No fewer than six restaurants have achieved Michelin stars, with Tristan’s Restaurant, a haunt of A-list celebrities, at Puerto Portals, gaining two. In Palma, Koldo Royo, named after its larger-than-life chef, offers highly original dishes and the Essex-born Marc Fosh does succulent things with fresh fish and local meat and vegetables at Read’s Hotel Restaurant at Santa Maria del Cami, a short drive north of Palma.

Majorcan wines are also winning awards, with Macia Batle producing classic-style reds and a sophisticated rosé at its winery near Santa Maria, principally using local Manto Negro grapes. On a hillside with dramatic views at Castell Miquel, Michael Popp, a German chemist who heads a company making plant-based herbal medicines, has planted a vineyard to produce grapes for his Stairway to Heaven wines.

Both sites are included in a new series of food and wine routes planned by the Balearic Ministry of Agriculture, which feature 40 family firms producing not just wine but cheese, olive oil and organic products including almonds, fruit and vegetables and jams. The routes also list five producers of sobrassada, a cross between sausage and paté made from pork and seasoned with red pepper, salt and spices.

The recently formed Balearic Discovery offers a three-day gastronomic weekend for €575 (£390) with B&B at La Reserva Rotana, dinner in the gourmet restaurant, wine-tasting and cookery lessons. For a few pounds more, it will arrange a tailor-made trip for three nights, with a variety of Majorcan food, a meal at Read’s and visits to markets and wineries.

If you prefer to organise your own gastronomic tour, Villa Select has properties available on the island. The cost of renting a house for five with a pool near Pollensa in the north of the island is reduced to £295 for a week from October 22.

None of these holidays includes flights, but easyJet flies to Palma from Gatwick, Luton, Stansted, Bristol, Newcastle, Belfast and Liverpool, offering return fares from £31, including taxes.