Jul 17, 2024
Little Jarana, A ‘Little Party’ with Lots of Great Food
- By
Blaire Dessent
Little Jarana, A ‘Little Party’ with Lots of Great Food
Jul 17, 2024
by
Blaire Dessent
Little Jarana, A ‘Little Party’ with Lots of Great Food
Jul 17, 2024
by
Blaire Dessent
Little Jarana, A ‘Little Party’ with Lots of Great Food
Jul 17, 2024
- By
Blaire Dessent
Little Jarana, A ‘Little Party’ with Lots of Great Food
Jul 17, 2024
- By
Blaire Dessent
sustainability
Little Jarana, A ‘Little Party’ with Lots of Great Food
Jul 17, 2024
- By
Blaire Dessent
Photo: Sara Savage.
A

braham Artigas never considered being a chef when he was young and getting started in life. While he enjoyed working in the kitchen with his mom and grandma, music was his passion and primary focus. A month before moving to Barcelona to start a new job as a sound engineer, however, he took a temporary job helping out in a friend’s restaurant to earn some extra money before leaving the island. That month changed his life, and he decided to stay on in Mallorca and become a chef instead.  “My mom was not very happy with me”, Artigas laughs, “because she knows what a hard life being a chef can be. But eventually, she saw that I had discovered something that I love.” After working for a while at the restaurant, Artigas, who was born in Zaragoza but raised in Mallorca, went on to travel the world, working in Ibiza, London, Brazil, and Italy, the country where he feels most at home outside of Spain, and has spent a lot of time professionally and personally. In 2016, he came back to Mallorca to be the chef of Ponderosa Beach, helping to transform the classic Chiringuito into a destination-worthy restaurant. “We had great success, with people booking a year in advance”, Artigas explains. “Every Monday, restaurant-people from across the island would come and eat with us. It was a special place, sort of a Chriniguito 2.0; We had such a great time”.

Razor clams. Photo: Sara Savage
Abraham Artigas. Photo: Sara Savage

After three-years, he went across to the mainland, becoming the Executive Chef at Alàbriga Hotel & Home Suites, a luxury 5* hotel on the Costa Brava, returning to Mallorca for another  luxury hotel job in 2020, only to have Covid hit. This time off allowed Artigas to step back a bit from the rush, reflect on what he loves about food and cooking and what might be next. In 2022, he opened Little Jarana, which translates as ‘a little party’, as a pop up restaurant, in an intimate space in Deia. It was a huge hit with local residents as well as high-end guests from La Residencia, thanks to Artigas’s natural and inviting approach to dining that mixes easy, bistro-style food with small plates and great wines. “For me, working in high-end restaurants is fun. I love all the equipment, the pressure, the creativity, but now, I would rather do something simpler. We keep the creativity, and we also push ourselves because we want high standards, but for me, the difference is the service. In a high-end restaurant it can be so dry, so serious and rigid and I don’t want to do that. I want to be on the floor, I love to have the contact with people eating and have fun.”

“I told everyone, this is not a restaurant or a bar, this is coming to my house. You are eating the same food I like to eat at my house, listening to the same music I like to listen to”.
Bar seating at Little Jarana. Photo: Sara Savage
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