Due to the arrival of renowned Michelin stars chefs and the opening of fine cuisine restaurants, Gastronomy has become one of the pillars of Ibiza’s tourist offer. Sergi Arola was the pioneer of this process, when he opened his tapas restaurant Vi Cool at the Hotel Aguas de Ibiza. Paco Roncero followed his example with Sublimotion, a restaurant at the Hard Rock Hotel Ibiza. The brothers Albert and Ferran Adrià introduced, together with Guy Laliberté, creator of Cirque du Soleil, a new concept of show restaurant: the Heart, at the Ibiza Gran Hotel.
In 2019, the island of Ibiza welcomed chef Martín Berasategui, who heads the kitchen of the Exteko, at the Bless Hotel Ibiza, as well as Omar Malpartida and his new Maymanta restaurant, in the Aguas de Ibiza of Santa Eulària, with a cuisine based on the Peruvian cooking. Together they add more than a dozen Michelin stars that make the island of Ibiza a gastronomic reference.
To corroborate this, in May 2019, Oscar Molina inaugurated the season of the restaurant La Gaia, in the Ibiza Gran Hotel, with a four-handed gastronomic composition of flavours and textures. Molina, accompanied by the renowned chef Mario Sandoval, offered a menu, which highlighted sophistication and a commitment to the local product. Ramen soup, ceviche of special selection Amélie oyster, with flying fish roe and sweet potato, a salad made of crostes (hard bread), peix sec (dried fish) and tomatoes pickled in dashi, a false risotto with pine nuts and asparagus, potato glass with coffee powder, were some of the delights that diners could taste.
Molina repeated the four-handed gastronomic show in September, this time with Roberto Ruiz, the only Mexican chef with a Michelin star in Europe. Molina and Ruiz combined recipes to enhance a long and balanced menu of 16 flavours in which they fused Mediterranean kaiseki cuisine with the spicy traditional flavours of Mexican cuisine.
