Restaurant in La Vall de Bianya, Spain
Worth the drive. Book lunch, go once.
Ca l'Enric is a Michelin-recognised family-run restaurant in the Garrotxa valley, serving creative Catalan tasting menus anchored in seasonal, locally foraged ingredients. Lunch-only Wednesday to Sunday, it is the most compelling special-occasion option in rural Girona outside El Celler de Can Roca — more personal in scale, more specific in character, and easier to book.
Yes — if you are prepared to book a lunch slot and make the journey into the Garrotxa foothills, Ca l'Enric delivers a level of creative Catalan cooking that is difficult to match in rural Girona at this price tier. The Michelin Plate recognition (held in both 2024 and 2025) confirms its consistency, and a Google rating of 4.7 across more than 1,000 reviews signals that the kitchen performs reliably for guests, not just for inspectors. For a special occasion meal within reach of Girona or the Costa Brava, this is a more personal and more culinarily interesting option than most of what you will find in nearby market towns.
The cooking here sits at the intersection of deep Catalan tradition and seasonal ingredient-led creativity. Chef Jordi Juncà and his sister Isabel run the kitchen with a focus on what the Vall de Bianya valley and its surrounding forests actually produce, which means the menu shifts with the seasons and reads differently in spring mushroom season than it does in autumn. The two named set menus — Memories in Evolution and Discovering the Valley , frame the experience clearly: one is rooted in the family's culinary history, the other is a literal invitation to eat the landscape around you.
What distinguishes the kitchen technically is the willingness to work with ingredients that most creative restaurants at this price point have abandoned in favour of more fashionable imports. Morel mushrooms paired with a tripe and eel salsa, and grilled peas finished with nettle pil-pil and hake cheeks, are examples from the Michelin record: these are combinations that require confident sauce-making, precise heat control, and an understanding of how foraged and cured ingredients interact. The pil-pil technique alone , traditionally demanding and easy to overwork , indicates a kitchen that has spent time on fundamentals rather than just presentation. This is not food that photographs well and tastes ordinary. The technique supports the concept.
Joan Juncà manages the front of house and the wine programme as sommelier, and the wine cellar is housed in a converted rainwater tank in the original hostal structure. That detail matters practically: the cellar has the kind of character that makes a wine pairing feel like part of the meal rather than an add-on, and at €€€€ pricing, you should be exploring it rather than ordering by the glass.
The building has operated as a hospitality venue since the late 19th century, when it functioned as a roadside hostal along the N-260. The current restaurant retains the stone, wood, and leather of the original structure while the interior reads as contemporary , the contrast is deliberate and handled with more restraint than you typically see in rural Catalan restaurant renovations. For a special occasion, this is a room that holds the atmosphere without forcing it.
Lunch service runs Wednesday through Sunday, 1 PM to 3:30 PM. The restaurant is closed Monday and Tuesday. There is no dinner service listed in the current operating data. This is a pure lunch destination, which has implications for how you plan: if you are travelling from Barcelona (roughly two hours), a same-day return trip is viable but tight. Consider pairing the meal with a stay in the valley , see our full La Vall de Bianya hotels guide for overnight options, or check L'Hostal de Ca l'Enric, the adjacent property under the same family.
The GL-3 guest , celebrating a birthday, an anniversary, or a meaningful business lunch , will find this format genuinely appropriate. The family-run structure means the room is cohesive in a way that larger staffed restaurants are not, and the set menu framing gives the meal a clear arc. It is not a venue for a quick meal or for guests who need a flexible à la carte experience on a time constraint.
Reservations: Booking is rated Easy , this is not a venue where you need to set a calendar alarm three months out, but given the limited lunch-only window and the drive involved, book before you travel rather than on arrival. Hours: Wednesday to Sunday, 1 PM to 3:30 PM only; closed Monday and Tuesday. Price: €€€€ , budget for a full tasting menu with wine pairing; this is a destination-meal spend, not a casual lunch. Address: Carr. de Camprodon, N-260, Km. 91, 17813, Girona, Spain. Getting there: The restaurant is on the N-260 road, accessible by car from Girona (approximately 50–60 km). Public transport to La Vall de Bianya is limited; a car or taxi is the practical option. See our full La Vall de Bianya restaurants guide for context on the wider dining scene in the valley.
If you are already planning a trip to Girona and considering whether to add Ca l'Enric to the itinerary, it occupies a clear niche. El Celler de Can Roca in Girona is the three-star benchmark for the region, but it requires months of advance planning and delivers a very different kind of experience , more theatrical, more globally ambitious. Ca l'Enric is the better choice if your priority is Catalan specificity, a family-run ethos, and a room that feels connected to where you are geographically. For regional creative cooking in a similarly personal format, Bo.TiC in Corçà is the most direct peer comparison: both are Michelin-recognised, both operate in rural Girona, and both prioritise local ingredient sourcing. Ca l'Enric has the stronger setting and the family history; Bo.TiC may offer slightly more booking flexibility depending on the season.
For broader context on eating in the region, explore our full La Vall de Bianya bars guide, our full La Vall de Bianya wineries guide, and our full La Vall de Bianya experiences guide to build a complete itinerary around the meal.
Both set menus are the right call here rather than à la carte, because the kitchen is designed around tasting-menu pacing. Discovering the Valley is the better option if you are visiting for the first time , it focuses on the valley's seasonal produce and gives you the most direct expression of what Jordi and Isabel Juncà are doing technically. The wine pairing managed by sommelier Joan Juncà is worth adding: the cellar, housed in a converted rainwater tank on the property, has depth that rewards exploration. Confirmed dishes from the Michelin record include morel mushrooms with tripe and eel salsa, and grilled peas with nettle pil-pil and hake cheeks , both technically demanding preparations that give you a sense of the kitchen's range.
No phone number or direct booking contact is publicly listed in our current data, so we cannot confirm specific dietary accommodation policies. Given the tasting-menu format and the relatively small scale of a family-run restaurant, the safest approach is to contact them directly when booking and state any restrictions clearly in advance. Tasting menus built around foraged and seasonal Catalan ingredients tend to rely on specific combinations , late notice on restrictions is harder to manage here than at a larger à la carte operation.
Three things. First, it is lunch-only, Wednesday to Sunday, 1 PM to 3:30 PM , there is no dinner service. If you are travelling from Barcelona or the Costa Brava, plan the day around the meal. Second, the drive is part of the experience: the restaurant sits on the N-260 road in the Garrotxa valley, and arriving with time to take in the surroundings makes the meal feel more intentional. Third, the €€€€ price tier means you should budget for a full tasting menu and wine: arriving and ordering minimally defeats the purpose of making the trip. The Michelin Plate recognition across 2024 and 2025 confirms this is not a gamble at that spend level.
Yes, for the right diner. The two set menus , Memories in Evolution and Discovering the Valley , represent the kitchen at its most considered, and the Michelin Plate in consecutive years confirms the quality is consistent rather than occasional. At €€€€ pricing in a rural Girona setting, you are paying for technique and local sourcing rather than postcode or tableside theatre. If you want a destination tasting menu in the Girona region with a more personal scale than El Celler de Can Roca and a clearer sense of place than many city alternatives, the value holds. If you are looking for a quick lunch or are uncertain about a full tasting-menu commitment, this is not the right format for you.
Within La Vall de Bianya, dining options at this level are limited , see our full La Vall de Bianya restaurants guide for a complete picture. The closest peer in the broader Girona region for rural creative Catalan cooking is Bo.TiC in Corçà, which is Michelin-recognised and similarly focused on local sourcing. If you are willing to travel further for a higher-starred experience, El Celler de Can Roca in Girona is the region's three-star reference point, though it requires much more advance planning. For Spanish creative cooking outside Catalonia at a comparable price point, Arzak in San Sebastián and Azurmendi in Larrabetzu are worth considering depending on your wider itinerary.
Ca l'Enric serves lunch only , Wednesday to Sunday, 1 PM to 3:30 PM , so there is no dinner option to compare. This is worth factoring into your planning, particularly if you are travelling a significant distance. A long lunch in a valley setting with a full tasting menu and wine pairing is a different kind of pacing than an evening meal, and many guests find it the more relaxed format for a special occasion. The absence of dinner service also means the kitchen is focused entirely on one sitting per day, which tends to support consistency.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Booking Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ca l'Enric | Modern Catalan, Creative | €€€€ | Easy |
| Aponiente | Progressive - Seafood, Creative | €€€€ | Unknown |
| Arzak | Modern Basque, Creative | €€€€ | Unknown |
| Azurmendi | Progressive, Creative | €€€€ | Unknown |
| Cocina Hermanos Torres | Creative | €€€€ | Unknown |
| DiverXO | Progressive - Asian, Creative | €€€€ | Unknown |
A quick look at how Ca l'Enric measures up.
The set menus are the way to go here. Ca l'Enric offers two options — Memories in Evolution and Discovering the Valley — both built around seasonal Catalan ingredients. The Michelin guide specifically calls out dishes like morel mushrooms with tripe and eel salsa, and grilled peas with nettle pil-pil and hake cheeks as representative of what Jordi and Isabel Juncà do in the kitchen. À la carte is available, but the tasting menus show the cooking at its most coherent.
The database does not document Ca l'Enric's dietary accommodation policy explicitly. Given that the menus are built around seasonal, locally sourced Catalan ingredients and the kitchen is family-run, it is worth contacting them directly before booking to confirm what flexibility is possible, especially for serious restrictions.
This is a lunch-only restaurant, open Wednesday through Sunday from 1 PM to 3:30 PM — plan your day around that window. The venue sits on the N-260 road in La Vall de Bianya, so you will need a car or a planned transfer from Girona or Olot. Booking is rated Easy by Pearl, but the limited lunch-only service means tables are not unlimited — confirm your reservation before making the drive.
At the €€€€ price point, the tasting menus — Memories in Evolution and Discovering the Valley — represent a genuine commitment: creative Catalan cooking anchored in the Garrotxa landscape, with Michelin Plate recognition in both 2024 and 2025 providing external validation. If you are coming from Girona or further, the menus make the trip purposeful. If you want a lighter spend, the à la carte option exists, but the tasting format is what the kitchen is built around.
There are no direct fine-dining peers in La Vall de Bianya itself. Within the broader Garrotxa and Girona region, El Celler de Can Roca in Girona city is the obvious reference point for creative Catalan cooking at a higher tier, though it operates at a completely different scale and booking difficulty. For something closer to Ca l'Enric's format and regional focus, the immediate area has limited alternatives — which is part of what makes the drive worthwhile.
Lunch is your only option — Ca l'Enric does not serve dinner, operating Wednesday to Sunday from 1 PM to 3:30 PM only. Factor that into your itinerary, particularly if you are combining the visit with time in Girona or the Garrotxa volcanic zone nearby.
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