Andalucia:upcoming trip

[rshorens]

We are going to Andalucia for a week in mid-April and would like suggestions for restaurants in Sevilla, Granada, and the "pueblos blancos" enroute, including Ronda. We are looking for lively restaurants serving local specialities with good value patronized by local people rather than touristy ones. Thanks, Roz

[Meanderer]

We'll be spending next week about 60 miles southeast of Granada and I know we have reservations to see the Alhambra on one of those days. If we stumble across anything good in Granada while we are there, I'll pass along the news. Will you be spending any time in Las Alpujarras(e.g., Orgiva, Capileira, Trevelez)? That's where we will be most of the time so I should gain some knowledge of the food there, if you are interested.

[rshorens]

Thanks, Meander. I will look forward to any suggestions you have about Granada. The small towns we will visit include Arcos de la Frontera, Grazalema, Ronda, Olvera, Sentenil, Zahara, and El Bosque. We will be in Spain April 12-23, ending up in Barcelona for 4 days

Best regards,

Roz

[Meanderer]

Well, I'm afraid I can't be much help with respect to Granada. The only meal we had there was lunch and my wife dragged me into a North African place in the Albaicen because she was tired of the paucity of vegetarian items in the local restaurants we visited during our trip. To meet you specifications, I would look for places 1)not on the major plazas or in the Albaicen, 2)where the posted menus are not in English, and 3)where you see plenty of tobacco smoke pouring from the door--it appears that folks across Spain still smoke at prodigious rates, so if you see a smoky restaurant, you are likely to find one that is popular with the locals. As for whether a place is lively, your ears will be able to tell you that when you are half a block away because the Spanish are also very convivial.

If you happen to be passing through or near Montefrio on your way to Granada, I can recommend Coroniche, on the eastern edge of town. We were definitely the only non-locals in this establishment and I thought the food was pretty good, particularly an appetizer of shrimp and garlic shoots.

[kerriar]

Any suggestions on Ronda, apart from the obvious Tragabuches?

[Rogelio]

Benito Gomez, the former cook at Tragabuches has created his own tapas restaurant in Ronda, called Tragatapas

[StevieHolland]

If you can find it then try Almocabar. We had a superb lunch of broad beans with black pudding, a truffled egg with chorizo & truffled squid. All excellent.

It's on a square just outside the main town gates.

Let me know if you get any more recommendations - we are off again later in the month

Thanks

Steve