DESTINATIONS • March 2016
Five exceptional restaurants with rooms
What makes a fantastic meal even better? Having the option to retreat to your bedroom to sleep it all off. Alicia Miller, assistant editor at Sunday Times Travel Magazine, reveals five favourite European spots where you can do just that
Trois Gros, Roanne, France
It’s been open 47 years, but with looks this good you wouldn’t know it. The Mad Men-modern meets Scandi-sleek interior at this restaurant is so cool you’d except to see it in downtown New York. After a lunchtime tasting menu full of artful dishes, you can digest in the sun-dappled garden. Come nightfall, retire to equally stylish bedrooms – think natural wood and juicy pops of colour.
Foodie tip: Save room in your suitcase for homemade delights from their deli.
Quinta da Pacheca, Douro Valley, Portugal
This restaurant, winery and hotel is in the thick of Portugal’s wine region. Hectares of chiselled vineyard terraces are on your doorstep, but there’s a simple pleasure to staying put and downing Pacheca’s own quaffable wines. Bedrooms are old-worldly, while the restaurant’s menu balances Portuguese classic – bacalhau (salt codfish) with maize bread – and modern (monkfish and prawns with lemongrass).
Foodie tip: During harvest season, you can help stomp grapes in the winery’s giant stone lagares.
Purkmistr, Pilsen, Czech Republic
Chocolate-box Pilsen is the city of beer – after all, this is where Pilsner Urquell is brewed – and at this former farmhouse turned restaurant-with-rooms they’re keeping up the theme. A brewery churns out unpasteurised brews of every description, while in the casual dining hall you can sink your fork into rib-sticking Czech classics such as slow-roasted pork knuckle or beef goulash.
Foodie tip: Like their beers? Order your own tailored brew, complete with bespoke labels.
Da Caino, Montemerano
This Relais & Chateaux restaurant may be a two-hour drive from Rome, but has the kind of good Italian food for which it’s worth travelling. When you arrive at the worn-stone building you’ll be welcomed by a roaring fire, rambling wine list and a truly romantic atmosphere. Plump for the six-course tasting menu, complete with silky taglioni and hare with roasted pumpkin, then drift off in one of their homely rooms.
Foodie tip: Wild boar is the region’s signature dish – don’t miss it.
Hacienda de San Rafael, Seville, Spain
Fourteen antique-furnished rooms, huddled around a bougainvillea-lined courtyard where guests dine under the stars, Hacienda de San Rafael has the ‘it’ factor. Between Mediterranean-style meals – tapas or risotto filled with fresh fish, and herbs from their garden – you can laze by the pool or make the short journey into Seville.
Foodie tip: While in Seville, stock up on yemas sweets from San Leandro Convent – they are addictive.
This article has been tagged Food + Drink, Hotels