Palencia de Lara

This was certainly not the cheapest meal of our Spain trip but we felt the dining experience justified the cost.
It was a weekday lunch and we wanted to get away from the main square where all the tourists seemed to congregate. We waited until lunch was served around 1pm and got a nice cozy table in the corner where we could see the kitchen. We were the only diners in the restaurant but the bar up front was pretty busy and festive. We guessed locals probably don’t spend this much on lunch but rather go for the tapas and drinks instead up front.
We started with the warm leek and scallop cream soup and a roasted pepper salad. The cream soup came in a teapot and was poured over a beautifully seasoned and cooked perfectly scallop and shrimp. I managed to get most of the soup with my spoon otherwise I was ready to lick it up even though we were in public.
I don’t have anything to compare the cochinillo (suckling pig) to but it was on my list of foods I had to try in Spain. The skin was nice and crunchy while the meat was more fatty than I’d normally like. My wife had the partridge and thought it was pretty good.
We got to enjoy a nice quiet lunch to ourselves and overall were happy with the food and service.