Navarre, the Kingdom of Good Fare

Navarre, the Kingdom of Good Fare Elizondo

Roncal

Altsasu/Alsasua

Pamplona SangĂźesa

Estella Viana

Tafalla Olite

Tudela

Stuffed peppers

Breakfast in a country guesthouse

Plate of asparagus

If you enjoy food, remember this brand. Behind it you will find the products that best represent the region and are guaranteed to provide an experience that will delight your senses.

Published by: Government of Navarre - Design: EPC Camarena - Printed by: LitografĂ­a IPAR Translation: trinor.com - Photographs: Tourist Service archives - Copyright Library No.: NA-2.652/2010

more info: www.turismo.navarra.es in the “Good food” section

NAVARRE, THE KINGDOM OF GOOD FARE If you love good food, you will find Navarre a very exciting destination: its diverse landscape changes from north to south and east to west and it is the perfect place for a purely gastronomical trip.

Here you can enjoy game, farm and wild mushrooms, beef, apple cider, dairy products, foie and other duck products in the Pyrenees; top wines and juicy lamb in the Middle Zone and the exquisite vegetables of La Ribera, accompanied by excellent whites, rosés and reds, while putting the finishing touch on your meal with a cold glass of Pacharán.

And you can do it all whichever way you like best. You can enjoy the traditional atmosphere of a sidrería (cider house), where one often eats standing, next to the kupela (large barrel) with new cider and enjoying the traditional menu of cod omelette, T-bone steak and cheese with quince jelly. Or, if you prefer, try a good T-bone prepared in a time-honoured way at one of Navarre´s asadores (steakhouses), offering top-quality, charcoal-grilled cuts and other delicious fare, such as sea bream, roast lamb and suckling pig. If haute cuisine is more your style, Navarre has three establishments with Michelin stars as well as other top-level restaurants which belong to the Restaurantes del Reyno association.

For less formal meals, there is nothing better than going for pinchos and tapas and pairing them with a sampling of Navarre’s delicious wines. Custom dictates that you should hop from bar to bar, trying the fare that each has to offer —at times quite traditional but often borrowing from haute cuisine concepts.

Places to enjoy

Food events

If you truly enjoy sitting at a table and being served, you will find restaurants in Navarre that cater to every taste.

For a meal among friends, you should visit a sidrería (cider house). If a gigantic T-bone steak is more to your liking, an asador (steakhouse) is the place to go, and if you wish to dine in a great restaurant, there are three in Navarre that boast Michelin stars: the Rodero, with Koldo Rodero heading the kitchen; the Europa, where Pilar Idoate prepares her excellent dishes and the Molino de Urdániz, where you can enjoy the enticing cuisine of David Yárnoz. All provide a perfect blend of tradition and modernity, basing their cuisine on the excellent ingredients that can be readily found without leaving Navarre.

Many of us love food events, moments where one or another product is celebrated somewhere in our region.

Not to be missed are the Vegetable Festival, held in Tudela every spring, the Olite Wine Harvest Festival in late summer, the Shepherd’s Day or Artzai Eguna in Uharte Arakil with cheese as the star product, the Pincho Week with dozens of bars offering special tapas in the spring, the Cazuelica Week in autumn, with appetising portions in traditional earthenware dishes and the Toast and Olive Oil Day, held every winter in Arróniz. These are just examples and there is much more: every feast in every town, every valley and every district has a particular moment linked to one or another product or dish.

You also have the option of enjoying top-quality products at your leisure: take a piece of Idiazabal or Roncal cheese, a loaf of bread and a bottle of Navarra red wine to the country for a great food experience.

Roncal cheese

If we speak of meat, beef and lamb are the two great mainstays of our cuisine but you should not miss our game, the Tierra Estella suckling pig and such delectable sausages as the famous chistorra, the delicious chorizo stuffing and the superb rice black pudding.

Another great example of the gastronomic wealth of our land is the Idiazabal and Roncal cheeses —finely crafted with the milk from native breeds that graze on mountain pastures that remain green and lush even during the hottest summer months.

Our wines

Tapas bar

The best products If you know Navarre or if somebody has told you about our region, then you will certainly have talked about its unparalleled vegetables. Every season has its particular produce and there is no month in the year where the local vegetable gardens fail to yield one or another speciality. Its renowned white asparagus and piquillo peppers are delicious, and so are the local artichokes, borage, cardoons and podded pocha beans.

Rosés, reds, whites... in Navarre you find all types of wines, routes to discover wineries, high- and lowaltitude vineyards, sunny slopes and different ways of understanding the drink of the gods. There are classic concept wines, modern wines and single-estate wines from one of Spain’s most dynamic designations of origin; a paradise for wine connoisseurs and an unbeatable place to enjoy a tradition that spans thousands of years.

Pacharán If you wish to conclude a meal with a great digestif, a cold glass of Pacharán can be the perfect choice. The pacharanes (sloe berries) are picked in late summer from sloe bushes that grow wild in many parts of Navarre, then macerated in a light anisette until the Pacharán acquires a characteristic red colour.

Museums and routes If you are the type of traveller who wants to learn all they can about a region, we recommend you visit one of our three food museums: the Truffle Museum in Metauten, the Honey Museum in Ultzama and the Olive Oil Museum in Arróniz.

Another interesting alternative is to do one of the Wine Routes to learn first-hand how some of the best wines in Navarre are made. You can do the route, have lunch or dinner, enjoy superb wines and learn more about the history of how they are made —which in Navarre is measured in millennia.

Remember that you can find detailed information about all of this at www.turismo.navarra.es.

We assure you an exciting and very tasty experience, a feast for your senses and a true tribute to your palate.