Lera— Bestowed with 1 Michelin star & 1 green for sustainability, 2 Repsol suns and listed as Macarfi’s #1 restaurant of Castilla-León, you’ll find it in the heart of Tierra de Campos (Zamora province).
Beyond the large, weather beaten wooden door in tiny Castroverde de Campos, an 250±inhabitant town in an austere, depopulated village on the plains (la España vaciada), a game lover’s paradise awaits.
In the fall and winter diners find the famous pichón de Tierra de Campos. (squab) simply stewed, the star of the house. But a stellar dish for us, despite all the other wonderful game dishes, are the incredibly creamy, stewed white beans (alubias de Saldaña) served with hare and presented in a large tureen, inviting diners to many second helpings. The white beans & hare alternate on the menus with lentils & duck.
Other game dishes (caza menor/caza mayor) one may find on the two tasting menus, one short, one long: rabbit, partridge with kale & chestnuts, venison, pheasant, stock dove, wood pigeon, mallard, wild boar…
In the summer, the menu is lightened up, and diners may find a salad of river crabs, a Bloody Mary gazpacho, duck and trout along with their excellent picked quail & rabbit salads (escabeches).
Along with the tasting menus, Lera also offers a shortened Tierra de Campos menu, based on Chef Luis Lera’s mother’s legendary dishes.
The wine list is found on a QR code, with reasonable prices compared to other Michelin starred restaurants. During game season, many diners opt for Zamora-Toro wine parings (although the impressive list is international), but since we visited in May, the sommelier, Adrián Ferrón, selected a very pleasant, somewhat lighter tinta de Toro priced at only €39.
The maître, Ramón Blas, is a delightful host who prepares great gin tonics that can be taken outside on the terrace after the meal.
We received a tour both of the 19th century original wine cellar, once used as a cooperative by area wine makers and the one inherited by the restaurant when Lera was built, impressive and enormous, boasting 1,500 labels.
The great advantage of spending the night in their 9-room inn is to partake of the hearty Castilian breakfast served in the workshop/former granary with its subterranean ancient wine cellar.
Our breakfast included charcuterie from Bolaños, ewe’s cheeses, breads from a local bakery served with house made marmalades, pumpkin cake, madelaines, yogur with honey, fried eggs with torreznos and lomo de orza. If so inclined, one can accompanied this with bubbles or clarete.
Our congenial breakfast host, Adrián. treated us with a visit to both cellars, a visit to the kitchen, a hello to the 2 resident burros, white horse and the house terrier, a greeting by 49-year old chef/owner Luis Alberto Lera and his wife Natalia (who will call you to reconfirm your reservation) and upon leaving, Adrián gifted us a bottle of their young rosé style. Ojo de Gallo house wine, Yera, (8 months of barrel fermentation) which they don’t commercialize. Adrián was the winner of ¨Head Waiter Revelation Award” at this year’s Madrid Fusión. And he was also a finalist in the category “Best Hotel Breakfast” award.
Chef Lera has been a hunter since age 7, and goes out on Thursdays with his 2 greyhounds to hunt hare, which almost always featured on the menu.
The restaurant closes on Tuesdays-Wednesdays-Thursdays but opens Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon for both lunch and dinner.
This wonderful restaurant is well worth the 250-kilometer drive from Madrid. It’s only a 14- kilometer detour off the A6 (exit 234), so it could be experienced as an overnight on the way to or from Oviedo.
Just spend the night in its 4-star “hotel rural” and enjoy the utter tranquility!
