Casa Xalets

Casa Xalets is a family bar-restaurant at Carrer de la Font 14, in Àger, handed down from parents to children. It is at the foot of the Montsec, in the middle of the Vall d'Àger, and from the dining room you see the valley landscape. It makes home cooking with the dishes of the area and adds seasonal specialities at midday and in the evening.

A menu of the classic kind

The menu they publish on their website is long and familiar. To start, salads, cod esqueixada with black olive powder, grilled vegetables, tomato with tuna belly and olivada, beef carpaccio, mushroom risotto, macaroni, meat or mushroom cannelloni and snails a la llauna with picada and alioli. For main courses, grilled and griddled meats: chicken, rabbit with alioli, Vall d'Àger lamb chops, a 450 g bone-in entrecôte, low-temperature pork ribs, an assortment of butifarra sausages with beans, grilled pigs' trotters; and from the sea, cod, squid, flambéed prawns and griddled octopus with panadera potatoes. For dessert, homemade egg flan, crema catalana, wafers with mató mousse, walnuts and honey, artisan yoghurt or the cake of the day. They also have a selection of wines in their cellar.

The dish that carries the valley's name is the Vall d'Àger lamb chops. The website publishes no prices: ask when you book.

Hours and booking

It opens at midday, from 12:00 to 17:00, and serves dinners on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. It is closed on Sunday night and all day Monday. You book by phone only: the landline, 973 455 296, from 12:00 to 16:00, or the mobile, 622 135 985. There is no online booking. To have dinner before a stargazing session, call and confirm what time they start serving.

Where it fits

It is the stop in the same village before or after the Collegiate Church of Sant Pere, which you walk up to through the old town's streets. In the afternoon, the Parc Astronòmic by day is about 3.5 km away. If you stay overnight in the village, the Hotel Espai d'Estels is in Àger, and on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays you can come down for dinner here.