What pa amb tomàquet is
Pa amb tomàquet (in Spanish “pan con tomate”, in Mallorcan almost identical to Catalan) is the simplest and most beautiful bread form of the western Mediterranean. A slice of farmer’s bread, a ripe tomato halved and rubbed onto the bread, a slug of good olive oil, salt, done.
What looks like simple bread with tomato paste is in fact a cultural element — the Catalan-Mallorcan answer to the topped-bread breakfast.
How pa amb tomàquet differs from pa amb oli
- Pa amb tomàquet: bread, tomato, olive oil, salt. No additional toppings — that’s the base form.
- Pa amb oli: the same pa amb tomàquet plus sobrasada, ham, cheese, olives, capers — what you put on top defines the Mallorcan pa amb oli.
On Mallorca the two terms are often used interchangeably — but strictly speaking pa amb tomàquet is the basic bread-tomato piece, and pa amb oli is the topped version.
How to do it properly
Three points:
- The bread: has to be right. Farmer’s loaf with crust, slightly aged — fresh soft bread doesn’t work. Classically lightly toasted on a pan or in a toaster before topping.
- The tomato: has to be ripe. Classically the Mallorcan variety “tomate de ramellet” is used — a small, dense tomato harvested in summer and hung up in clusters to keep through the year. The tomato is rubbed cut-side down directly onto the bread until the bread is stained with juice and pulp.
- The oil: a good Mallorcan olive oil (we use DO Oli de Mallorca from an Esporles finca). Generous, don’t be stingy.
Optional, before the tomato: half a garlic clove rubbed on the bread — adds a subtle extra sharpness.
When you eat it
Pa amb tomàquet is breakfast, lunch and dinner in Mallorca and Catalonia — at any meal. In summer with cold tomatoes from Sa Pobla, in winter with last year’s harvested ramellet hanging in clusters.
Pa amb tomàquet at Es Muntant
We serve the base form: bread from Forn de Esporles, tomate de ramellet from the Mallorcan Pla, DO oil from Esporles. If you want toppings, you get the full pa amb oli — with sobrasada, ham, cheese and olives.
More bread classics
Pa amb oli · Sobrasada · Menu