Aire de Bardenas

Eating

The food is excellent, some of the best we encountered on our trip to northern Spain. You eat in a smart restaurant with balls of light hanging from the ceiling. It overlooks the interior courtyard on one side and the kitchen garden on the other, beyond which wind turbines turn on a ridge. Doors open onto terraces and breakfast and lunch are served in the sun when it shines.

Breakfast is delicious. Expect plates of elegantly sliced fruit, fabulous cheeses and local hams. You get baskets of croissants and pains au chocolat, then homemade rolls and baguettes. There’s freshly squeezed orange juice and strong coffee, too.

Dinner was even better. Drive around Tudela and you will see that farming is the main business here, this seemingly inhospitably land tamed over the centuries. It is known for its vegetables and a bowl of artichoke hearts served with oil and salt made an astoundingly tasty starter when we visited. This can be followed by all sorts of delicious main courses, perhaps sea bass cooked with squid risotto or lamb from the desert. Puddings are sweet, perhaps crème caramel or a delicious lemon sorbet served with vodka that comes like a milkshake and which you drink through a straw.

If you want to eat in Tudela, head to Triquete, which serves good traditional Navarre fare. Restaurant 33 goes big on vegetables and occasionally offers a vegetable tasting menu, but there’s lots of meat and fish, too. You’ll also find a clutch of funky bars near the plaza. Note that lots of restaurants and bars are closed Sunday-Tuesday.

If you want something special, head down to Zaragoza (90km, 1 hour by car) and try Bal d’Onsera, the only Michelin-starred restaurant in the city. It’s in the old quarter, close to El Tubo, where you'll find the best tapas in town.