What to eat in Ronda: mountain cooking, from stews to sweets

A mountain larder

Ronda sits inland, surrounded by mountains, and its food reflects it: more stews, meat and charcuterie than fish. Turismo de Ronda sums up the area’s produce in its food guide, and these are the things you will see most:

• Iberian cured meats: chorizo, salchichón, caña de lomo, morcón, ham and shoulder.
• Goat’s cheeses, from mild to mature, from Ronda and nearby villages such as Cuevas del Becerro and Arriate.
• Local virgin olive oil and forest honey.
• In autumn, chestnuts and wild mushrooms from the Genal valley; in spring, wild asparagus and tagarninas (golden thistle).
• Game and snails in the more traditional kitchens.

What to order

The dish most linked to Ronda is rabo de toro, oxtail stew: slow-cooked with a thick sauce and long associated with the town’s bullfighting tradition. Alongside it you will find meat braised in sweet wine, boards of cured meats and cheese to start, and mushrooms or game in season.

At La Pilastra you can try that line in the Ronda-style oxtail, the pork cheek with Pedro Ximénez, the Serranía cheese board or the acorn-fed Iberian ham. Among the specials, when available, you may find oxtail croquettes, Ronda chorizo in sweet wine or callos rondeños, a local tripe stew.

If there are several of you, ordering for the middle of the table is the easiest way to try more: tapas and sharing plates explains how to plan it.

Sweets and after-dinner

Ronda’s sweets come from bakery counters and convents: rosquillas de alfajor, almond “cheeses”, wine rings, olive-oil or honey tortas, mantecados, suspiros, gañotes, pestiños and yemas. The nuns’ sweets are particularly well known, traditionally served with local anís and aguardiente.

The most sought-after is the yema del Tajo; find out what it is and where to buy it in Yemas del Tajo and Ronda sweets.

Serranía wine

Ronda has its own vineyards and wineries, mostly small and with plenty of reds. To see which wineries you will find and how they pair with these dishes, read Ronda wines.