Spanish Food & Drink in Seville

Traditional Spanish gastronomy in Seville mainly comes from home cooking ingredients. Well known meals in Sevillian cooking are stuffed artichokes, flamenco eggs, sauté kidneys with sherry and ´pescaíto frito´ (or fried fish, which is very typical in Sevilla, Cádiz and Málaga).

Seville has exceptional restaurants offering typical Spanish food as well as international and Andalusian cuisine. ´Ir de tapeo´ or eating ´tapas´ (small dishes of food generally shared among a group of people) is a favourite past time of Sevillians and the base for other traditional dishes. To get an authentic tapas experience visitors must taste or ´picar´ as many ´tapas´ as possible from a huge food variety served in taverns and bars. While favourite summer tapas to beat the heat are ´salmorejo´, ´gazpacho´, chopped pork and salads, cod tapas are consumed in Lent when eating meat was not well regarded. Other dishes served all year round are the superior ham of the Huelva ranges, fried fish or the Sanlúcar prawns; delicacies that are accompanied with traditional local wines like ´Manzanilla´ golden beer or drinks from nearby provinces such as the sherry from Jerez or the wine from Montilla.

The streets of Seville city are full of bars where the visitors can taste the tapas mentioned above. For instance, in the ´Santa Cruz´ neighbourhood a large number of taverns offer very tasty dishes, while the ´Alfalfa´ district has many lively open-air establishments that are ideal in the summer. In the ´Triana´ area, by the well known Betis street, there is a great number of terraces and bars overlooking the Guadalquivir river, while the fish-fried shops at ´Arenal´ sell plenty of fish that visitors delight in.

As far as desserts go the delicate and unique sweets made in Seville´s abbeys like the famous ´yemas de San Leandro´ (candied egg yolks from San Leandro) or the ´cortadillos de cidra´ of ´Santa Inés´ are highly recommended. Also there are well know desserts from Castilleja, a town near Seville, where sweet treats such as ´pestiños´, ´gañotes´, or sweet bread fritters are made as well as sponge cake, crumbles and tortes.