Seville Eats
Our apartment’s kitchen was tiny but well-appointed, so Steve cooked a lot in Seville (lucky me!). At the local markets, eggs were just €2 per dozen, and a bottle of good vino tinto (red wine) was just €7. The red bell peppers were enormous, and the gem lettuce came in six-packs, each miniature head perfectly sized for a salad for one. Steve and Amy found a great store that sold only olives - dozens of different kinds! My favorite local snack food was “Gublins,” like Fritos but better.
Spain is a great fit for us restaurant-wise, because we love meals with small dishes that we can share, which is pretty much the definition of tapas. In Seville, many tapas were similar to those we’d had in Madrid and Toledo, like jamón Iberico and croquetas. Here are some tapas that we discovered in Seville:
Tortilla al whisky - omelet with roasted garlic and whiskey sauce
Carrillera or carrillada - Iberian pork cheeks braised until very tender
Cola de toro - bull’s tail (we know it as oxtail), served in croquetas or as stew
Garbanzos y espinaca - chick peas and spinach
Salmorejo - creamy tomato and bread soup served cold
Sevillanos don’t seem to go for big breakfasts. A typical breakfast is tostada, toasted bread topped with tomato pulp and a drizzle of olive oil. And we were there during Lent, which traditionally is the season for Torrijas, similar to French toast. Torrijas were everywhere, usually served as a dessert, with ice cream.
We loved Barra Baja so much that we lunched there every week. We always sat at the namesake “low bar,” were we could watch our dishes being prepared in the open kitchen. The head chefs were a husband and wife team who have worked together in famous restaurants in London and all over Spain. They served fresh local produce cooked in inventive ways. Everything we had at Barra Baja was outstanding, especially the steak tartar on roasted bone marrow, which was a stroke of genius.
Our fanciest meal in Seville was dinner with Amy at Restaurante Ispal, where we had the eight course tasting menu with wine pairing. As a “Zero Km” restaurant, they sourced everything locally, including the wines. A small candle on our table turned out to be flavored butter, warmed up for spreading on freshly baked bread. That was the theme for the evening: food that was delicious and often surprising. It was also surprising that we were the only patrons in the restaurant.
