Casa Roque

Casa Roque occupies one of the Cinco Esquinas, the junction of Costa de Sant Joan and Calle Segura Barreda, inside the wall and a few steps from the arcaded street. Concha and Roque opened it in 1980 as a tapas bar twenty metres from here; seeing that people stayed to eat, they turned it into a restaurant, and in 2000 they moved to this restored seventeenth-century building. It covers 700 square metres with three dining rooms, high ceilings, wooden beams, centuries-old doors and coats of arms on the walls, plus its own bread workshop and pastry kitchen. It seats about 190 people.

A seventeenth-century mansion at the Cinco Esquinas

That size changes how you go: it is one of the places in Morella where a large group or a family with grandparents can find a table together, although at weekends it is still wise to book. The cooking is the traditional cooking of Els Ports with small touches of the house, and the black truffle from these hills appears in several dishes: the kitchen grates or slices it over the finished plate, without cooking it.

What to order and how much it costs

To start, the Morella croquettes, made with the meat from the stew (€16.50 for a portion of eight, €8.50 for half), the carpaccio of cured beef and Morella cured cheese with truffle oil, or the truffled mushroom delights. For a spoon dish, the Morella soup (€6) or the olla, the stew of beans, lentils, chickpeas and pork eaten here in winter (€7). The shepherd's migas are ordered for the middle of the table. For a main, the ternasco, half a roast shoulder of lamb (€22.50), grilled lamb chops (€18) or meat on a hot stone. Desserts are around €4.50: homemade curd, figs in coffee or dates in wine.

If you would rather not think about it, the traditional menu costs €35. There is a gluten-free menu and a children's menu for under-12s. The dish with which the house has won competitions is the truffled stuffed lamb, and the kitchen's newest creation is a creamy rice with confit quail, mushrooms and black truffle: ask whether they have them that day.

When it opens and how to book

It serves lunch Tuesday to Friday from 13:15 to 15:15 and on Saturdays and Sundays from 13:00 to 15:30. Dinner only on Saturdays, from 21:15 to 22:00. Closed on Mondays. Book on their website or on 964 16 03 36. Dogs are only allowed in a carrier, and the premises are not wheelchair accessible.

The house also organises tasting dinners with wine pairings and workshops on black truffle and the wines of the area; dates are on their website. Casa Roque is the lunch stop of the Sunday plan in Morella, between the basilica and the castle.