A foodie route through Ciutadella’s emblematic shops: eight stops full of history and flavour

Bep Al·lès/Ciutadella - Discovering Ciutadella as a true foodie traveller means going beyond its restaurants and harbour terraces. The city’s culinary identity can also be found behind the counters of old grocery stores, inside traditional bakery workshops, in pastry-shop windows and in ice-cream parlours that have been part of summer life for generations of local residents.

That is why we suggest a different kind of route to enjoy during a stay in Ciutadella: eight emblematic food-related businesses where visitors can taste local produce, buy something for breakfast or a snack, prepare a picnic or simply chat with people who still know both their products and their customers by name.

First stop: Ca na Maria – 1945, the market pantry

The route can begin at Plaça de la Llibertat, one of the main hubs of commercial life in Ciutadella. Beneath the arches, very close to the fish market, stands Ca na Maria – 1945, popularly known as Ca na Trueno.

Founded by Esperança Pons Pericàs and kept alive through three generations, it began as a shop selling seasonal fruit and vegetables. Over the years, milk, cheeses, Menorcan cured meats and other pantry staples were added.

It is an excellent first stop for buying cheese, fruit or other locally sourced products before heading off on an excursion, but above all it offers an experience that is becoming increasingly rare: walking into a shop, asking what is best that day and trusting the shopkeeper’s advice.

Ca na Fayas, the traditional neighbourhood shop

The next stop is Ca na Fayas, another of Ciutadella’s recognised emblematic businesses.

For a foodie traveller, shops like this are especially valuable because they provide an insight into what islanders buy for their everyday meals. For decades, grocery shops were not only places to stock the pantry; they were also places for conversation, recipe sharing and exchanging information about products and seasons.

The best approach here is not to arrive with a fixed shopping list. Step inside, take a look, ask questions and discover what is available that day.

Ca na Riera, another side of everyday Ciutadella

Ca na Riera completes this first part of the route through the city’s traditional food shops.

A visit here briefly takes us away from monumental Ciutadella and brings us closer to the city that shops, cooks and lives here every day. That is one of the keys to this route: discovering that gastronomic heritage does not always appear behind glass or require a museum-style explanation.

Sometimes it is simply a counter, a conversation and a product someone recommends because “this is the right season for it”.

Forn Curniola, more than 125 years of baking tradition

We now reach one of the essential stops. Forn Curniola opened in 1900, founded by Guillem Pons and Catalina Truyol, and the family business has now reached its fifth generation.

Originally devoted mainly to bread, like many traditional Menorcan bakeries it also baked trays of food prepared by local families at home, as not every household had its own oven.

Today it is the perfect place to browse the display at leisure: breads, cocas, ensaimadas, pastries and other traditional specialities that change with the seasons.

The foodie advice is simple: ask what has been baked that day and which item is most typical at that particular time of year.

Forn Can Diego, Menorca in a bakery window

Another essential stop is Forn Can Diego.

Traditional Menorcan bakeries are like small gastronomic encyclopaedias. Cocas, crespells, rubiols, formatjades and many other sweet and savoury preparations tell the story of the festive calendar, home cooking and the way generations have made use of the ingredients available to them.

A good idea is to buy a selection and share them. They make an excellent mid-morning snack or an improvised picnic before continuing to explore Ciutadella or heading towards one of the island’s coves.

It is also worth remembering that the experience changes throughout the year: Easter, Christmas, Sant Joan and other festivities all leave their mark on bakery displays.

El Diamante, Ciutadella’s sweet memory

Founded in 1935, Pastisseria El Diamante began as a grocery shop before becoming one of Ciutadella’s best-known pastry shops.

Here, certain names form part of the city’s culinary memory: sa Felipa, meringues and Swiss rolls.

For visitors, this is a wonderful opportunity to discover the kind of traditional baking that has accompanied Sundays, birthdays and family celebrations for decades. A sweet is not merely sugar, flour and eggs; sometimes it is also a way of preserving memories.

Gelats Torres, the taste of Ciutadella summers

When it is time for ice cream, one stop has a name of its own: Gelats Torres.

Its vanilla is probably one of the house’s most distinctive flavours and forms part of the childhood memories of several generations of local residents.

For this reason, we recommend starting with the classic flavours. Before seeking out more elaborate combinations, it is worth understanding why a simple traditional ice cream can become part of a city’s emotional identity.

Enjoying it while strolling through the streets also revives one of the traditional rituals of summer afternoons and evenings.

Sa Gelateria de Menorca, ending the route at Portal de Mar

The experience can finish at Sa Gelateria de Menorca, founded in 1982 by Eduard Eroles and Maria Jesús Martí inside an old fishermen’s cave at Portal de Mar.

From the very beginning, the business has focused on artisan ice cream, Menorcan ingredients and a strong connection with the island. Menorcan milk, figat, wild blackberries and wafers made on the island are all part of this philosophy.

But the experience here does not end with the ice cream itself.

The distinctive Coca Rossa chairs placed outside the premises, without tables, have helped turn the area into a meeting point. Sitting outside in the fresh air with an ice cream, chatting and watching people go by is a very Ciutadella way to finish the route.

A Ciutadella to taste, explore and shop

This route can easily be completed over the course of a morning or divided between different moments of your stay. There is no need to rush or follow an overly rigid itinerary.

The pleasure lies in stepping inside, asking questions, tasting and buying.

These eight businesses remind us that a region’s gastronomy does not live only inside restaurants. It is also preserved in bakery workshops that light their ovens before dawn, behind shop counters, in pastry-shop windows and in the simple pleasure of eating an ice cream while sitting outside.

For the foodie traveller, this is perhaps one of the most authentic ways to discover Ciutadella: walking through its streets, talking to its people and taking home, bite by bite, a small part of its history.