Seville: A Food Post

I don’t remember eating a lot in Seville. Maybe because it was so hot or I just wasn’t hungry, but I only went to three restaurants while I was there. But the food I did eat. The food. I’ve already talked about how much I love salmorejo, right? (I have to have done so.) And Andalucia is the home of this dish, meaning it’s in every restaurant and it’s homemade. Heaven. Actual heaven.

Unfortunately, not even all of my Google sleuthing could help me figure out the name of the bar above, which makes me very frustrated with myself because a) I should know better and have taken a picture of it and b) because their salmorejo was divine, especially after a full day of travel combined with the still hot evening. I then ordered rabo de toro,  or bull’s tail, which is probably one of my favourite Spanish dishes and this was in a wonderful sauce. I sat there with someone I met at the hostel I was staying at, who was lovely and surprised by the food, this being her first time in Spain.  It was opening match day in La Liga and Seville were playing Valencia and the square was full of people eating and watching football and that, that is Spain.

Casa Paco was where I ended up my first/only full day in Seville. I asked the girl at the desk where I could find good restaurants and was directed to la Alemeda de Hercules, which is, apparently, where all the young people go. Hipster, if you will. It’s lined with restaurants and cafes and has a small water park and benches. In order to hide from the sun, no one walks in the middle and instead under the awnings of the restaurants, which means you end up sitting down sooner or later because how can a person resist a cold glass of tinto?

I miss meals like this, you guys. I do, I really, really do. I am a mess of missing. The cheese. The variety. The tapas. The price. The time spent sitting over a meal and just savouring it, letting it soak in and watching people pass by. I miss my cute little cups of coffee that, at one time, I wanted to take out with me and now I wish they’d just serve it to me in a damn cup with a sugar packet. Clearly there is just no pleasing me. Naturally, I had salmorejo (again), followed by a savoury salmon dish, an egg and potato salad with tuna, warm goat cheese on dark bread with honey drizzled on top followed with a creme brûlée type dessert and un cafe con leche to finish it all up. It was delicious as anything I could have asked for and the waitress was wonderful and attentive. All told, it cost me about 13€, so definitely easy on the pocket.

After some wandering, I ended up at La Campana where I sat down and had (more) coffee and a delicious little cake and did more people watching while fanning myself like a proper Spaniard. While I do keep talking about things I miss, one thing I don’t miss which I remember thinking about as I was drinking my coffee and people watching are all the beggars that come up to people while they’re eating. In the space of the 45 minutes I sat there, there were over half a dozen that came by, asking people for money, which is so normal in Spain and something I’d adjusted to but for some reason, that day, I remember just being sick and tired of it. Maybe it was the heat or the fact that I wanted to go home, a combination of things, but I just wanted them all to go away. Other than that, it was a charming little spot, great for people watching and the cafe itself had so many delicious looking treats to choose from!

That almost wraps up my time in Spain, which: how did that happen?!  I’ll have a post coming up on my last week in Madrid (cue all the feelings on that one) and within the next month or so, I’m planning on having a Guide to Spain up and ready to go. So keep an eye on the blog for those things coming up!

Things I’m Loving:

+ This airplane window art – (I want all of them. On my wall. Pronto.)
+ 12 weirdest reasons for banning sci-fi and fantasy books – (To belatedly celebrate Banned Books Week!)
+ This peanut butter cream pie – (I will become brave one day and attempt this.)
+ Anoushka Shankar Unsaid – (So beautiful and perfect for fall.)