Restaurant Review: Sa Penya/Dalt Vila (Ibiza) - Ibiza Food Studio (Taller Sa Penya)
- Dirk Vandereyken
- 18 dec 2024
- 5 minuten om te lezen
Bijgewerkt op: 2 dagen geleden
Look up Taller Sa Penya by Ibiza Food Studio and you’ll almost certainly come across two facts: the restaurant is well hidden in the fisherman’s quarter of Sa Penya, up a few outdoor staircases and winding alleys of Ibiza Town; and the owner and head chef is none other than the incredibly friendly, half-Danish, half-Italian Boris Buono. In 2015, he escaped the pressures of the renowned Noma to start his own culinary sanctuary in a neighborhood that was still known back then as a kind of slum filled with beggars and criminals. But when you’ve been a chef at a restaurant that was named best in the world multiple times, the place where you cook inevitably takes on a star-like aura — and that’s absolutely the case with Taller Sa Penya by Ibiza Food Studio.
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Interior & Welcome
Downstairs, we find a small, cozy dining room with a fully open kitchen and just a handful of tables, but there’s also seating upstairs — notably in the same space where Boris used to sleep in the early days.
The atmosphere may be relaxed, but Boris personally welcomes his guests and proves to be a truly engaging conversationalist, openly discussing his past struggles. The cuisine is world-class, with an Experience Menu offered at a very reasonable 135 euro.
The Menu
As an aperitif, we’re served a Carles Andreu Brut Nature Cava — a traditional straw-yellow blend of macabeo, xarel-lo, and parellada, with a touch of chardonnay. On the nose, we discover refined aromas of white fruits like green apple and pear, beautifully accented with a hint of citrus and fresh pineapple.
Aged for 18 months sur lie, this affordable yet delicious cava also offers subtle notes of toast and biscuit. The foam is wonderfully creamy, while the Carles Andreu also boasts lively acidity, a delicately present yeasty character. The cava also has a wonderfully long, clean finish with a touch of pleasant bitterness. Clearly, this is a brilliantly chosen opener!
The dishes reveal a striking balance between traditional flavors and innovative techniques. The menu begins with a velvety consommé made from local heirloom tomatoes, enriched with olive oil from the island — a delicate introduction that immediately highlights Ibiza’s purity.
Next comes a tribute to the Spanish tapas format, featuring bold combinations such as a surprisingly tender beetroot cannelloni and a lamb, seaweed, and caviar ball — a creative pairing in which earthy and briny flavors are perfectly harmonized. A truly successful umami explosion! The local cuttlefish sauce with cod innards and dried chicken eggs — a daring choice — elevates the umami concept to an entirely new level and is a real hit.
The juicy texture of the fish remains intact, while the potato adds a creamy, earthy undertone, and the intriguing risotto provides an extra boost of umami.
In between, we’re served a dish that could easily be considered a signature: local red prawn, served with an emulsion made from the prawn’s own head. The prawn is prepared in such a way that its texture becomes even softer than usual, taking on a gelatinous quality without losing much bite. Fantastic!
The mussels with bits of sausage underscore how well Boris and his team know how to fuse land and sea. The mussel meat is also firm enough to stand up to the flavorful sausage, which rounds out the flavor profile with a smoky, slightly spicy edge.
The main course — crispy seared organic chicken with kale and an intense red cabbage-cherry sauce — offers a heartwarming blend of flavors, where the tender chicken harmonizes beautifully with the earthy notes of the kale and the sweet-and-sour punch of the sauce.
Dessert — goat’s milk sorbet with strawberry and saffron — wraps up the menu in a fresh and surprising way, with a subtle sweetness that lingers on the palate. The addition of saffron seasoning also cleverly highlights the natural freshness of the strawberries — very clever!
For the wines, an advanced Coravin system is used — an innovative method of pouring wine from a bottle without removing the cork. This works by piercing the cork with a thin needle and extracting a small amount of wine while injecting argon gas to maintain pressure and prevent oxidation. This way, the wine can be preserved for weeks, even months or years, as if the bottle had never been opened.
One of the carefully selected wines we get to taste is the MC Partida Creus, a natural wine from Penedès where 'MC' stands for Monastrell Curiós — an expressive wine with intense aromas of red fruit and herbs, complemented by a subtle earthy note. Its bright acidity and soft tannins make it a highly versatile wine that pairs well with a wide variety of dishes — ideal for those who can’t afford a different wine for each course.
Another wine that follows is Podenco Loco by Black Nose, vintage 2023 — a label we hadn’t come across before, available in both red and white varieties. The red is a blend of 45% Monastrell, 35% Syrah, and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon.
The white is a pale golden wine made from Chardonnay and Giró Ros, a rare grape variety native to Mallorca. It’s a bold and characterful wine that strikes a beautiful balance between the freshness and roundness of the Chardonnay and the slightly oily, saline quality of the Giró Ros. The latter also adds a touch of spice — a real discovery and a perfect match for our dish. The wine also comes with a charming backstory: the name Podenco Loco (Spanish for “Crazy Hound”) refers to the fact that the winemakers missed the deadline to register the official label a few years back — a quirky detail that adds an extra layer of charm.
The final wine we taste, Mondo 2021, is far from your average white. It’s an artisanal orange wine made from Verdejo, and it, too, has a cool origin story. It was born out of a bet between Manuel Cantalapiedra and his father, Isaac. The rebellious son wanted to prove it was entirely possible to vinify Verdejo in a fully natural, minimal-intervention way — without compromising on purity or character.
The result is a delightful, cloudy wine with a nose full of small red fruits, orange peel, spices, and a touch of hay. On the palate, it reveals itself as juicy and vibrant, with a distinct mineral undercurrent — easily one of the purest orange wines we’ve ever had the pleasure of drinking.
Conclusion
Ibiza Food Studio is, without a doubt, one of the very best restaurants on the island. Like 1742, it should be a mandatory stop for every self-respecting gastronome. And if that wasn’t enough — Boris also runs a second restaurant. Hmmm…
More info: www.ibzfoodstudio.com
Text: Dirk Vandereyken
Photos: Benny Bicker, David Robyn, Dirk Vandereyken
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