Casa Nova

Verdict

If you have already made the drive out to Casa Nova once, the question on a return visit is not whether the experience holds up; it is whether you choose the Viña menu or commit to Gran Vendimia. The short answer: go Gran Vendimia. The longer answer is that this Michelin-starred farmhouse restaurant in the Penedès hills operates at a level of self-sufficiency that genuinely sharpens what lands on the plate, that does not diminish with familiarity. For food and wine explorers willing to plan well ahead and travel to Sant Martí Sarroca, Casa Nova earns its place among the most coherent farm-to-table propositions in Catalonia. See our full Sant Martí Sarroca restaurants guide for how it fits the wider dining picture.

About Casa Nova

Casa Nova occupies a converted poultry farm on the Ctra. de la Bleda outside Sant Martí Sarroca, in the Penedès wine country southwest of Barcelona. The property is run as a working smallholding: kitchen garden, beehives, chickens, shiitake mushroom cultivation, tuna drying sheds, a coffee roaster, in-house vinegar and wine production. That list is not decorative. It is the infrastructure that explains why chef Andrés Torres can build a contemporary tasting menu around ingredients that most restaurants source from third parties. The arrival ritual, a guided tour of the grounds before you sit down, sets the frame for what follows: you are not being told about the philosophy, you are being shown the evidence.

The kitchen's technical approach sits within the modern Catalan tradition; composed, ingredient-led, rooted in regional produce, but the reference points are personal rather than stylistic. Torres draws on his mother's recipes as a structural base, then layers international techniques acquired through humanitarian work abroad. The wood-fired bread baked in the manner of indigenous Peruvian communities is the clearest example: it is not fusion for its own sake, it is a specific technique applied because it produces a specific result. That distinction matters when you are assessing whether a kitchen has genuine depth or is assembling borrowed ideas. At Casa Nova, the connections are traceable and consistent across the menu.

The wine programme adds meaningful weight to the value proposition. The cellar carries vintage labels that read as a serious private collection rather than a standard restaurant list. For a property this size, in a location this rural, the depth of the wine offering is one of the genuine surprises, it pairs logically with the Penedès context. If wine is part of your reason for visiting, request guidance when you book rather than waiting until you sit down.

Two menus are offered: Viña and Gran Vendimia. No pricing is available in our data, but the €€€€ tier places this firmly at the top end of the regional market. On a first visit, Viña gives you the full picture of the kitchen's range. On a return, Gran Vendimia is the logical progression, longer, more ambitious, the format through which Torres pushes the boundaries of the mothballed-recipe-meets-contemporary-technique approach most fully.

The sensory experience at Casa Nova is anchored before you reach the table. Walking the grounds, you encounter woodsmoke from the bread oven, the fermentation notes from the vinegar production, coffee roasting, the general green-herb character of a productive kitchen garden in active use. By the time you sit down, those aromas have already primed your reading of the food. That sequence is deliberate and it works.

For a rural restaurant with a single chef driving the creative vision, that consistency is a practical reassurance worth noting. Explore the wider area through our Sant Martí Sarroca hotels guide, bars guide, wineries guide, and experiences guide if you are building a full trip around the visit.

For context on Spain's wider one-star-and-above circuit, relevant comparisons include El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, Martin Berasategui in Lasarte-Oria, Quique Dacosta in Dénia, Mugaritz in Errenteria, Ricard Camarena in València, and Atrio in Cáceres. For a broader international reference point in modern cuisine, see Frantzén in Stockholm and FZN by Björn Frantzén in Dubai.

Practical Details

Casa Nova is located at Ctra. de la Bleda, 188, 08731 Sant Martí Sarroca, a rural address that requires a car. No public transport connection is realistic. Price tier is €€€€. Two tasting menus are available: Viña and Gran Vendimia. Given the Michelin star and limited seating typical of properties of this type and scale, booking well in advance is strongly advised. No online booking URL or phone number is available in our data; contact the restaurant directly to confirm reservation method. Dress code and specific opening hours are not confirmed in our data, verify before travelling.

Quick reference: €€€€ tasting menus (Viña / Gran Vendimia) | Rural location, car required | Michelin 1 Star (2024) | Book well ahead | Confirm hours and booking method directly.

How It Compares

See the comparison section below.