Bar Pacos

Tapas a step from the cathedral

Bar Pacos is the informal side of the Hotel Puerta de la Luna, in a 16th-century mansion on Calle Canónigo Melgares Raya, 50 metres from Baeza cathedral. The hotel calls it its social heart: a relaxed bar for lunch or dinner of raciones without the ceremony of a tasting menu, which is what the house's restaurant Acebuche is for.

It serves local tapas and raciones, wines by the glass, several kinds of beer, cocktails and a list of after-dinner drinks, plus homemade desserts. In spring and summer the terrace opens.

What to order

The menu linked from its website is divided into individual small plates, cold, hot and desserts, many in half portions or full raciones. For nibbling there are bites by the piece, such as the crispy black pudding with pine nuts (€3.50), the Segureño lamb shoulder pouch (€4.50) or the venison pasty (€5), and tapas such as the pickled partridge pâté or the tuna mojama (€4).

Among the cold dishes, the cheese board (€9 or €16), the venison loin in a jar (€16) or the Los Pedroches acorn-fed Iberian ham with bread and tomato (€21). Among the hot ones, homemade croquettes (€8 or €15), tempura aubergines with soy and honey, Andalusian-style squid with black garlic aioli and, for something heartier, oxtail cannelloni in oloroso (€18), venison cachopo (€19) or acorn-fed Iberian presa with Padrón peppers (€22). For dessert, cheesecake, turrón millefeuille or the Acebuche dessert, from €5 to €6.

If you do not want to choose, the "Sabores Jaén" nibbles menu includes a tasting of appetisers, dessert and a beer or a glass of Jaén wine for €22 per person.

When to go

It is the place to eat lunch or dinner without hurry after the cathedral or the walk around Baeza, from Plaza del Pópulo to the Old University. The website does not publish the bar's opening hours: call 953 747 019 or write to [email protected] to confirm and book a table, which the website also lets you request from the page itself. The hotel closes for holidays from 7 to 15 January.