KATAGI Blau

About KATAGI Blau

Of all the unlikely fine-dining locations in Mallorca, a rooftop above the Iberostar Llaut in Playa de Palma is the one you would least predict. Playa de Palma is the island's mass-tourism strip — cheap paella, beer towers, German lager bars. And yet, rising a few floors above that chaos, KATAGI Blau is quietly one of the most technically accomplished kitchens on the island and, by some distance, the most serious Japanese counter in the Balearics.

The name — ‘KATAGI’ meaning a particular type or style, and ‘Blau’ Catalan for blue — announces the concept. This is a Mediterranean rooftop serving a fundamentally Japanese cuisine. The Omakase counter is intimate: ten seats, a single chef, roughly sixteen courses over two hours. The sushi work is very good — clean cuts, proper rice temperature, seasonal toppings that rotate with what the nearby Palma market supplies — and the kitchen is unafraid to reach for local ingredients when they outperform the imported alternative. Red prawns from Sóller, local squid, island citrus. The format is Japanese; the pantry is Balearic.

Beyond the Omakase, KATAGI Blau runs a separate Teppanyaki room where chefs cook in front of guests on the heated iron plate — theatrical, louder, better for groups that want the show. The rooftop lounge adds a third register: lighter plates, cocktails, sunset over the Mediterranean. All three operate simultaneously, and it is worth knowing which you are booking — the Omakase experience is unrecognisable from the cocktail lounge, and the restaurant's ability to be three different places at once is part of why it works.

The restaurant has won multiple international awards — Best Asian Fusion Restaurant in Europe (2019 and 2020, World Luxury Restaurant Awards), Best Asia–Mediterranean Fusion Cuisine 2025 at Spain's Gastro&Cía Awards — and the reason is simple: at a level this high, in a location this unlikely, there is nothing else on the island doing what KATAGI Blau does.

Book the counter and order Omakase. Anything else is a compromise. For other Japanese-lineage counters on the island, see De Tokio a Lima in Valldemossa.

Best for Solo Dining

The KATAGI Blau Omakase counter is built for solo diners. The ten seats, the single chef working in front of you, the pace dictated by the kitchen rather than the table — none of it requires company. The experience unfolds in front of one person as naturally as it does in front of two. For anyone travelling Mallorca alone, anyone with a serious interest in Japanese technique, or anyone who wants an evening that is as much about watching cooking as eating it, this is the island's best solo-dining table.

The menu is set, the pace is predictable, the seat is reserved — which removes all the small friction that sometimes makes solo dining awkward in Mallorca's larger restaurants. The rooftop view through the windows, particularly at sunset, is an additional pleasure. Book the earliest Omakase slot of the evening to catch the last of the light. See Solo Dining for more and pair with a stay at one of Palma's boutique hotels — the taxi back to the old town is about twenty minutes.