Memory Returns to the Table at Vermell Son Vell

Bep Al·lès/Ciutadella - The opening of the 2026 season at Vermell restaurant, located within Hotel Rural Son Vell, carried the solemn flavour of great gastronomic evenings: those occasions when cuisine does more than nourish—it evokes memory, territory, and mastery. Set within one of Vestige Collection’s most elegant Menorcan properties, the event took the form of a four-hands dinner bringing together the Vermell Son Vell team, led in the kitchen by Paula Florit under the executive direction of Joan Bagur, and Catalan-Menorcan chef Víctor Lidón, the culinary soul of Ca na Pilar in Es Migjorn Gran.

The menu, aptly titled “The Cuisine of Memory,” was far more than a succession of dishes. It was a statement of intent. A way of affirming that contemporary Menorcan cuisine can look forward without severing the thread that has shaped its identity: seasonal produce, rural and maritime wisdom, the memory of traditional homes, and the legacy of great culinary masters.

Víctor Lidón’s presence added a particularly emotional dimension. He brought not only his precise and understated craftsmanship, but also an essential part of his culinary biography: his years at Racó de Can Fabes alongside the late Santi Santamaria. From that demanding and deeply humanistic school emerged one of the evening’s highlights: pork jowl with caviar, one of Santamaria’s emblematic dishes, which Lidón learned to prepare during the years he served as one of the master chef’s closest collaborators in Sant Celoni. At Son Vell, the dish appeared not merely as another course in a tasting menu, but as a living memory, capable of engaging in dialogue with Menorca through the nobility of well-understood simplicity.

The journey began with a selection of snacks that immediately established the evening’s tone: an eel waffle with apple and sustainably sourced foie gras from Extremadura, created by Lidón, alongside a seasonal bite from Vermell’s kitchen that recalled Andalusian gazpachuelos and showcased the direct culinary expression of the house team.

Among the starters, a cream of onion, truffle and pickles demonstrated Paula Florit and Vermell’s ability to bring elegance to vegetal depth, while the pork jowl with caviar placed Santamaria’s legacy at the emotional centre of the menu.

The main courses confirmed the ambition of a cuisine that is deeply rooted yet far from static. Grilled squid with a fritter made from its own cooking juices and a saffron cream offered a precise expression of Mediterranean cooking, where flavour, tenderness and the memory of traditional stews were translated into a contemporary language in which the product remained the undisputed protagonist.

Víctor Lidón’s pithivier with creamed morel mushrooms brought classical, almost French elegance to the table, tempered by a sensitivity capable of finding warmth within technique. The pithivier—a puff pastry preparation traditionally filled with meat, pâté, fish or even sweet ingredients—takes its name from the French town of Pithiviers, where it originated.

The finale, a sobao cake with pear and basil, maintained the evening’s narrative thread: restrained sweetness, aromatic freshness, and a sense of comfort, as if the menu wished to conclude not with a dramatic flourish, but with a gentle caress.

This first major gastronomic evening of Vermell 2026 leaves a clear impression: Son Vell aspires to be more than an exceptionally beautiful rural hotel. It seeks to establish itself as a gastronomic destination with a voice of its own. And when that voice meets chefs such as Paula Florit and Joan Bagur—Executive Chef of the Vestige Group—who are capable of transforming memory into something edible, Menorca once again proves itself a place where fine dining can be sophisticated, intimate, and profoundly authentic all at once.