Europe / Spain / Extremadura / Merida, Spain / Best Restaurants

Tabula Calda

Behind a yellow-painted exterior, Mérida's most characterful dining room features stone arches, half-tiled walls, and lots of museum-like touches. The cooking is traditional with an emphasis on local, sustainable ingredients. The basic tourist menu offers great value, but if you’ve worked up an appetite go with the three-course Sabores de la tierra (Flavors of the land) menu. After a Sephardi salad involving oranges and olive oil, you might feast on locally grown asparagus and mushrooms, casseroled lamb that falls off the bone, and repápalos con leche, sweet regional pastries served with milk. Service is old fashionedly courteous, and Jewish folk music adds to the atmosphere.