Eating out can be indulgent without being calorific. Many visitors to Ibiza aren’t looking to pile on the pounds – but they still want to enjoy eating out. Fortunately, there’s been an explosion on the island over the last few years of health-focused eateries that don’t compromise on taste and quality. This is our hand-picked list of the best of the bunch.
In San Lorenzo, the famous La Paloma café nestles in a little village at the centre of the island. This family run café has been around since 2008 and provides dishes inspired from places of all corners of the world. They also cater for a variety of diets, with vegan and vegetarian options. The tranquil setting feels quite different to the cafés in the more popular locations of Ibiza.
The candlelit garden, adorned with orange and lemon trees, make this the perfect place to try a nice meal with a different vibe. The good news is that throughout the winter you can still enjoy the La Paloma experience – but with the benefit of a cosy fire in the indoor café.
A favourite with the fitness enthusiasts and health conscious alike is Passion Café, which serves up all kinds of wonderful and very healthy dishes. Despite their name, most of the Passion venues are seen as more of a restaurant than a café, and as such and offer some fantastic dishes to try.
The original Passion Café is still at Playa d’en Bossa but there are five more at different locations across the island. Offering fine dining in the evening, they are a really popular choice for those seeking vegan and vegetarian dining options. Passion Santa Eulalia is a great one to visit, with great views to accompany your healthy and tasty meal.
Skinny Kitchen provides top quality cuisine without unhealthy ingredients. Set up in 2014, it was the first restaurant dedicated to healthy eating in Ibiza, and started off the trend of healthy eating venues on the island. It is still leading the way today, with a great variety of healthy dishes that will help diners keep on track with their health goals, whilst still having the option to eat out. As well as preparing delicious low-carb meals, Skinny Kitchen also serves up low-calorie cocktails, detox smoothies and protein shakes.
We love a good play-on-words and the guys at Wild Beets are just as cool as their name implies. Set in Santa Gertrudis, this place is perfect for people looking to eat out and still stick to their diet. Far from offering the standard options that you tend to get with many ‘healthy restaurants,’ Wild Beets livens up the possibilities of healthy food – you can try beetroot ravioli for example. They serve a large variety of raw, vegan and plant-based cuisine. They pride themselves on not getting caught up with fads, however, and instead provide an approach to healthy eating for life, not just for this month.
Wild Beets began as the island’s first juice bar – Sejuiced on Benirras beach – and the brand has grown ever since. They are well regarded for their ethical beliefs and dedication to providing healthy options. As well as great food, the new and modern restaurant is a very nice place to hang out, whether you are there for a breakfast to energise you for the day or you simply want to refuel with a healthy snack. Wild Beets also provide their own range of Ipurify Juices and Cleanses for anyone looking to detox and recharge their body.
The Giri Residence in San Juan village square is a beautiful hotel that plays host to just as special an eatery: the Giri Café is a standalone restaurant that offers a good deal more than its unfussy name suggests. Giri’s kitchen is a remarkable place, and the food that comes out of it is touched with a rare enthusiasm and care for fine cuisine.
“Modern Mediterranean” is the simple explanation of Giri’s menu. It emphasises bold, simply flavours and healthy, pure ingredients. Whether fresh from the soil or the sea, Ibiza is on every plate at this restaurant – quite literally!
With its own organic garden – in which guests can take a seat and breathe in the fragrance of flowers, herbs, fruits and vegetables – Giri offers a true getaway for health-conscious foodies. A kids’ area offers a place to play for the children – and a daily menu that takes diners from breakfast to dinner via snacks and tapas offers adults something for every time of day.
Daybeds on the patio promise lazy afternoons – and the open sky above the garden offers beautiful cloudless vistas to drift away to. The atmosphere is welcoming, inviting you simply to relax and tend to yourself in the café’s New Age-y ambience.
There’s a bar, of course, for anyone looking for cocktails of any kind. At Giri Café every taste is catered for – but so, too, is the mind and the soul. Relax.
On the southern coast of Ibiza, Santa Eulalia beach is famed for its laid-back, indulgent vibe. On Ve Café’s blue-and-white terrace, that ambience is allowed to wash in on the sea breeze. The plant-based menu adds to the feeling of well-being, centring on a range of tempting bowls from breakfast and lunch to early dinner. Smoothies, juices, coffees and desserts are also served in the same vein,
Part of the W Hotel, a venue brand new to Ibiza, this health eatery is open from 9am to 5pm, and strikes guests immediately thanks to its unusual tiered seating and invitingly comfortable furnishings. All this is gathered around the central open kitchen, which bustles all day long beneath giant raffia lampshades.
Out of the kitchen come those fresh, made-to-order bowls: from the Wake Up Bowl with chia pudding, seasonal fruits and blue spirulina to hummus bowls with moreish pita breads to Hot Buddha Bowls of Mexican, Indiain and Thai varieties, there’s so much to choose from. There are vegan burgers, too and even some fishless “seafood” dishes!
Provenance is a source of price here, with a vegetable garden in Santa Eulalia providing much of the produce. Flavour is the key to the menu, with tastebuds popping even as healthy eating remains the absolute leitmotif of the restaurant. Eat-in or take-away, fuel up post-work-out or simply watch the crowds on the nearby promenade; Ve Café is the perfect place to unwind, and eat healthily, all day long.