In 2020, Iker Casillas played to win. But not on the soccer field, but in an avenue of Navalacruz: the town in the Sierra de Gredos that saw the athlete grow up. There he opened, without fear of the pandemic, a restaurant with his cousin -and current manager of the business- Diego Casillas, an ambitious young man with a long career in the world of hospitality.
The Bar Restaurante Casillas offers select dishes from the gastronomy of Avila, in honor of the roots of the family that opened the house, as well as unique proposals that mix local flavors with other more international ones.
The traditional influenced cuisine does not usually disappoint, and less so when prepared with quality raw materials, as in this case. Many celebrities such as the influencer Pablo Cabezali (aka Cenando con Pablo) or Alejandro Sanz have traveled to Gredos to try its menu, which has very competitive prices (even more if we value that the business belongs to one of the most famous exporters in Spain). You can have lunch or dinner there for around 30€.
The restaurant’s best dishes
The restaurant’s extensive menu shines for its meat menu, where we find the famous chuletón de Ávila (32€ per kilo); cachopo de secreto (25€); beef tenderloin (29€) and even options with a Japanese touch, such as Buta No Kakuni (glazed pork belly and miso-dressed paste). The burger section also has its audience. There are hash with fried egg and blue cheese (12€); pork with chipotle sauce and barbecue (13€) and even steak (17€).
As for desserts, the homemade tarts stand out (each portion is 6,5€). We have four cheese, the favorite of Pablo Cabezali ; chocolate with hazelnuts and several specials. Among the latter, the most acclaimed are one with Dinosaurus cookies and another with Nutella, which are usually sold out.
A dream come true
Before opening Bar Restaurante Casillas, Diego fantasized about owning his own business. “It’s been a vocation since I was a child” -explained the ex-footballer’s cousin for the program Ávila Auténtica– “I started studying kitchen management and working in the meantime in a restaurant in Ávila. I realized that I was passionate about this world. Then I was working in a Japanese restaurant in Madrid. My oriental dishes come from there.”
Now this place brings life to a village with less than 300 inhabitants, where there were hardly any places to have a drink outside the house. It is not uncommon to see members of the Casillas family (including Iker himself) hosting a feast at the venue, which is about 140 kilometers from Madrid(an hour and a half drive).
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