Restaurant in Trujillo, Spain
Book for the fire-driven tasting menus.
Alberca holds back-to-back Michelin Bib Gourmand recognition (2024 and 2025) and keeps prices at €€ — a strong combination in Extremadura. Chef Mario Clemente, trained at Etxebarri, runs a live-fire kitchen in a stone mansion with an internal patio terrace in Trujillo's old town. Three ember-focused tasting menus make it easy to return more than once.
If you visit Trujillo expecting only conquistador history and stone plazas, Alberca will redirect your attention fast. Housed in a stone mansion in the heart of the old town, this Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant has earned back-to-back recognition in 2024 and 2025 while keeping prices firmly in the €€ range. That combination — meaningful accolades at genuinely accessible prices — makes it one of the stronger value arguments in Extremadura's dining scene. Book it. Then go back.
The restaurant's most recent chapter began when the property passed to the next generation, bringing a modernised approach that preserved the building's stone bones while opening up the internal patio into a terrace where dinner is usually served. That shift matters to your decision: this is not a venue coasting on historical charm. The renovation signals active investment in the dining experience, and the cooking reflects the same forward momentum.
Chef Mario Clemente spent close to a year working at Etxebarri, the wood-fire grill in Axpe that holds a long-standing reputation as one of the most technically refined ember-cooking operations in the world. That apprenticeship shows directly on the plate. Live-fire cooking sits at the centre of everything at Alberca: oak embers drive the kitchen's identity, and the smoke that drifts through the patio on a warm evening gives you a sense of what's coming before a dish arrives. This is the sensory thread that runs through the meal, and it's the main reason to prioritise the tasting menus over à la carte on your first visit.
Three tasting menus are on offer: 'Brasas', 'Humo', and 'Ceniza' , names that translate, broadly, as embers, smoke, and ash. Each title signals a different intensity or angle on the wood-fire technique rather than a completely separate ingredient list, so the choice between them is worth discussing with the team when you book. At €€ pricing, all three sit well below what you would spend on Extremaduran fine dining at [Atrio in Cáceres](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/atrio-cceres-restaurant), making Alberca the more accessible entry point into serious regional cooking in this part of Spain.
The Google review average of 4.6 across more than 1,700 ratings is a meaningful data point here: that volume of feedback at that score suggests consistent execution rather than a single exceptional stretch. Chef Clemente also has a habit of visiting tables during service, which adds a layer of directness to the experience that many guests at this price point don't expect.
If you have already been once and ordered à la carte, your next visit should anchor around one of the three tasting menus. 'Brasas' is the logical starting point for a second visit if you want the most focused expression of the ember technique. Once you have worked through that, 'Humo' and 'Ceniza' give you two more angles on the kitchen's central obsession without covering the same ground. Across three visits, you can move through all three menus and build a clear picture of the kitchen's range.
For regulars, the terrace on the internal patio is the seat to request. It frames the meal differently from an interior table and gives you a better sense of how the building and the cooking connect. If you are visiting during cooler months, check whether the terrace is in use or whether service moves indoors , hours and seasonal arrangements are not publicly listed, so confirming directly when you book is sensible.
On a third visit, the à la carte menu becomes worth revisiting with the tasting menu experience as context. You will have a clearer sense of which techniques and ingredients anchor the kitchen, which makes individual dish choices more deliberate.
Alberca is at C. de la Victoria, 8, in the old town of Trujillo, Cáceres. Booking difficulty is rated easy, which is consistent with the venue's position: Bib Gourmand recognition at €€ pricing attracts attention, but Trujillo is not a high-footfall destination in the way that Cáceres or Mérida can be. That said, the terrace is a finite number of covers, and if the patio is your priority, booking ahead rather than walking in is the right approach. No phone or website is listed in the available data; the most reliable approach is to contact the venue directly through local channels or visit in person to confirm current availability.
Price range is €€, which in the Spanish Michelin context typically places a full meal, including one of the tasting menus and wine, well below the €100 per person mark. For comparison, a tasting menu at [Atrio in Cáceres](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/atrio-cceres-restaurant) , a two-Michelin-star property in the same region , will cost considerably more. Alberca gives you a credentialled live-fire tasting menu experience at a fraction of that outlay.
For more options in the area, see our full Trujillo restaurants guide, Trujillo hotels guide, Trujillo bars guide, Trujillo wineries guide, and Trujillo experiences guide.
Quick reference: Alberca, C. de la Victoria 8, Trujillo , €€ , Michelin Bib Gourmand 2024 & 2025 , easy to book , tasting menus ('Brasas', 'Humo', 'Ceniza') plus à la carte , oak ember cooking , terrace on internal patio.
| Venue | Awards | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alberca | Trujillo, commonly known as the town of the conquistadors, reveals a new side to itself if you visit this stone mansion, located in the heart of the old town. The restaurant, which has taken on a new lease of life having passed down a generation, has been modernised and surprises guests with a delightful terrace on an internal patio, where dinner is usually served. Here they prepare traditional Extremaduran cuisine with contemporary innovative touches, in which oak embers are the undisputed stars of the show. It is no surprise that chef Mario Clemente worked for nearly a year at the legendary and award-winning Etxebarri grill (Axpe). They offer an à la carte service and three fantastic tasting menus: 'Brasas', 'Humo' and 'Ceniza'. The chef often stops by the tables and interacts with diners!; Michelin Bib Gourmand (2025); Michelin Bib Gourmand (2024) | €€ | — |
| Aponiente | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
| Arzak | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
| Azurmendi | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
| Cocina Hermanos Torres | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
| DiverXO | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
A quick look at how Alberca measures up.
Come for the ember-cooking — it is the defining element of the kitchen here, shaped by chef Mario Clemente's time at Etxebarri in Axpe. Alberca holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand (2024 and 2025), which at the €€ price point signals strong value for the level of cooking. Dinner is typically served on the internal terrace patio, so if the setting matters to you, an evening booking makes sense. Both à la carte and three tasting menus — 'Brasas', 'Humo', and 'Ceniza' — are available.
Yes. The chef regularly visits tables, which makes solo dining feel engaged rather than isolated, and the à la carte option gives a solo diner flexibility on pace and spend. At €€ pricing with a Bib Gourmand endorsement, the value case holds even if you skip the longer tasting menus. Alberca's stone mansion setting in Trujillo's old town is compact enough that a solo seat rarely feels like an afterthought.
At €€, Alberca is among the more accessible Michelin-recognised restaurants in Extremadura, and the Bib Gourmand award specifically recognises good cooking at a fair price — so yes, the value case is solid. The ember-focused kitchen has direct lineage to Etxebarri, which charges several times the price. If you want that style of fire-driven cooking without a major price commitment, Alberca is the clearer argument.
The venue is a stone mansion in Trujillo's old town, with dinner typically served on an internal patio terrace. Phone and booking details are not listed in Pearl's current data, so check the venue's official channels to confirm group capacity and any private arrangement options. For larger parties, the tasting menu format ('Brasas', 'Humo', or 'Ceniza') is likely easier to coordinate than individual à la carte orders across many covers.
Yes, particularly if the occasion suits an intimate, atmospheric setting: a stone mansion with an internal patio terrace, a chef who comes to the table, and Bib Gourmand-level cooking at €€ pricing. It is not a white-tablecloth formal room — the modernised, next-generation approach skews more personal than ceremonial. For high-occasion dining where formality is the priority, a Michelin-starred room in Cáceres city may fit better.
Pearl's current data does not include other restaurant records specifically within Trujillo for a direct comparison. Within Extremadura more broadly, the region's dining options are sparse at Michelin-recognised level, which is part of why Alberca's Bib Gourmand stands out. If you are willing to travel to Cáceres city, additional options exist — but for ember-driven traditional Extremaduran cooking in Trujillo itself, there is no documented comparable.
Yes, especially on a second visit or if ember cooking is the reason you are going. The three menus — 'Brasas', 'Humo', and 'Ceniza' — are structured around fire and smoke as the central technique, which is a coherent way to experience what chef Mario Clemente's kitchen is built around. At €€ pricing with a Bib Gourmand stamp, the menus represent better value per course than most fire-focused tasting formats in Spain. À la carte is available if you prefer flexibility.
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