If you are ever here, eat there #7: Lerma

Just back from a short visit to the Northern parts of Spain and Portugal, where we pretty much lived on Tapas (with the occasional Chocolate con Churros, of course). On the first day of the trip we stopped at Lerma for lunch, on the way to the beautiful city of Burgos. In Spain lunchtime (in fact any time between 1pm and 5pm) is pretty quiet. Offices and shops close and people go home to have lunch, spend time with their families and hide out from the summer sun. Fortunately for us, La Taberna del Picaro was one of the places still open on Lerma's main square.

Although the square is rather grand (in a neo-classical kind of way, dominated by the Palacio Ducal, which is now a posh hotel), La Taberna del Picaro is an unpretentious place. It's a very ordinary looking bar, with a few tables for diners. Don't expect great atmosphere, or service. Order at the bar, then grab a table near the one-armed bandit (perhaps someone can explain to me the popularity of these machines, which we found in almost every café/bar that we stopped in). Your order will be brought to your table. Nutty-tasting and melting in your mouth, their Jamon Iberico (Iberian Ham) has to top the list.  Also highly recommended is the Pulpo a la Gallega (Octopus fried in olive oil and paprika - in the Galician style). The octopus is extremely tender and smoky flavours of the paprika and olive oil really work well together. The flavour of Galicia. Mmmmm.

La Taberna del Picaro, Plaza Mayor, 8, Lerma, Telephone 947 172 930