Restaurant in Setcases, Spain
Honest Pyrenean cooking, not a tourist trap.
Can Jepet has been serving traditional Catalan mountain cooking in the Pyrenean village of Setcases since 1959. A Michelin Plate holder with a 4.5 Google rating across 1,550 reviews, it is the right choice for grilled meats, game, and calçots in season — honest, regional cooking at a fair €€ price point, with no booking difficulty.
If you are planning a weekend in the Catalan Pyrenees and want a meal that genuinely reflects where you are, Can Jepet in Setcases is the right call. This is the restaurant for hikers coming off the trail, for couples exploring the Vall de Camprodon, and for food-focused travellers who want grilled meats, game, and calçots cooked by people who have been doing this since 1959. It is not a destination restaurant in the tasting-menu sense. It is a destination restaurant in the sense that it gives you an honest, specific taste of Catalan mountain cooking that you will not find replicated in Barcelona.
The calçot season, which runs roughly from January through March, is the single leading reason to time a visit here. These long green onions, charred over open flame and eaten with salvitxada sauce, are one of Catalonia's most seasonal and communal eating rituals. Can Jepet's emphasis on them in season makes the restaurant a legitimate draw for food explorers who plan trips around what is actually growing and being harvested.
Can Jepet occupies a stone building in the centre of Setcases, a village small enough that finding the restaurant on Carrer Molló requires almost no effort. The atmosphere is described consistently as rustic, and with 65 years of operation behind it, that reads as authenticity rather than decoration. The physical space reflects the mountain setting: expect wood, warm light, and a room that feels built for long meals after cold days outside. This is not a sleek dining room and it is not trying to be. The spatial register suits the food — hearty, direct, and rooted in place. For travellers who find overly designed restaurant interiors alienating in rural contexts, this is a point in Can Jepet's favour.
The intimacy of a village restaurant in a place as small as Setcases means the experience is genuinely different from eating Catalan cuisine in a city context. Setcases has a permanent population in the dozens. When you eat here, you are eating in someone's community, not a tourist reconstruction of one. That context matters if you are the kind of traveller who reads menus as documents of a place.
Can Jepet's menu is built around grilled meats, game, and charcuterie, the culinary vocabulary of Catalan mountain cooking. These are not dishes designed to impress through technique or novelty. They are dishes designed to satisfy after physical activity in cold air, and they do that job well. The Michelin Plate recognition the restaurant received in 2024 signals consistent quality without claiming creative ambition, which is an accurate description of what this kitchen does. A Michelin Plate is not a star , it indicates a good meal, solidly executed, worth knowing about. For this category of cooking in this setting, that is the right credential.
Game dishes and sausages give the menu its character. If you eat meat, this is a direct decision. If you do not, the menu's lean toward grilled and cured proteins makes Can Jepet a harder fit, and you should check current offerings directly with the restaurant before booking.
The wine program at a restaurant like this is leading understood as a supporting element rather than an independent draw. Catalan mountain cooking pairs naturally with the wines of nearby DO Empordà and the broader Catalonia appellation, and a restaurant with this heritage and this level of recognition is likely to carry regionally grounded options. Empordà wines, particularly the reds built on Garnatxa and Carinyena, have the structure and earthiness to work alongside game and grilled meats without fighting the food. If you are a wine-focused traveller, the honest framing is this: Can Jepet is not the place to come for a deep cellar or an ambitious list. It is the place to drink something local and appropriate with food that earns its own attention. For deep wine programming in the broader region, our full Setcases wineries guide covers options worth exploring before or after your meal.
Can Jepet holds a Google rating of 4.5 from 1,550 reviews, which is a meaningful signal at that volume. Ratings this consistent across a large sample at a rural restaurant suggest reliable execution rather than occasional brilliance. The 2024 Michelin Plate aligns with that reading. This is a restaurant that delivers what it promises, consistently, over decades.
| Venue | Cuisine | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Can Jepet | Catalan | A restaurant with a rustic atmosphere which opened its doors in this picturesque Pyrenean mountain village in 1959. Named after the family that owns the property, it is a good place to discover traditional Catalan mountain cuisine with its emphasis on grilled meats, hearty game dishes, sausages etc. In season, don’t miss the delicious calçots (a type of green onion).; A restaurant with a rustic atmosphere in a picturesque mountain village. Named after the family that owns the property, it is a good place to discover the traditional cuisine of the Catalan mountains with its emphasis on grilled meats, game dishes, sausages etc.; Michelin Plate (2024) | Easy | — |
| Quique Dacosta | Creative | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| El Celler de Can Roca | Progressive Spanish, Creative | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Arzak | Modern Basque, Creative | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Azurmendi | Progressive, Creative | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Aponiente | Progressive - Seafood, Creative | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
Side-by-side comparison to help you decide where to book.
Solo diners will find Can Jepet workable but not purpose-built for it. The rustic, family-oriented atmosphere of this village restaurant suits pairs and small groups more naturally. That said, at €€ pricing and with a menu centred on grilled meats and sausages, a solo meal here is low-risk financially and the counter-style informality of mountain Catalan restaurants tends to be less awkward than a formal tasting-menu room.
Come as you are from the mountains. Can Jepet has been a rustic village restaurant in Setcases since 1959, and the atmosphere reflects that: hiking gear or casual layers are entirely appropriate. Anything more formal would be out of place.
Can Jepet's menu is built around grilled meats, game, charcuterie, and calçots, so vegetarians and those avoiding red meat will find the options narrow. There is no documented flexible dietary menu for this venue. If dietary restrictions are a significant factor, call ahead or consider a restaurant with a broader format.
Setcases is a small Pyrenean village with limited dining options, so Can Jepet is the anchor choice in the village itself. For a broader range of Catalan mountain restaurants, the nearby town of Camprodon offers more alternatives. If you are driving, the Ripollès comarca has several options serving similar regional cuisine at comparable price points.
At €€, Can Jepet is good value for what it delivers: a Michelin Plate-recognised restaurant serving honest Catalan mountain cooking in a setting that has operated continuously since 1959. You are not paying for theatre or a tasting menu format; you are paying for well-executed grilled meats, game, and, in season, calçots that are genuinely hard to find executed this way outside the region.
It depends on what kind of occasion. Can Jepet suits a celebratory lunch after a Pyrenean hike, a family gathering, or a trip built around regional Catalan food rather than a romantic fine-dining milestone. The rustic atmosphere and €€ price point make it the right call for the former; for a formal anniversary dinner, look to higher-tier restaurants in Girona or Barcelona instead.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
