Sevilla / Seville Restaurants

[Roger]

Victor, I think has made a little slip with Hacienda La Boticaria. It´s in Alcalá de Guadaira, on the road towards Málaga.

[vserna]

Sorry, the Hacienda Benazuza is in Sanlúcar la Mayor and Hacienda La Boticaria is indeed in Alcalá de Guadaira (or rather, near the Alcalá-Utrera road, in the middle of the countryside).

[JesusBarquin]

It would be difficult to do justice to every good bar but some of the best places include: Casablanca, El Rinconcillo, Estrella, Paco Gongora, Taberna Las Coloniales, Yebra, Barbiana, Estrella and Infanta Sevilla.

I have been in Granada 3 times over the last six months and have not been overly impressed with the bars or restaurants that I visited and would be hard pressed to suggest somewhere that I really liked. I would, however, definitely agree that Ronda is worth a visit both on gronds of being a stunning place and to eat at Tragabuches. In fact, I will be eating there next Wednesday.

Hello, Roger, and hello to everybody.

This is my first time writing here, though I've been a reader since my friend Rogelio told me about eGullet one year or so ago. In fact, there are other some friends around, so I don't feel so much a stranger,

I live in Granada and every year go several times to Sevilla. Just a word to confirm what you say about eating in these (I could say "my") two cities.

I would add in Sevilla the following bares de tapas: La Casa del Pintor (C/Murillo, besides Pza. de la Magdalena), El Tremendo II (C/Previsión), El Rinconcillo (Sta. Catalina: traditional tapeo), El Giraldillo (Sta. Catalina), La Alicantina (Pza. El Salvador: ensaladilla and mejillones tigres), Bar Manolo (La Alfalfa: traditional tapeo), La Albariza and the Kiosko de las Flores (besides the Puente de Triana), Bar Giralda y Las Columnas (Mateos Gago). But I have not visited some of them in the last years and a bunch of interesting places are still out of the listing.

My two favorite places of tapeo in Granada: Los Diamantes (C/ Navas) and Bar Julio (besides Pza. Nueva). Interesting: Casa Manolo (Pza. Bib-Rambla) and a new place in Pza. Las Pasiegas in front of the Cathedral.

And one question to Roger, please: howe did you like Tragabuches this time? I understand you ate there the 7th of april. I went the 3rd of april, just the first day of the new "Carta" (and of the new prices, ) and it was a bit disappointing, for me and for the other people who came with me. All of them had felt quite more pleased after their previous meals at Tragabuches.

Cheers and special thanks to Mr. Buxbaum.

[Rogelio]

Hey Jesús, glad to see you over here.

And thanks for the Sevilla info, I'll add it to my guide.

[Bux]

Welcome to eGullet, Jesús. I may be repeating myself, but I found Sevilla to offer extraordinary opportunities to snack and grab tapas wherever one went. Even without sticking to a list of recommended bars we were pleased and excited by the variety. A list of destination bars should be even better. Thanks for your additions to the list already in progress here.

I think we've had fewer suggestions in Granada and your suggestions here are most appreciated.

[Roger]

In answer to Jesús concerning our meal in Tragabuches on April 7th, we were all came away pretty content. We started with the tapas tasting menu and then went on to have one of the main dishes followed by dessert. I didn´t take any notes but the tapas included the following:-

Gazpacho made in the usual but cherries added to the blend

Partridge paté

Olive oil 'ice-cream'. This was made with garlic, bread crumbs and olive oil cooled rapidly with liquid nitrogen. The olive oil then melted in your mouth giving a creamy texture.

With the appearance of a slice of cake with different layers; foie gras, apple, goat's cheese with a glazed surface.

A spicy corn soup with drops of gazpacho mixed with avocado. The drops had received the nitrogen treatment and dissolve in your mouth. I thought this to be a very interesting dish

Salted turrón with lime

A variant on ajo blanco which was very enjoyable but I cannot recall the exact ingedients that were added

For the main course I had lamb with a chestnut based sauce which went very well with the perfectly cooked meat. The people with me had pig´s cheeks (carrillada) and goat which they both seemed to like. I cannot recall the exact preparation for both dishes. For dessert we had pestiños, which are very typical at Easter. They are a sort of fried pancake which is bathed in honey.

Our bill came to 254 euros for three people including wine.

Just one comment on the bars recommended by Jesús in Seville. I agree with most of the suggestions except for el Kiosko de las Flores. This for me was a decent place a decade ago. They specialise in seafood especially fried fish. The problem that they have is that the oil they used is not changed that frequently and so the food really suffers

[pedro]

Jesús, you're very welcome in here! We're starting to have spaniards spread all over the country in this forum.

As a common friend once said, though the statement could be heatedly debated, restaurants are a recent creature in the andalusian food scene, so your post focused on tapas is probably the best and safest way to go. A route hopping from bar to bar tasting the best specialties could be a gastronomic experience that would be very hard to get in other cities. Pairing the tapas with fino and manzanilla will make the whole thing more enjoyable and perhaps authentic.

[JesusBarquin]

Just one comment on the bars recommended by Jesús in Seville. I agree with most of the suggestions except for el Kiosko de las Flores. This for me was a decent place a decade ago. They specialise in seafood especially fried fish. The problem that they have is that the oil they used is not changed that frequently and so the food really suffers

Thanks for the comments, Roger (I think I'll give myself a new opportunity with Dani García's restaurant), and thanks to all of you, friends, for your welcome.

Regarding El Kiosko de las Flores, I have nothing to say, because it is one of the bars I meant when I refered to some of my suggestions as possibly out of date. I have not been there in the last seven years or so. Nevertheless, it's a place that belongs to my very personal little history, so I think I'll come back and check it by myself. One can always order coquinas there! Well, I hope so...

[circeplum]

just back from seville and would like to say thanks to roger for his tapas recs - really, really useful. particularly liked the atmos of rinconcillo: expected it to be hideously touristy, but there were plenty of locals.

poncio was a real experience, too. some pretty imaginative stuff going on from the classically trained chef, especially a gazpacho blanco rich with garlic and almonds, studded with cured tuna ham (mojama) and topped with melon sorbet. weird room, though - dried blood colour, like sitting inside a slice of morcilla.

yebra is totally worth a trip to the less glamourous part of town. be blown away by the gorgeousness of la macarena then hit this rather bland-looking but buzzing tapas bar. the quality of the food is what's the draw. i particularly liked a dish of boletus with goose foie gras.

thanx again.

x

[Roger]

I´m really glad that you enjoyed yourself in Seville. I ate a Poncio on Saturday and the first dish of the tasting menu we had was the same one as you have mentioned. As I think I said in a previous e-mail the decor in the restaurant is not to everyone's taste

[The Viking]

Looks like Sevilla definetely was an eGullet place this weekend!

I was at Poncios monday for lunch, had the tasting menu and thought it definetely wonderful, BUT describing it as a selection of 6 tapas + 2 desserts is the understatement of the century! I left the place very full, and portions half the size would have sufficed...

The decor to me is definetely dark with a worn feel like an old cafe in Vienna (or Oslo for that matter), but with the sun shining from the plate.. Nice contrasts in texture and taste, but as a whole spun around a traditional approach. My rodaballo was succulent, as well as the fried roe of cod with habitas.

Relatively short, but correct wine list.

I'll report later on my friday night dinner at Hacienda Benazuza..

Some other places I tried:

Casablanca; Nice tapas, freshly made, but I think their ooooh so famous tortilla is a hype (But: I had it late in the evening, so it may have been drier than orginally planned).

Casas Robles for lunch on Sunday: Well executed shellfish, especially the gambas blancas and carabineros. The baby-lamb chops a la parilla were dry, and the guarnicon nothing to write home about, though the Vino del Olivo '98 made up for it!

Followed the evening crowds on Friday and Saturday to Bestiario and Buddha Al Mar, veery nice until the wee hours.

More to follow..

[circeplum]

we went to casablanca too, but became paralysed in the absence of anything resembling a tapas menu (the barman smiled wryly when we asked for 'la carta'). so we left after only a drink.

the restaurant proper looked absolutely vile - like the inside of a cheap sauna. but the food must've been fabulous because the place was buzzing with wealthy-looking locals.

x

[Roger]

What a pity that you didn´t get to sample the tapas at Casablanca. It´s possibly the best tapas bar in Seville. I should have warned you that they have no written list of tapas. What is on offer changes from one day to the next and depends on what they have been able to buy and what they feel like making that day. So through necessity you have to ask what´s available and if your Spanish is not up to scratch the only thing you can do is point at what other people are eating and gesticulate that you want the same!

[Dan Ryan]

You should make time for a trip to one of the sherry bodegas. They are amazing inisde and out. And drink sherry.

[SBonner]

We are in Seville from the 10th-20th November. Any recommendations for restaurants or bars.

Thank you.

Stephen and Helen Bonner

Vancouver Canada

[nimzo]

Take a trip out to Hacienda Benazuza ,about 20 minutes by cab, where the menu reads like El Bulli's greatest hits.They have a good website which should give you an idea of the place.

[NUSSAH]

Dont have huge knowlkedge on Sevilla Restaurants, but asked for some recommendations for you, check these;

Al Mutamid

MOdesto - a classic in Sevilla

Taberna del Alabardero - one of the most prestigious rests in the city they say! Used as part of Sevilles Hospitality school too

Romerijo, from 1952, seafood

Luxury dining in Sevilla - Los Seises, Casa Robles, Rio Grande,

Hope you enjoy it, its a cute city, not too big but very emblematic, you must see the cathedral and its gardens!

[Bux]

We are in Seville from the 10th-20th November. Any recommendations for restaurants or bars.

You should do a search on the Spanish spelling--Sevilla--it will bring up several threads with good information. Sevilla is one of the best places in Spain for tapas and not one of the best for restaurants. That's what I've heard and my experiences, albeit over a very short stay, supported that contention. In the few days we were there, we found nary an uninteresting tapa, and we found the food at the prestigious La Taberna del Alabardero a bit dull and not up to the decor and ambience. Perhaps it's good old fashioned home style cooking of a sort I've not learned to appreciate, but after some of the other gems we found in the region, it was a great disappointment to have had that kind of food in such a lovely setting.

[vserna]

Egaña-Oriza, with its striking setting on the old Moorish wall and José María and Mercedes Egaña's wise Basque-Andalusian cuisine, remains easily the best restaurant in town, followed by Willy Moya's excellent neo-Andalusian stuff at Poncio. Out of town, the already mewntioned La Alquería at Hacienda Benazuza is of course top-notch (albeit much less avant-garde than El Bulli), and another fancy new country hotel, Hacienda La Boticaria, has an attractive restaurant, Molino Blanco, with a thoroughly professional Basque cook, Mikel Uría, and some outstanding wines in the cellar (wine lists being traditionally weak in Andalusia).

[JesusBarquin]

I have recently eaten reasonably well at -by order of preference-: Di Vinum, Az-Zait and Salvador Rojo. All three deserve a visit, to my mind.

But I agree with vserna that Oriza is still probably the best restaurant in the town. I cannot think of many restaurants in Spain of similar level concerning place, atmosphere and service. After having eaten in the last months at Las Rejas, Tragabuches, Viridiana, El Bulli, Can Roca and other well-known spanish restaurants, I am looking forward to visiting Egaña-Oriza again, in order to check if my memories regarding those wonderful dishes of roasted cantabric lobster or potatoes with caviar that we ate in our last visit are true or just the wishful recalling of an "exiliated" sevillian...

[Matthew Grant]

I know that this has probably been covered to death before but I just haven't got time to search through the hundreds of threads that mention these areas before I leave on Saturday

I'm looking for suggestions in Seville, Cordoba and Granada - anything goes: Michelin stars, tapas, traditional restaurants etc. I'll also be on the Costa Del Sol for a few days so any recommendations there also welcome.

Incidentally, is Tragabuches open for lunch? I'll just about persuade myself to not drink and eat there at lunchtime but there is now way I'm remaining alcohol free to drive back in the evening

Edited September 28, 2004 by Matthew Grant (log)

[Bux]

Ronda is a pleasant enough place to spend the night. No need to drive back from Tragabuches. The Parador is close enough to walk back as was out little hotel whose name I could find if anyone is intersted.

Others will have to make suggestions in Sevilla or Granada. We didn't do well and have no recommendations other than to say Sevilla was a paradise for tapas. El Churrasco in Cordoba. Traditional food. Put yourself in their hands and ask for a tour of the old building where they have their wine celler.

[vserna]

Very recent thread on Seville:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=50086

Granada: gastronomic wasteland. Go for tapas. El Churrasco is indeed the best bet in Córdoba.

[pedro]

And Tragabuches is open for lunch.

In Seville, I ate once at Becerrita. Simple cooking, good product, moderate prices.

Some relevant threads:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=40001

(this has some posts addressing Málaga and Costa del Sol)

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...39532&hl=málaga

[JesusBarquin]

At the moment, the first choice in Córdoba should be Bodegas Campos (Lineros, 32, phone: 957 49 75 00).

Recently in Granada, I've eaten reasonably well twice at Restaurante Iris (C/ Martínez Campos, 8; phone: 958 53 68 47); not great, but I dare say outstanding, given the usual low level around here.

Interesting, to my mind: Mariquilla (Lope de Vega 2, phone: 958 521 632) and Iberos (between Plaza del Carmen and Puerta Real).

Oliver and Cunini are just OK if you look for product and fish.

In the sorroundings (car needed), several restaurants with non-expensive traditional dishes.

Tapas in Granada: plenty of them, I just tell my 2 or 3 favourite bars: Los Diamantes (calle Navas), Julio (besides Plaza Nueva) and FM (in the outskirts, near the Bus Station).

But the offer is very wide...