Hostería Las Cancelas Restaurant

What it is

The restaurant of the Hostería Las Cancelas, a former 15th-century inn on calle Cruz Vieja, between the cathedral and Plaza de Santa Teresa. You eat in the inn's old columned courtyard, now covered. The house defines itself by traditional seasonal Castilian cooking and stands out for three things: Ávila beef grilled, and suckling pig or lamb roasted in a wood-fired oven. It also has a bar with homemade tapas and a wine list, and in summer it opens its terrace across the street, Los Patios de la Catedral.

What you eat

The menu, published on its website, goes by sections. To share there are cured meats from the Sierra de Gredos and Guijuelo, acorn-fed Ibérico ham, cured sheep's cheese, duck foie with green tomato chutney, scrambled eggs with boletus from the pine woods of Gredos, ham croquettes, crispy black pudding with pine nuts, grilled octopus on patatas revolconas, sweetbreads stewed with La Vera paprika and sardines in escabeche or smoked.

Under the "spoonfuls of tradition" are Castilian soup, El Barco de Ávila beans stewed with chorizo and pig's ear, patatas revolconas with torreznos and Candeleda paprika, and a vegetable menestra with ham. The fish are Cantabrian hake in green sauce or in cider, hake cheeks, roast turbot and cod pil pil or cocinera-style.

The strong section is the meats: grilled Ávila beef rib steak, sirloin and entrecôte, roast suckling pig "in the patient oven", chops, leg or shoulder of suckling lamb, stewed or escabeche partridge, Ibérico pork sirloin, oxtail in red wine and duck breast. For dessert, egg flan, leche frita, coulant, apple tart and homemade ice creams.

Prices and hours

The website does not publish prices on the menu or opening hours, so ask the price of the roasts when you book if you are on a fixed budget. It does not give closing days either, so ask, especially if you are going on a Sunday night or midweek out of season.

How to book

Through the restaurant booking form linked on its website. For groups the system does not take, they ask you to contact the restaurant directly. The house also organises communions, company lunches and celebrations.

What to combine it with

It fits on leaving the cathedral, a couple of minutes away, or after walking the stretch of city wall that starts at the Puerta del Alcázar. If you want to sleep upstairs, the Hostería Las Cancelas has 14 rooms in the same building.