Cachito Restaurant

A roadside inn from 1935 in the Camp d'Elx

Cachito is the family's nickname and the name of the house, a former roadside inn on the Casas del León road, in the Puçol district, in the heart of the Camp d'Elx and a few metres from the Puçol School Museum. It began in 1935 as an inn: Ramón Mora and Francisca Sempere supplied the neighbours and offered lodging. In 1961 their daughter Trinidad and her husband turned it into a bar with a grocery shop and butcher's, and from 1992 the next generation gradually grew the dining room. Today it is run by two sisters, the fourth generation: Noelia Pascual in the kitchen and Lidia Pascual in the dining room.

It has always been a roadside stop between Elche and Santa Pola, and it shows in the hours: it opens at 7:00 for breakfasts and mid-morning snacks and closes in the evening, with no dinners.

Rice dishes over vine-cutting wood

The rice dishes are cooked over vine-cutting wood and are what brings people here. The menu has a dozen: señoret with rabbit, chicken and wild mushrooms; with rabbit and wild mushrooms; with free-range chicken and wild mushrooms; with vegetables from their garden; the señoret with grouper and squid; with prawns and Norway lobster; black with young garlic; a soupy one of Iberian pork with artichoke and foie; and arroz con costra (crusted rice), Elche's dish, which is finished with egg until a golden crust forms on top. According to the sisters themselves, the one that sells most is the onion, cod and potato. In 2021 they won the World Paella Cup.

The market garden across the road

On the other side of the road they have their own vegetable plot, which supplies the seasonal starters, and the oil comes from their olive trees. You see it on the menu: garden tomato with capellán, aubergine with Elche pesto and almond, aspencat grilled over embers, and pipes i carasses, dried ñora pepper with capellán and garlic grilled over embers in raw oil. There are also croquettes (ham, red prawn, grandmother's stew), grilled squid, grilled meats such as lamb, sirloin, aged ribeye or leg of kid with Mariola herbs, and for dessert Elche tart or fig in syrup with its ice cream. The website does not publish prices: ask when you book.

In 2020 they opened a terrace and gardens, and behind the restaurant there is a garden of aromatic herbs.

When to go and how to book

It opens Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 7:00 to 17:00, and Friday to Sunday from 7:00 to 18:00. On Tuesdays it is closed, except in August, when it opens every day. Booking is through the reservations page on its website or on 966 633 575. For groups of ten adults or more they have set menus, with drinks included, at €45 and €49.50 per person.

It is hard to get there without a car: it is in the countryside, in the south of the municipality. A well-rounded morning combines the Puçol School Museum, a few steps away, with a midday rice dish; and if you continue your route, the Faelo winery is in Matola, also in the Camp d'Elx.