A roadside restaurant in Malaga province has been named among the best places to stop for food while travelling through Spain.

Caserio de San Benito, located in the countryside outside Antequera, was selected by Viajar magazine for its traditional Andalucian cooking and historic surroundings.

Hidden beside the A-45 motorway, the eatery serves disappearing Andalucian recipes inside a traditional 18th-century farmhouse.

Rather than offering standard motorway food, the restaurant has spent decades recovering local dishes that were at risk of disappearing from menus.

Its specialities include cinnamon chorizo, ajoblanco, spinach porrilla, cabbage with prawns, rice with rabbit or snails, migas and porra antequerana.

The kitchen also serves homemade stews, grilled meats and rice dishes prepared using seasonal ingredients and slow-cooking techniques.

Dining inside an 18th-century farmhouse

Caserio de San Benito is set inside a building styled as a traditional 18th-century Andalucian farmhouse in the heart of the fertile Vega de Antequera.

The restaurant opened in 1991 with the aim of preserving local recipes in surroundings that reflected the area’s rural history.

Its rustic interior contains period furniture, fireplaces, braziers and agricultural objects that evoke life in an old country home.

It has previously received the Golden Plate of Spanish Gastronomy, Malaga Provincial Council’s Tourism Singularity distinction and an award recognising its work to protect Malaga’s culinary heritage.

The restaurant can be found at exit 86 of the A-45 motorway between Malaga and Cordoba.

It opens every day of the year from 8am until 5pm, making it suitable for breakfast or lunch during a road trip through inland Andalucia.