El Convento de Mave restaurant

A convent next to the church of Mave

El Convento de Mave is a rural hotel set in the buildings of the former monastery of Santa María de Mave, right beside the Romanesque church, about 10 km south of Aguilar de Campoo and on the banks of the Pisuerga. Its restaurant is also open to people who are not staying there. The dining room occupies a stone hall with wooden beams, wooden tables and modern chairs; outside there is a garden. It is the meal that fits a Romanesque morning best: you leave the church of Mave and a minute later you are sitting at the table.

What you eat

The cooking mixes Castilian tradition with signature dishes and monastic recipes brought up to date. The speciality is roast Castilian lechazo (milk-fed lamb), which is roasted to order: the quarter, meant for two people, costs €67 with salad. You must order it the day before or, at the very least, three hours ahead, on 979 123 611.

The menu, which it publishes as a PDF with prices, starts with cured meats and cheeses from the area: Palencia cheeses from the Cerrato and the Montaña with homemade quince paste (€18), grilled Palencia morcilla, Astorga cecina and Iberian cured meats from Guijuelo. Then come Iberian ham croquettes, duck foie gras with a Ribera del Duero reduction and salads such as the pickled quail salad or the smoked Pisuerga trout salad. Among the spoon dishes, Castilian garlic soup with egg (€10.50) and a dish of the day of Saldaña beans, lentils or chickpeas (€11).

For main courses there are fried eggs with local potatoes and chorizo, truffled chicken, a block of Pisuerga trout with almonds, cecina and Torquemada pepper confit (€21), lamb stewed Tierra de Campos style (€22), lamb chops, veal cheek made to an 18th-century Benedictine monks' recipe, and Iberian sirloin and secreto (pork shoulder cut). The homemade desserts cost €7: cheesecake with Aguilar biscuit and red berries, tocinillo de cielo (egg-yolk custard) or chocolate truffles. Wood-oven loaf bread is charged at €2 per person. Prices include VAT.

Hours and season

It serves lunch from 13:30 to 15:30 and dinner from 20:15 to 22:00. It is closed all day Monday, on Tuesday at midday and on Sunday evening, so on Sunday it serves lunch only. Watch the season: according to its website, the establishment closes from 1 November to 20 March. Call beforehand if you are going in the weeks around opening or closing.

Getting there and what is nearby

From Aguilar it takes about 15 minutes along the Mave road, heading south. You park at the door. Next door is the Romanesque church of Santa María de Mave, and a few kilometres away are the Olleros rock hermitage and the KARST centre, which explains the landscape of Las Tuerces.