Oh, I’ve missed doing these posts. Screw looking back at the last month in goals, achievements, highs and lows – why not look back a the last month in food! The New Year meant new things, new friends, and a lot of food – both old and new – so this month, I have documented the highlights (well to be fair, most of it) in one place.
Some of the photo quality is dubious (you can tell which nights I didn’t take my camera out!) but hopefully there are enough drool-worthy pictures to get your appetite raging and make you jump on the first plane to Seville, as although this month I did make it to places such as Jerez, Malaga and Barcelona, food in Seville in January is just as good as any other month, so of course, most of my eating adventures happened right here! So without further ado, here is everything – and I mean, almost everything – I ate in January.
Pluma Iberian Pork at Vineria San Telmo
The New Year started off with a bang, and the 1st of January meant spending the evening navigating the rainy streets of Seville with friends in search of some food to satisfy the remains of the New Year’s Eve hangover. We ended up in Vinería San Telmo, one of the granddaddies of Seville’s “gastro-bar” scene, and one that never fails to impress.
Actually that is a lie – the last few times I had been there, the food wasn’t as good as previously. But on the 1st of January when many bars and restaurants were closed, and many more without space for a large group of people, our options were limited. Luckily, this time, Vinería San Telmo had returned to its former glory, and the standout dish of the evening was without a doubt, the Pluma Iberico.
Vinería San Telmo – Paseo de Catalina de Ribera 4, 41004, Seville
Pluma Iberian Pork with Curried Pumpkin at Vinería San Telmo in Seville
Solomillo with Mojo Verde at La Bartola
The weekend that ensued involved more wine, more tapas and more laughs. The next day I went for lunch at La Bartola, a new favourite of mine at the back of Seville’s Santa Cruz neighbourhood. But there is a problem in Seville and it’s called “consistency”.
Food in even some of the best places bounces between being really amazing and just good but nothing special. unfortunately this was the first time I had experienced La Bartola as the latter. Flavour was lacking, presentation was uncared for. But the solomillo (pork loin) with mojo verde (a sauce from the Canary Islands made from coriander and parsley ) was quite good as always – phew!
La Bartola – Calle San Jose 24, 41004, Seville
Pork loin with ‘mojo verde’ sauce at La Bartola in Seville
Amazing Value Seafood Feast at Cerveceria Loli
What better way to finish of the weekend by feasting down on Sunday lunch, so myself and a group of friends trotted off to the Mercado de Triana where we indulged in overpriced (by Seville’s standards anyway) oysters and wine, then made up for it with a cut price seafood feast at Cerveceria Loli. There are a handful of places to eat down the back of the market, but this is by far the best – there is a reason why locals will queue to eat here while seats are vacant in the others!
Cerveceria Loli – Inside the Mercado de Triana, Plaza de Altozano, 41010, Seville
Duck Rice at ConTenedor
The 4th of January marked a special occasion – dinner at ConTenedor. Contenedor is a little more expensive than my usual haunts in Seville, but totally worth every penny. It’s a special occasion kind of place, so since it was the last night of friends visiting from London and Italy, we decided to eat there. The arroz con pato (duck rice) here is impresionante, and not to be missed.
ConTenedor – Calle San Luis 50, 41003, Seville
The amazing duck rice at ConTenedor in Seville
Huevos con Chorizo at Bar Sacramento
Although I try and eat at home during the week, sometimes even preparing myself by cooking a batch of something delicious on Sundays to eat over several days as to not waste time cooking while I’m working, sometimes, I do slip out for a tapa or two. There are more bars that I can count in a 300 metre radius from my house, so you can’t blame me. One of my favourites for these occasions is Bar Sacramento.
This is a typical local bar, cheap and cheerful, serving up a range of tapas made from almost every cut of pig you could imagine. In fact, the menu has a diagram of a pig on the back which points out where all the different cuts come from.
But my favourite dishes here aren’t the cuts of pork, it’s the chorizo – okay, it’s pork I admit, but it’s different! It’s served with huevos fritos (fried egg) as well as cloves of garlic and hand cut chips. Aside from being awesome, almost everything here is gluten free, and they even serve gluten free beer – yes!!!
Bar Sacramento – Calle Feria 141, 41002, Seville
Chorizo, fried eggs, and hand cut potato chips – such winning combination at Bar Sacramento in Seville
Lots of Artichokes
After that last little slip up eating out for lunch at Bar Sacramento, it was time to eat at home for awhile. Artichoke season appeared to have arrived, and with prices as low as 1.19€ per kilo, what followed was an onslaught of artichokes.
Artichokes cooked in the frying pan with red wine and garlic, artichokes mixed in with rice and cooked with oloroso sherry, artichokes mixed with blue cheese to create an interesting pasta dish. Oh yes, you name it, and there was (and still is!) artichokes in every way, shape and form.
I have been loving it so much that recently I even googled “artichoke season in Spain” to find out how long this artichoke high could possibly last for, and I was pleased to find that I should be suitably supplied with artichokes until as late as July! Winning!
Preparing artichokes to cook at home – I’m absolutely addicted to artichokes at the moment!
Buñelos de Bacalao at El Almacén
Just before the Three King’s Day, Devour Seville took our “Christmas Excursion” to Jerez where we visited Bodegas Tradicion, a winery producing the local sherry wine. Of course, we also ate.
We checked out a more traditional tabanco, but then went to somewhere doing the typical dishes in a modern and well thought out way. I was there at El Almacén that I tried these amazing buñelos de bacalao – basically fried balls of bacalao (salt cod) served with aioli. This is a dish that people seem to love but I often find to be a bit flavourless, but these were SO good!
El Almacén – Calle LaTorre 6, 11403, Jerez De La Frontera
Delicious ‘buñuelos de bacalao’ at El Almacén in Jerez
Breakfast at La Recova
After such a strong start to 2016 I had a few days rest eating vegetables and lentils and staying indoors, but then the second week of January I went down and spent a couple of (work-related) days in Malaga. I also ate lots. I mean lots. To the point that eating wasn’t fun anymore. But in amongst all this eating – some of it good, some of it not that good – there was some amazing standouts. The best one of them all was breakfast at La Recova.
This quirky little place is a bar/store/gallery all kind of rolled into one. When you go for breakfast, there is no menu – simply a choice of coffee or tea (side note: I went for the green tea infused with fresh mint on both occasions – so good!). Once I ascertained that they had gluten free bread, everything got underway.
After the coffees (or tea, as the case may have been) have been plonked on the table, the next thing to arrive is a large plate with five small dishes, all filled and levelled out evenly across the top. The dishes contain two sweet and three savoury topping – two home made jams, sobrasada (a chorizo like pork soft pork sausage), another spread which escapes my memory (I didn’t like that one) and a Malaga speciality called zurrapa which is actually pork in lard and way more amazing than the description sounds – this was my favourite!
La Recova – Pasaje Nuestra Señora de los Dolores de San Juan 5, 29005, Malaga
The breakfast spread at La Recova in Malaga – best breakfast ever!
Steamed Mussels & More at Eslava
On my return from Malaga I tried to go into “food hibernation”, but that lasted less than 24 hours as an old friend called me. He was in Seville and wanted to meet. Who am I to say no?
We wandered around the Alameda planning where to eat, but in the end, wound up at an old favourite, Eslava. I had kind of boycotted Eslava recently as the last few times I ate there the food was not as good as I remembered, but I am pleased to inform you that Eslava is back in the game.
I honestly couldn’t say what was the best – between the pork sirloin with cabrales (blue cheese) sauce, the “cigaro” which is a very strange offering made of some kind of fish rolled up into a cigar shape, or the slow cooked eggs on “boletus cake” with wine reduction sauce, because they were all so delicious. But one dish that did make me giggle a little was these simple, steamed mussels – because they were SO huge! Honestly, nearly as big as Green Lip Mussels in New Zealand. I’ve even put my hand in the photo so you can see for yourselves!
Eslava – Calle Eslava 3, 41002, Seville
Look at how big those steamed mussels are!
Vegetable Lasagne at Mechela Restaurante
Food hibernation attempt #2 failed after Eslava, and by the weekend I was out and about again. I was determined to revisit an old favourite of mine in Seville where I hadn’t been in ages, Mechela Restaurante. While I tried a range of dishes the night I ate here, I really chose to eat here because I was determined to try one thing – the vegetable lasagna.
I had been told that this lasagna was amazing, and although I was sceptical (although many great Spanish dishes are naturally vegetarian friendly, the Spanish are NOT known for vegetarian food!) I have to say, it lived up to my expectations and more. I can officially say that Mechela Restaurante still remains to be one of my favourite bars, if not my favourite, in Seville.
Mechela Restaurante – Calle Bailén 34, 41001, Seville
Vegetable lasagna at Mechela Restaurante
Tacos at Bar Maravillas
The following week, it was time to go back to a place I love on Tuesday nights only – Bar Maravillas. This little local bar that has been given a fresh breath of life by the two Italian friends who now run the place, and every Tuesday night they put on a taco night.
Everything is freshly made, including the corn flour tortillas, and not only is everything fresh and deliciously tasty, they only cost 1€. Yes , you read right. I usually eat three, but on once occasion I may or may not have shared 16 tacos with one other person.
The last few months of 2015 I found myself there every Tuesday, but I hadn’t been there at all since my regular routine got lost over the Christmas/New Year period, but I’m glad that I returned. In fact, since then I’ve been back every Tuesday since!
Bar Maravillas – Calle Maravillas 1, 41003, Seville
Tacos on Tuesdays at Bar Maravilla
Rice at Restaurante Raíces
One of my favourite bars in Seville is Nikkei Bar, a Japanese-Peruvian fusion place near the Alameda, but I had been meaning to try Restaurante Raíces, a Japanese-Peruvian restaurant in the Nervion neighbourhood, which is run by the former chef of Nikkei Bar. I had a nice night and the food was good, but nowhere near as good as Nikkei Bar. But I digress. This arroz de mariscos (seafood rice) was awesome and deserves a special mention.
Restaurante Raíces – Calle Juan de Zoyas 3, 41018, Seville
Delicious seafood rice at Restaurante Raíces in Seville
Sweet wines at La Barrica Dulce
Bars in Seville seem to open and close like we change our underwear, and especially in my neighbourhood there are so many different places popping up all the time! But one that opened no more than a couple of months ago had really got my attention. I’d already made a few fleeting visits there, and the night after eating at Restaurante Raíces I decided to visit with some friends once more.
La Barrica Dulce is a bar specialising in sweet wines from Malaga, which come from a small family run winery, and as well as the wines, they offer a selection of simple tapas (think cheese and chorizo!) which are also all artisan products.
The back wall is lined with seven large different barrels, with wines ranging from very sweet to dry, but my favourite would be a toss up between the Palido and Parajete. These are both sweet and smooth wines, the former light but very sweet and the latter with a little bit of a kick.
La Barrica Dulce – Calle Relator 91, 41003, Seville
Sweet wine called ‘palido’ at La Barrica Dulce in Seville
Pulpo a la Gallega & Gambas al Ajillo at La Choza de Manuela
While I love eating my way around the centre of Seville, when I feel like good, simple comfort food, the solution is 15 minutes drive away in a village called Bormujos.
La Choza de Manuela specialises in almost every cut of meat imaginable put on the grill and served with fat, hand cut potato chips, but they actually do amazing seafood dishes too, and lately no visit has been complete without the gambas al ajillo (garlic prawns cooked in hot sizzling oil) and pulpo a la gallego (Galician style boiled octopus) as both are so comforting and amazing!
In fact, on this particular visit we ate both of these, along with some grilled vegetables and grilled chorizo and skipped the meat all together – I still left stuffed at the end!
La Choza de Manuela – Calle Menendez Pidal 2, 41930, Bormujos, Seville
How can you not love that octopus? Delicious pulpo a la gallega at La Choza de Manuela near Seville
Octopus Rice at Albarama Restaurante
I’m on a mission to try new places in Seville at the moment. Partly because we will be launching some new delicious tours soon at Devour Seville Food Tours, but mostly because a girl can never know too many delicious places – right?! So week by week, I am slowly ticking off my list of places I’ve always meant to try but never really got around too.
Enter Albarama Restaurante. I just went for tapas in the bar, and even in the bar it was very swanky and not really my style, but the food was good. Not Mechala Restaurante amazing, but quite good – if you are into that kind of thing! However, I especially loved the octopus rice. Most of the octopus was actually in paper thin slices over the top of the bed of rice, but the rice itself had a wonderful flavour to it too.
Albarama Restaurante -Plaza de San Francisco 5, 41004, Seville
Interesting and delicious octopus rice at Albarama Restaurante in Seville
Bacalao with Smoked Aubergine Aioli at The Hidden Factory
After dinner Albarama Restaurante, I opened my sorry eyes very early and jumped on the AVE train to Barcelona, where I was to spend the whole weekend.
Friday night started off with a bang. Myself and two of my lovely Devour Spain colleagues went for dinner at a place called The Hidden Factory, which as the name suggests, is in an old factory and is hidden. But as the name doesn’t suggest, it is a culinary experience that no food lover can miss while in Barcelona.
A full post is on it’s way about this experience, so watch this space, but my favourite was the bacalao. The bacalao (salt cod) was gently cooked for 5 minutes in hot, steamy extra virgin olive oil, then finished off with smoked aubergine aioli, Catalunya’s answer to ratatouille which is tomatoes – among other things – cooked right down and called samfaina, and to finish, a sprinkling of caviar on top.
The Hidden Factory – It’s hidden, duh. I’ll tell you it’s in Raval in Barcelona, but you need to book to get the address.
This bacalao with smoked aubergine aioli at The Hidden Factory was so good!
Amazing Stuffed Olives at Seleccio D’Olives I Conserves Gloria
While in Barcelona I spent Saturday morning on the Devour Barcelona Food Tour, a tasty exploration through the off-beat Gracia neighbourhood. I’ve been on this tour before (before I even worked for Devour Spain!) and still loved it the second time around, but my favourite part was definitely visiting the vendors in the Mercat de L’Abacería Central, one of the neighbourhood produce markets.
Seleccio D’Olives I Conserves Gloria is a stand that sells olives, among other things, and Josef, the owner, makes these stuffed olives every day! They are stuffed with bacalao, red pepper and a black olive and they are one huge delicious bite of awesomeness.
Seleccio D’Olives I Conserves Gloria – Inside the Mercat de l’Abaceria, Travessera de Gràcia, 186, 08012 Barcelona
These olives stuffed with bacalao, red pepper and a black olive are one amazing little bite!
Butifarra at La Plata
Just when I thought I couldn’t eat again, Saturday night rolled around and the stomach commanded hunger once more. And just when I thought it was impossible to have an “authentic” experience in Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter, I was proved wrong.
Bar La Plata is a bar in a style more typical of Andalucía – image tapas flying from the bar, crowded and rowdy. Definitely not a reflection of the normally civilised behaviour in Catalunya. However what I loved here was definitely a reflection of Catalunya rather than Andalucía, and that was was this delicious butifarra sausage – of course washed down perfectly with a glass of local vino.
La Plata – Carrer de la Mercé, 28, 08002 Barcelona
Enjoying butifarra sausage and the hospitality of the friendly owner in La Plata, a bar in Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter
Calçots at the Fiesta de la Calçotada in Valls
Talk about saving the best until last! The last day of January was something really special, something that I have been wanting to do for ages – it was the annual Fiesta de la Calçotada in Valls, the village in Catalunya where these typical onions are from. Calçots are somewhere in between a leek and a spring onion. They are char-grilled over open fire, then peeled and eaten with romesco sauce. This was everything I hoped for and more, so expect a full report to be on its way soon!
Calçots cooking at the Fiesta de la Calçotada in Valls, near Barcelona
Phew, so I think that’s the most important eats of January covered. I had planned to be a little bit calm this month, but ended up with quite a long list of delicious new restaurants in Seville, new foods across Spain, and old favourites too. And…calçots!!!
Did you eat something delicious this month? Perhaps you made some great new food discoveries too? Tell me all about it in the comments below!
Cat of Sunshine and Siestas says
Well, this post is awesome, and I added a few more places to my growing list… though I have only had the experience with La Bartola that was negative. Overpriced, undercooked (or cold) and touristic only. Pass.
Cyra says
Haha, my list is ever growing too! Yeah I kind of feel that they began with good intentions at La Bartola (I am 99% sure it’s the same owners as Bar Alfalfa) but then once they realised they could get away without keeping a standard up thanks to tourist flow, it have to keep a standard up it just slipped. Not to be repeated!