El Rinconcillo is Seville’s oldest tapas bar and restaurant. It has been around since 1670. Downstairs is the tapas bar. Since we had a reservation, we were told to go upstairs, and seated in the restaurant.
We started off with some Iberico Ham and sardines on pickled vegetables. They were largely disappointing.
I was not a fan of any of the dishes. The shrimp lacked the taste of the sea in the head juices. The meat was not sweet and delicious. Service was a bit slow.
When it comes to gastronomy, the Spanish are known for a few things.
First, there are tapas which is a fun experience, but gets old rather quick. There are of course, traditional dishes like Paella, and Iberico ham, which to me are good, but not worthy of a trip to Spain. For me, what Spain does really really well, and worth a trip to Spain, are creative, multi course tasting menus.
This brings us to Abantal which is located in Seville. It has one Michelin Star.
Choco is a one Michelin starred restaurant in Cordoba, Spain. The meal starts in the lounge area of the restaurant with some drinks and some very delicious amuse bouche.
After dropping our stuff off and refreshing, we started by taking an uber to the historic old town.
As Spain is a big supplier of blue fin tuna, I tried many places but was largely disappointed. The tuna was either over sauced, or prepared poorly.
El Caleno – You have to experience a chiringuito in Malaga
If you do some research on what local food is like in Malaga, you will come across the Chiringuito. These are basically, shacks or small restaurants on the beach, which are well known for cooking fish Espeto, which is barbecued on a stick.
My research led me to El Caleno. The restaurant itself is on the beachfront, and the bbq shack is on the beach itself. I would recommend you ask your hotel to call ahead for you to make reservations. It got very busy when we went for lunch.
Lobito de Mar – disappointing meal from Michelin starred chef
Lobito de Mar is a restaurant in Marbella, Spain which specializes in seafood. The restaurant is by Dani Garcia, a Michelin starred chef in the area.
I had high expectations for this place, and was largely disappointed.
Spain has fantastic ingredients. One of them is blue fin tuna. However, I found very few places which knew how to prepare it properly. Case in point, the tartare. I was so excited to see this on the menu. The menu said o’toro and tuna roe. O’toro is a very fatty piece of tuna and should be sublime and melt in your mouth. Not this one.
