advance in summer.
Do they take cards? No. Cash only.
When is it open? Summer evenings Monday to Saturday, winter lunchtimes Tuesday to Saturday. Closed Sundays.
Is it open all year? No. It shuts from November to March.
Is it good for children? Yes, and it is the sort of place families have been coming to for years.
Nearby
La Paloma is the other well-known kitchen in the same village, and the fortified farmhouses at Balafia are a few minutes up the road.