A few years ago, I wanted to experience one of Andratx’s most recognisable places: the small island restaurant reached by a bridge from Es Camp de Mar beach. It is one of Mallorca’s classic postcards, but I did not want to know it only as an image.

I waited until the busiest tourist months had passed. Those of us who live on the island throughout the year learn to enjoy summer weather after summer crowds have gone. The light is still generous, the sea can still be warm and the whole experience changes when nobody is rushing.

The restaurant offered what I hoped for: attentive staff, a strong menu, good wines and a setting directly over the water. I recommend the sea bass baked in salt with a Galician white wine. A reservation is essential if you want to be sure of a table.

I often say that the island of calm gives us pleasures that are difficult—or much more expensive—to reproduce elsewhere. This was one of them: a meal, a bridge, the sound of water and enough time to appreciate all three.

That is also why I recommend living and buying a home in Mallorca. Not because every day resembles a postcard, but because an ordinary day can still contain a moment like this.