The Palma de Mallorca airport is, after Madrid and Barcelona, the one that receives the most passengers from Spain. The island is, between May and September, a hive of touristswhich have shaped the character of the island, even generating a typical dish that many of them do not even know: the variablean extravagant mix of tapas that is religion among Mallorcans.
The variat, literally “varied” in Spanish, arose on the island in the 50’s and 60’sin full development. The reason for its creation is the subject of intense debate among variadistas. Some say that it is still an evolution of the combined plate, which was created to satisfy tourists who asked for a “varied tapas”. Another theory, which seems more plausible, states that it was rather an invention for take advantage of leftovers of tapas in bars, which were served to locals at reduced prices.
What seems certain is that, at some point in the last century, the variat moved from the tourist centers of the coast to the inland towns, where it became the typical lunch for workers: for about six euros you still have a medium variat today with bread, beer and carajillo. It only exists in Mallorca, it never reached the rest of the Balearic Islands.
For the upstarts, the variat is an inexplicable dish: a caloric bomb in which all the typical Mallorcan tapas are mixed without rhyme or reason: tripe, pica pica, meatballs, tongue in sauce, kidneys, mushrooms, salad, calamari, croquettes… On the island, however, the variat It has a whole liturgy, with a specific order and meaning, which has nothing to do with mixing any type of tapa like crazy.
Our first variation
the asturian david valdes He has lived in Mallorca for 13 years, but he found out about the variat almost by chance, when he realized that his first island friends asked for it from time to time. “Those from here don’t value it,” he says. “Since they had been here all their lives, they said, ‘ah, look, these are tapas.’ But if you come from abroad you say, ‘holy, this is original, it’s a crazy thing and very different.”
What happened to Valdés happened to everyone when they try their first variation Although you have read like me on the matter, you do not believe that such madness exists. Our first variat included a mussel with aioli, salad, tripe, pica pica (a typical Mallorcan cuttlefish stew), sautéed mushrooms, kidneys, meatballs, meat in sauce, battered cauliflower, croquettes, and Roman-style squid. We ordered the medium for two people and we had already eaten enough for the whole day.
“At first it seems like a very crazy thing, dirtybut when you try it you realize that everything has its logic and that it is the typical guilty pleasure that you eat like the chorizo sandwich with mayonnaise or things like that, ”explains the Asturian.
“The variat was not lost because they kept it in the towns, but it was in low hours”
In 2018, Valdés created the Instagram account @variatmallorqui with his wife, in which he dedicated himself to review the best variats on the island, in the absence of any information in this regard. To date, he has tested and reviewed more than 200 bars, which can be viewed on a convenient map. Since it began with its reviews, the variat has become more and more popular.
“It is something that takes a lifetime but that got a bit outdated and now it has recovered a bit”, explains Valdés. “It was something like the parents. My in-laws, for example, ate it when they were little. They have that memory of eating the typical porcelain boat full of salad and everything packed like that. They ate it on Sundays after leaving mass, it was something from the sixties. It was not lost because in the villages they kept it, but it was at a low point, young people said that this was over. Now I talk to people in the hospitality industry who are dedicated to this, that I know, and they tell me that they are at their best, that it is more fashionable than ever. It’s really cool that people know him.”
The commandments of the variat
We met Valdés at 1:00 p.m. in La Llubinense, a bar in the working-class neighborhood of pere garau, in Palma de Majorca. The establishment is known for its variat that, in addition, they serve throughout the day. The bar is filled with retirees, workers and young couples of the most diverse, all eating their immense variat. It’s not normal.
Although it seems that everything goes crazy, the variat has an orthodox ritual
Traditionally, the variat is taken to berenarthat is, for lunch, in the morning and early hours: in most places They don’t serve it after 11 in the morning.
As Valdés tells us, although it seems that everything is going crazy, the variat has an orthodox ritual about what is served and how it is served, which can lead to heated discussions among the islanders.
After chatting with Valdés and asking everyone we’ve had the opportunity to talk to on the island, one thing is crystal clear: there is no variation without salad. “It is what unifies all the dishes when it comes to eating it all together and gives it creaminess”, explains the Asturian who lives in Mallorca. “It is the garnish of the variety. If I go to a place and they don’t have salad left, I don’t eat it”.
The salad is always served cold and on top of the rest of the tapas, hot, which choose each diner according to their tastes.
One or more batters are always added to the salad and the hot tapas.
Not everyone wants all the tapas, but, in general, the variat always has one or all of those that Valdés baptizes as “three aces”: cuttlefish, tripe or piles (the typical small meatballs of the island). To these can be added one, two or more stews. The most typical are meat in sauce, mushrooms, tongue with capers, kidneys, loin, octopus with onion, liver… But there are many more and each bar has its specialties, from eel to Majorcan fried fish, a typical offal dish from the This island is also a source of controversy, since many variadistas consider that it should be eaten outside the variat.
To the salad and the hot tapas are always added one or more battered: almost always a croquette, but many times also squid or battered vegetables.
The variat ritual usually ends with a bursta carajillo, of amazon rum: a very sweet rum from the island. The bottle is placed on the table and everyone serves what they like.
Although there are bars to which some licenses are allowed -as in the case of the lubinensewhere they add a mussel in aioli–, the variadistas are quite strict with what you can’t wear a variat.
–Each bar can put its touch, but, for example, the potato omelette is not part of the variety. And you you can not put some chicken wings–, Valdés sentence.
“What’s the worst thing you’ve been put in a variat?” I ask.
–Gnocchi with tomato. Inadmissible. In another bar they gave me chicken curry. I, ‘look at her, can you take that away from me? You can not do that. Or macaroni. It seems the worst to me.
-I don’t understand, if you already have everything
-Well, you get used to it. I love the potato omelette, but aside. Why not aioli potatoes? It would hit the hell out of here, but no. It is what it is, that’s it. It is so. When you eat two, three, four, five, fifteen, you see what they have. You can not put rice three delights.
Sa Pobla: the epicenter of the variat
The center of Palma de Mallorca is a hive of tourists and Italian restaurants for foreigners where it is impossible to test a variat. To find it, you have to go to the working-class neighborhoods of the city or, even better, to the towns on the island.
In Sa Pobla are the largest temples of the variat, such as Casa Miss or Cas Cotxer
Everyone agrees that Sa Poblaan agricultural town in the interior of the island, is the zero zone of the variat. There the dish is always served with a banderilla of liver, marinated in spicy oil, which is skewered on top of the salad.
In Sa Pobla are the largest temples of the variat, such as miss house either Cas Cotxer, the favorite of Michelin star chef Andreu Genestra, another pro variatista. “It’s the essence of the variat,” he says. According to the day, account, they have fried lamb brainsaround San Antonio there are eels and, furthermore, they are the inventors of the craziest thing that has ever been done in the variadista world: the longuet de variat.
Yes, friends, there is a variety sandwich, made with the typical bread of the island, the llonguet, which is filled with everything mentioned above. “It is very heavy because it is a sandwich that drips with your hands”, explains Valdés. “You are eating tripe with liver with salad and a squid inside a sandwich. That is already one more step, that is already a pro level of variadista, as I say”.
Mallorca 4 (Lonely Planet Region Guides)
The variat sandwich was an invention of the deceased Toni Cotxer, father of the current owner of Cas Cotxer, Juanma. “On Fridays and Saturdays the whole town would go to look for the llonguet with the variat inside,” explains Genestra. “They knew the tastes of each familyand it is a town of 10,000 inhabitants”.
The variat is a gochismo fantasy. Once you try it, you can’t forget it. “One day when I went to La Tasquita de Enfrente I asked Juanjo to put some salad on my tripe,” says Genestra. “I did not want to do it. I didn’t get it. But I had to insist. ‘If you were from Mallorca you would understand it’.
Now we too. Look at the variat!
Although the best variat are in the interior of the island, Valdés recommends several places to drink it in Palma de Mallorca: Can Frau, La Llubinense, Bar Atlético Baleares, Can Biel Felip, Bodega La Rambla. If you want to know the best variats of the town, consult its map.
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