Tapas are what Seville is famous for -- that and flamenco, bull-fighting and an exuberant party atmosphere. It's a way of life in Seville: lunch, dinner or supper you'll find people making their meal from a selection of these delicious dishes and often from a selection of restaurants and bars, starting with a few light plates in one bar, moving on to another for a more substantial dish or two before finishing up somewhere else for the final selection.
Food Served as Tapas
Tapas will include Jamón Ibérico croquettes, the famous Spanish ham crushed with potatoes in croquettes, cold garlic soup, mackerel with herbs, hake cut into fingers and bread crumbed before being fried in peppery olive oil and, of course, tortillas (Spanish omelette). There will be salads, artichokes, paellas (best split between two people, as the portion is large as a rule), king prawns, shrimps, crayfish, oxtail stew, beef casseroles, patatas bravas (potatoes with garlic mayo and hot sauce), grilled squid, flamenquin (pork wrapped in ham and filled with cheese) and bread of every sort.
Where to find the best tapas bars
Tapas Bars are found everywhere, but the best place is the Santa Cruz district or the streets around the Cathedral and the Alcázar, tucked away in little side alleys, especially those between Tetuan and Sierpes behind Plaza Nueva. Good areas include Calles Mateas Gago and Santa Maria la Blanca in Santa Cruz, San Eloy/Plaza del Duque, and Alfalfa.
Three places in this area stand out, the Bodega Góngora and La Tabeerna del Góngoraare run by Ignacio and Francisco Portillo, who offer local gastronomy in tapas, raciones and media raciones, i.e. tapas (little dishes for tasting), half plates or full plates. You can try a tapa first and if you like it then opt for a half plate or a plate. The ambiance is very Sevilliana, with bullfight posters on the walls, barrels of good wine, and lots of tiles and wrought iron. It is often impossible to find a seat in , my favourite, All Day Kitchen, where the tables eet up on the street are the favourite and people queue up and wait quite happily until one is vacated. Do not be put off by the name, since the food is wonderful and the paellas as good as I've had in Valencia.
Vegetarians in Seville
Tapas and tapas bars are ideal places for the vegetarian to eat in Seville for it must be admitted that Spain, like France, does not cater much for vegetarians. However, in a tapas bar there is so much choice of little vegetable dishes, rice dishes, soups, salads and even the ubiquitous chips that the veggie in the group will not go hungry.
If a more select vegetarian restaurant is wanted, I found that La Parrilla del Badaluque in the Alameda de Hercules was the perfect answer. Despite being heavy on the meat dishes (one half of the partnership is Argentinian), they still produced some excellent vegetarian plates - good for a bull-fighting city!
Ir de tapeo, to go on a tapas crawl, is a typical evening out for the locals. The selection and quality of food is excellent, people can eat as much or as little as they like, vegetarians can find lots of exciting new dishes to taste, and most of the dishes vary between 1Euro and 3Euros. And with the luscious wines of the region to accompany the food, it can be gastronomic heaven.
Mari Nicholson - Award Winning travel writer and historian, member of British Guild of Travel Writers.Travelwriters.co.uk, and Society of Women Writers and ...
