Mallorca per tot arreu (Mallorca everywhere): The island beyond its borders

Mallorca leaves its mark in other parts of the world through projects that reinterpret its identity

Son Berga is in Barcelona

Photo: Poble Espanyol de Barcelona.

The Poble Espanyol of Barcelona, built in 1929 on the slopes of Montjuïc, hides a surprise among its streets of varied architecture: the reproduction of Son Berga, the stately house in Palma that once belonged to the Santacília family and, from 1677 onwards, to the Berga family. The complex replicates the main portal and the three-bay gallery with Ionic columns and a balustrade from the inner courtyard. While the original building now houses the High Court of Justice of the Balearic Islands, its Catalan counterpart serves as a leisure venue and is home to La Terrrazza, one of the most iconic nightclubs in Barcelona.

The arròs brut that is triumphing in Hong Kong

Photo: Andō.

In the heart of Hong Kong, the Argentine chef Agustín Ferrando Balbi has made memory his finest ingredient. At the helm of Andō, a Michelin-starred restaurant where the cuisines of Spain, Italy, Argentina and Japan converse, Balbi pays tribute to his Mallorcan grandmother Lola with “Sin Lola”, his most distinctive creation: a brothy rice dish that evokes the arròs brut she used to prepare during his childhood in the Argentine city of Ramos Mejía. In its latest version, the dish is made with king crab, clams, sun-dried tomato and rice cultivated by hand in Yi O, a village located on Lantau Island.

A Mallorcan oasis in the desert of Baja California Sur

Photo: Proyecto Palmita.

Under the Pacific sun, the Mallorcan Nando Gay has created, together with his wife Brenda Barrera, the “Proyecto Palmita”, a collection of villas that brings the spirit of Mallorca to the desert of Baja California Sur, Mexico. Inspired by the island’s traditional architecture, the complex is infused with the colour of marés, “which I carry in my childhood memories and connects that Mallorcan soul with the tones of the Baja desert,” Gay explains. The project also incorporates Mallorcan senalles for guests, as well as gardens of lavender and rosemary that evoke the scents of the Serra de Tramuntana.