If you ever traveled to Spain, it was hard to miss all present tapas portions of food. Sometimes served as a full dish portion, but mostly smaller portions of many and various tapas dishes have marked Spanish cuisine. It was no different with Andalusian cuisine that we enjoyed during the visit to the cities of Sevilla, Cordoba and Malaga.
We found interesting things about some of the Andalusian food ingredients as well as Oriental spices in local dishes on our Ugly delicious food tour, so the main scope of our stay was just to enjoy as much as possible all of the local dishes that we can’t pronounce 😊
Without a thorough research of the local and traditional cuisine as well as the best recommended bars / restaurants our trip wouldn’t be as successful as it has been. However we were the happiest when we dined in our local tapas bar. It just happened that we stumbled upon this local bar in our neighborhood and it happened they had almost everything from our list, so Abaceria Puerta Carmona became our frequent dining location.
Lovely service, with decent English language skills, good food, always available tintos (black wine with lemon soda) were the main reason for us to dine there on several occasions. And it was just few steps away from our apartment.
There we had our first of many, and later we made it at home – garbanzos con espinacas; chickpeas and spinach stew with golden brown crunchy olive oil bread. Masterpiece. Simple and poor ingredients but rich and tasteful in the flavors. My choice often would be simple cooked potatoes in a garlic mayo dip or Russian salad while tuna was somehow dry but still good.
I think we have tried everything from abacerias list, having big dinner composed of several different tapas portions. Potatoes were plenty, made in all different forms but the true hit was so much desired solomillo al whiskey (pork steak in whiskey sauce). Very simple but quite tasty and juicy thanks to the caramelized garlic cloves and a whiskey lemon reduction sauce.
Our breakfasts were mainly house based as we needed calm nerves and energy before questing the city but we would often grab a coffee or a second breakfast somewhere random, like this no name tapas bar where we nibbled on some bocadillos.
Way back when we traveled as a couple, we would venture on the most prestigious or recommended restaurants whatever our current location would be. Even if we had to walk two hours or change several different types of transport, it wouldn’t matter; we would be on the case.
Well, that’s not the case anymore. You get the case?
Now we have to have several dining options in mind if not reserved, regarding our planed itinerary. So, Bodega Gongora near the Sevillian Cathedral was the dining point for the day when we ended our walking tour nearby.
Being so close to the most touristy part of the city I was afraid if the restaurant would meet our needs and expectations (decent food for a decent price).
I was delighted and relieved when it did. We opted for a bunch of fried foods that one can never go wrong with. The only thing missing are photos of the actual meal, but here’s the menu 🤷
Our frequent stop was La paella just opposite the Cathedral that serves, you guessed different types of paella. During the stay in Italy I was dying on pasta, but the minute we moved to Spain my new obsession was paella. I don’t know what’s the deal, but there is something so fulfilling and comforting about this dish that our son discovered as well. When he denied any other foods we would offer him paella and everybody would be happy.
El Rinconcillo is the oldest bar in Sevilla. And it surely does look like that. I mean some of the most ancient servers are still working there.
Jokes aside, and the truth (they are quite old comparing to Norwegian standard waiters), El Riconcillo is an institution.
The bar opened it’s doors back in 1670 and it’s been serving food ever since. Because of its iconic status reservations are much recommended and it would be probably better if we enjoyed the experience as a couple. There were people dining there for hours, over several bottles of wine, the waiters we busy and slow and there were we; a family that had to be in and out in an hours because our toddler has a short sitting span. Oh, well, maybe in some other lifetime. Still we got to enjoy some of the traditional and typical for of the region; Iberian pig cheeks cooked in sauce and sea bass with vegetables.
Our days in Sevilla were filled with good food and buckets of sangria and tinto de Verano. We would just buy ready made sangria from the supermarket and that would be my daily dose of fruits and vitamins. I did not scarce with sweets as well. Plenty of ice cream and other sweets like sorbet or traditional churros with hot chocolate.
Some foods in Sevilla were old to us, some were very new and some were surprise, like an orange wine or vino de naranja.
Bar were we had orange wine – vino de naranja
The country is abundant in oranges, both inedible orange trees used to make shade on the street but tasty oranges used in fragrances or wine production. How can something so simple have versatile use? Don’t know, but I liked the fact that Debeli’s family name is in close relation to the Spanish word orange. Naranjos 🍊
