Eating in Salamanca
Local specialties include serrano ham, roast suckling pig (called tostón around here), and sopa de ajo , the local garlic soup. Patatas meneadas (potatoes with Spanish paprika and bacon) is a simple but tasty local tapa.
Dining Well
Restaurante Chez Victor is the result of the marriage of a Castilian chef (Victor) and a French food-lover (Margarite). This family-run place, elegantly decorated with a feminine French touch and bouquets on the tables, serves modern and creative Franco/Castilian fare — perhaps your best €35-40 meal in town (Tue-Sat 14:00-16:00 & 21:00-23:30, Sun 14:00-15:30, closed Mon and Sun eve, air-con, Espoz y Mina 26, tel. 923-213-123).
La Fonda Casa de Comidas is a dark, woody place with solid traditional cuisine, catering to locals, where you'll happily spend €22 for three courses (daily 13:45-16:30 & 21:00-23:30, a bit smoky, reserve on weekends, 15 yards down the arcade from corner of Gran Vía and Cuesta de Sancti Spiritus at La Reja 2, tel. 923-215-712).
On Plaza Mayor
Here you can enjoy a meal sitting on the finest square in Spain and savor some of Europe's best people-watching. The bars, with little tables spilling onto the square, serve raciones and €2 glasses of wine. A ración de la casa (house specialty of hams, sausages, and cheese), a ración of patatas bravas (chunks of potatoes with tomato sauce), and two glasses of wine makes a nice dinner for two for about €25 — one of the best eating values in all of Europe. For dessert, stroll with an ice cream cone from Café Novelty.
Café Real serves bar snacks in a tapas style (open daily).
Cervantes Bar is more of a restaurant, with a wide selection of meals, €7 salads, and sandwiches. They also have an indoors section, overlooking Plaza Mayor from one floor up; it's a popular student hangout (tapas daily 10:00-21:00, meals only after 13:30 and 19:30).
Café Novelty is Plaza Mayor's Art Nouveau cafe — dating from 1905, filled with character and literary memories. The metal sculpture depicts a famous local writer, Torrente-Ballester (daily 8:00-24:00). Their ice cream sweetens a stroll around the plaza.
Eating Simple or Tapas
There are plenty of good, inexpensive restaurants between Plaza Mayor and Gran Vía, and as you leave the Plaza Mayor toward Rúa Mayor. The tapas places along and around Rúa Mayor are abundant and often overrun with students.
Restaurante Isidro is a thriving local favorite — a straightforward, hard-working eatery run by Alberto — offering a good assortment of fish and specialty meat dishes (menu of the day-€8.50, also à la carte €15-€20 dinners, good roasts, Mon-Sat 13:00-16:00 & 20:00-24:00, Sun 13:00-16:00, has seating in its comedor , quick service, Pozo Amarillo 19, about a block north of covered market, near Plaza Mayor, tel. 923-262-848).
Restaurante Comercio, next door, has tasty food and is warmly decorated with old photos of the square. Their specialities include sopa castellana (Castilian soup) and oxtail stew. The €9.50 menu works also for dinner, or consider their €20 à la carte meals (daily 12:30-16:00 & 19:30-24:00, Pozo Amarillo 23, tel. 923-260-280).
The Pans & Company sandwich chain is always fast and affordable, with a branch on Calle Prior across from Burger King and another on Rúa Mayor (daily 10:00-24:00).
Picnics: The covered mercado (market) on Plaza Mercado has fresh fruits and veggies (Mon-Sat 8:00-14:30, closed Sun, on east side of Plaza Mayor). A small Consum grocery, three blocks east of Plaza Mayor, has just the basics (Mon-Sat 9:30-21:00, closed Sun). For variety, the big Champion Supermercado is your best bet, but it's a six-block walk north of Plaza Mayor on Toro (Mon-Sat 9:15-21:15, closed Sun, across from Plaza San Juan de Sahagun and its church).
If you always wanted seconds at Communion, buy a bag of giant Communion wafers, a local specialty called obleas .