Era Coquèla

Era Coquèla is a traditional Aranese restaurant at Avinguda Garona, 29, in Vielha, in the centre of the valley's capital. It has two large dining rooms and a small private room, and a long menu of valley dishes with a few more modern ones. It is the place to try the olla aranesa sitting at a tablecloth, or for a grilled-meat dinner after a day of skiing or hiking.

The olla, the morels and the game

The olla aranesa is the valley's stew, with vegetables, pulses and meats, and here it is among the starters on the menu for €14.50. Beside it, dishes with mountain produce: morels stuffed with oxtail with their cream, €18; snails cooked in the pan, €16.50; smoked eel with aubergine and Parmesan, €17.50; or a crab and avocado cannelloni, €22. From the valley itself there is caviar from Caviar Nacarii, the fish farm at Les, at €90 for a 30-gram portion.

For mains, the grill and game weigh in: sirloin, €28.50; pigeon with duck liver, €30; venison loin with corn and cassis, €24.50; shoulder of kid with orange reduction, €28. Also a cannelloni of wild boar, duck, pig's trotters and morels, €23, and fish such as turbot or grilled wild sea bass, between €23 and €24. Desserts, €9: chocolate cremoso, cassis French toast with vanilla ice cream. Prices include VAT.

The Garona menu

The Garona menu costs €43.50 with wine and water, and is the way to eat three courses without going beyond that. For a starter you choose between the olla aranesa, a cep cream with poached egg, courgette flowers stuffed with brandade, fried octopus with kimchi mayonnaise or a pickled quail salad. For the second course, grilled entrecôte, boned suckling pig, oven-roast leg of lamb or braised cheek, oxtail, beef rib or fish, confit cod or corvina. For dessert, the nougat soup with vanilla ice cream, among others. The house says the menu changes over time.

How much you spend and who goes

À la carte, a starter, a main and a dessert come to between about €43 and €61 per person without drinks; with the Garona menu, €43.50 with the wine. The website does not publish a children's menu: ask if you are going with children. For allergies, the house asks you to ask the staff about the composition of each dish. For a large table or a celebration, ask for the private room.

No published hours: call ahead

The website does not publish hours or closing day. Book on 973 642 915 or at [email protected], especially at weekends and in ski season.

If you sleep in the centre, the Hotel Fonfreda is on Passeig de la Libertat, and before dinner you can see the Christ of Mijaran in the church of Sant Miquèu.