Santerra
The ham croqueta runs on a béchamel of 125 grams of flour and 125 of butter to a litre of milk. The milk is infused with the ham bone first.2 It won Madrid Fusión's best croqueta in the world in 2018 and the champion-of-champions round in 2022.4
Why go
Miguel Carretero opened Santerra in 2017 and cooked the monte bajo of his own Castilla-La Mancha. That is the scrub country around Pedro Muñoz in Ciudad Real, where he grew up.1 His argument for it was a technical one. "Creo que la rusticidad manchega casa muy bien con la finura de la cocina francesa y eso es lo que hacemos," he told Infobae: Manchegan roughness sits well against French finesse.2 He then cut the tasting menu entirely and let the market run the carte. Only Monte Bajo survived, a daily selection that changes with what came in.2 The Repsol Sol came in 2021 and the MICHELIN star in 2024.1 Then, on 23 January 2026, Carretero left. Máximo Benages, until then his second, took the kitchen; Owen Duarte stayed on the floor.1
Order this / avoid
- The Iberian ham croqueta. Carretero's whole recipe, in his words: "Una buena bechamel, un buen rebozado y siempre jamón ibérico." A good béchamel, a good crumb, and always Iberian ham. The fried croqueta then gets a pass in the oven so it reaches you hot and dry.2
- The pickled mackerel. Gorka Elorrieta rates the escabeche above everything else he ate:
It's a dish that will make you kiss your fingers.
3 - The Segovian suckling pig's ears, crisp and tender, with green mojo cutting the heat.3
- The callos, which Elorrieta skipped so that he would have a reason to come back.3
- Avoid the confit leeks with bacon. Elorrieta found them tender and well executed, and short of the flavour he wanted.3
What locals & experts say
- Gorka Elorrieta, reviewing it for Time Out in August 2020 and giving it four stars, on the croquettes:
The Iberian ham croquettes are perfectly crunchy on the outside and perfectly creamy on the inside, they're unbeatable and not to be missed.
3 - Time Out's tapas guide on how the croqueta is different:
the exact crispiness that this chef gives it and the creaminess of his bechamel are in a class of their own.
4 - Carretero, in Infobae, on what else goes into it: "Y cariño, que eso siempre suma." And care, which always counts.2
- The house, on the day it announced he was leaving, said the cooking keeps "intactos sus estándares de calidad, su propuesta culinaria y su compromiso con el producto", its standards and its proposal intact. Mar León's report gives no reason for the departure.1
- I have not found a review of the food since the kitchen changed hands. Every critic quoted above ate while Carretero was still cooking.
Good to know
- There are two rooms and a bar. The dining room is downstairs, the informal tapas bar upstairs, and the Neotaberna is a separate project of the same group.32
- The star is in the 2026 guide. MICHELIN has published no inspector's write-up of the room that I can read.5
- The door is General Pardiñas 56, in Salamanca.3
- Hygiene: I have not read a Spanish inspection record for this room, so I have nothing to report either way.
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: "best jamon croqueta"
Verdict
should-visit — Sit at the bar upstairs and order croquetas and the pickled mackerel before you decide about dinner downstairs. The croqueta recipe is published and belongs to the house, so it should survive the change. Miguel Carretero left in January 2026 and I have not found a review of the kitchen since, so book it for the croqueta and treat the rest as untested.