Mesón La Troya

La Troya has been feeding people for more than a century at number 10 of Trujillo's Plaza Mayor, under the arcades. It is market-based Extremaduran cooking, of raciones and set menus, in a dining room decorated with plates and old pieces of ceramic and clay painted with motifs of the region. The speciality, as the house itself says, is lamb caldereta.

Two house menus with the wine included

The house menu has two prices depending on the main course you choose, and both include, as the house puts it, bread, water, casera (lemon soda) and wine. The €19.50 one lets you choose between lamb caldereta, pork "prueba", grilled loin, baked cod, roast chicken, pork chops or beef round. The €24.50 one steps up to Iberian cuts with garnish (sirloin, lagarto, presa, secreto), oxtail timbale, beef entrecôte or cochifrito. To start, there are dishes such as Extremaduran migas, gazpacho, white beans with chorizo, wild asparagus with cheese sauce or picadillo soup. For dessert, house flan, cheesecake, fried milk or rice pudding.

In the evening there is a €17.50 menu, also with bread, water and wine: goat's cheese roll salad to start, scrambled eggs with golden thistle, "broken" eggs with ham or zorongollo, and for the main course cochifrito, moraga trujillana or Iberian sirloin. The children's menu costs €8, with spaghetti or soup and a loin steak or a hamburger with chips. The house warns that the menus change with the season.

Ham, torta del Casar and caldereta à la carte

À la carte, a ración of acorn-fed Iberian ham is €24 and a half €13.50; the torta del Casar, €19 (€12.50 for half), and the cheese board, €22. The scrambled eggs range from €13.50 to €15.50, with the boletus and foie one the dearest, and the Extremaduran migas cost €14.50. Among meats, the caldereta is €14.50, the cochifrito €16.50 and the suckling lamb chops €23.50. There are oxtail or boletus croquettes, and some fish, such as grilled cuttlefish or cod nuggets. In the cellar there are red wines by the glass from €1.80, among them those of HABLA, Trujillo's winery.

Wait your turn at the door of number 10

La Troya does not take reservations. You arrive and wait your turn. It opens for lunch from 13:15 to 16:00 and for dinner from 20:30 to 23:00. The website gives no closing day and refers you to its Google listing for each day's hours; if you go on a special date, call beforehand on 927 932 463.

It is right in the square, so do not count on parking in front: leave the car outside the historic centre and walk up. It fits after the morning guided tour, which leaves at 10:30 from the same arcades, or on your return from the castle. In spring, sitting in the square, look at the roofs of San Martín: it is the first stop on the kestrel walk.