There are more than a few who say that Ibiza’s reputation for “anything goes” abandon is not especially deserved any longer. Regulations around clubs, noise and private parties had already tightened even before the pandemic. There’s now a 1am curfew; restaurant tables can be for no more than eight; only the fortunate few manage to wrangle permission for private parties of 50 inside or 120 outside, with masks, and even then music cannot go above 65 decibels, approximately the hum of an office or quiet chamber music. All nightclubs remain closed for a second summer. Underworked superstar DJs crop up occasionally, playing in restaurants to seated diners, as the veteran DJ Sasha did recently at Cova Santa.

Lunch has become the new night out, and Ibiza’s finest kitchens are describing demand higher even than the record 2019 season. Getting tables at new restaurants such as El Silencio and Casa Maca, or more traditional long players like Es Torrent, Can Pujol, Balàfia and Es Xarcu requires influence or a hard hustle. The island is going through its second Summer of Lunch. And the hottest ticket on the island? Jondal.

At Jondal diners can stroll from table to beach and swim between courses
At Jondal diners can stroll from table to beach and swim between courses © Daniel Balda
Caviar features prominently on Jondal’s “cocina disfrutona” menu
Caviar features prominently on Jondal’s “cocina disfrutona” menu © Daniel Balda

For the past two strange and virus-blighted summer seasons, the beach joint has quietly reigned supreme over every other restaurant on the island, which is already recognised as an evolving culinary destination. In some respects Jondal is a chiringuito, a feet-in-the-sand kind of place, and is only open in the warm months from 1.30 until 7pm. The beach in front of the dining area is served by Jondal’s Kiosko. The mood is casual as diners stroll from table to beach and swim between courses; kids and the odd doggy trundle about. But there the similarities end. Make no mistake, this is luxury of the best and most stealthy kind.

Jondal’s chef and patron, Rafael Zafra, has worked with the greats of Spanish alta cocina – those radical, rebellious technical masters whose influence is found everywhere in haute cuisine and beyond. Among them are Juan Mari Arzak in San Sebastián, and Arzak’s student Ferran Adrià, whose El Bulli in the Catalan town of Roses is still the most hyperbole-prone restaurant since the dawn of time, even 10 years after it closed. Zafra himself is a creative and skilled technician who – at just 27, in 2008 – gained and kept two Michelin stars at Adrià’s Hacienda Benazuza.

Following Estimar, the lauded Barcelona seafood restaurant he set up with his wife Anna Gotanegra, Zafra is in the major leagues himself, and he has the confidence to present dishes that could at first sight seem simple and traditional, such as “cigalas al ajillo” (a pan of fried langoustine, whose fragrant oils and juices are then used to fry eggs, peppers and potatoes), as well as those that are more apparently “cheffy” (langoustine carpaccio with a halo of bronze onion confit).

A dish of langoustine at Jondal
A dish of langoustine at Jondal © Daniel Balda
Jondal’s casual beach setting belies its outstanding dining
Jondal’s casual beach setting belies its outstanding dining © Daniel Balda

Zafra balks at the word “simple”, preferring to describe the cooking as “direct and pure… This isn’t ‘informal’ cuisine.” It has, he says, “purity and a hidden sophistication, perhaps. For me it is 100 per cent Mediterranean and true cocina disfrutona: it’s joyful, relaxed and designed to be shared with family and friends.” And anyway, can we really use “simple” for a menu on which caviar is served multiple ways? “I don’t cook to feed a chef’s ego,” says Zafra. “I only work to feed the diner. This makes me happy and caviar is a great product. So, why not?” But then can a chiringuito (as Zafra loves to call Jondal) really serve caviar? Zafra is emphatic: “Yes! The whole beach bar thing is just waiting to be improved or professionalised.”

Indeed, the little Jondal Kiosko does sell the very haute or alte versions of traditional beach grub: “A little taste of what we do,” says Zafra. For €12, patatas fritas, or a €16 hot dog. Who wouldn’t want a boule of lemon and basil sorbet at their sun lounger?

Equally, this “beach bar” has a wine list that is serious in its reach. Sommelier Goran Krstanovic has designed an engaging list with all the grande marque French whites and exceptional smaller estates that a dream lunch at the beach might demand. It’s no lazy jet-set-pleasing list, despite the many bobbing yachts out in the bay and a good smattering of fragrant cigar smokers among the clientele.

Casa Maca is another of Ibiza’s hottest new dining destinations
Casa Maca is another of Ibiza’s hottest new dining destinations

By July this year, the restaurant was fully booked until the end of September, and had hundreds on the waiting list. To secure a table, one needs a personal relationship with Zafra or his partners in the project: Ricardo Acquista, Zafra’s longtime culinary sidekick; or the owners, Dutch property developer Rembert Berg and Spaniard Victor Agudo, a man Zafra describes as “the most charismatic and knowledgeable man on the island”. Agudo knows the proverbial “everyone” as the widely respected managing director of the Pacha Group. Failing that, one must test a well connected concierge such as Serena Cook’s Deliciously Sorted. Cook is reluctant to say she can always get tables there: “I’ll sound conceited,” she says, which I take as a tacit “yes”.

Ibiza newcomer El Silencio
Ibiza newcomer El Silencio © Savana Cairo

One of those hustling hard for a table is the food and drink entrepreneur Jonathan Downey, who is eating with Gary Lineker when I visit. Two tables away is Ronaldo (the original, from Brazil). “Last summer I was saying this place had the best food on the island. This summer I’d say it’s the best in the Mediterranean,” Downey says.

Ask Zafra if a toes-in-the-sand beach restaurant could earn a Michelin star or two and he will graciously swerve the question. “I don’t cook for any guidebook. I don’t cook for myself. I cook to make my guests happy. A star for me is that guests leave here wanting to return.”

For reservations call +34971-802 766; WhatsApp +34699-184 954;   reservations@casajondal.es; casajondal.es

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