Seville or Sevilla - the Tapas is Great

by Michael Mackey
(UK)

Though not the traditional home of tapas, Seville offers a great many opportunities to sample what is one of the most diverse of Spanish cuisines.

There are different theories about the origins of tapas. One being a frail King who could only eat a little at a time commanded small portions, another that the plates used to cover winejugs offered wily tavern and bar owners a way to charge drinkers for snacks and helped soak up the alcohol. Another that cold snacks such as cheese and ham were the best way to keep farm labourers fed. Whichever is true the practice has survived to this day and Seville offers many ways to try it.

Top of anyone’s list has to be El Rinconcilla. (Calle Gerona 40 tel 954 223 183. 12.00pm till 2.00am). Founded in 1670 this is the oldest tapas bar in Seville. Every wall, and there are many in this irregularly shaped bar with a small restaurant attached, uses a different patterned tile to about half way then its paint up to an gently hooped ceiling where cured hams hang.

The L-shaped bar is a solid, no-nonsense piece of wood on which the staff use chalk to tally up orders including for those groups who eat standing around the dark wood barrels on the main floor. Tapas is after all a sociable food which traditionally eaten standing, in groups, picked at with fingers rather than with any utensils.

This means that things such as olives are very much a favourite. Forget putting them in a cocktail – that’s not a Rinconcilla or tapas thing. These are big, juicy olives with a sharp taste that bites back. Lovely though but best not combined with the gassy beer that goes for 1 Euro a glass. A better combination was olives and the various wines which range from one Euro a rather liberal glass taken from a barrel behind the bar to over two for some of the more refined types that are kept in the freezer.

As for the food well the menu is rather basic and does favour the chewy but flavoursome hams and cheeses. The Serrano ham is the only dish we know that makes fat look good and taste wonderful and whilst very much a traditionalists haven the menu does cover some hot dishes with the slightly greasy but all the better for it spinach and chickpeas at 1.60 Euros making an ideal meal.

Around different corners from El Rinconcilla are three quite different establishments which prove the beauty of tapas lies in its diversity. La Giganta, (Alhondiga 6, Tel 954 210 975 keeps longer hours – it opens for breakfast but not on a Monday when its closed.) Tapas is one of the things it does and well enough but a calmer less traditional place than El Rinconcilla it lends itself better to smaller, more intimate gatherings.

Its down the same road as the blue-fronted El Colmado (Pza Ponce de Leon 5. Tel 954 562 449. Open 8..0am till 5.00pm and 8.00pm till midnight Monday till Friday and 8.00pm till midnight on Saturday and noon till 5.00pm on a Sunday) which puts tables out on the pavement every evening except Sunday and plays a radio loud enough to show it’s the new kid on the block. Still the food is a treat even if the music isn’t with the Chorizo Iberico at 1.5 Euros offering real value. There’s plenty of taste to be had in the mini pasta dishes which are usually just over two Euros. Bargain hunters will revel in the omelette - ham, bechamel and spinach as well as nachos and cheddar and all for 2.2 Euros. The same price also gets a mini moussaka – not entirely Spanish but still great.

Further afield and maybe suited to the less adventurous is the cervercerias100 montaditos chain website www.cerveceria100montaditos.es. Montaditos are essentially small, finger-sized sandwhiches this chain sells at one Euro each in a bid to sell drinks, usually beer as the name implies. As snack food goes it can’t be beat especially as English menus are available and some of the staff speak English. Trouble is its all a bit bland and could be anywhere in the world.

A similar mistake can be made at Dona Lina (Calle Rodrigo Caro no3 Telf 954 563 702) which obviously but unenthusiastically is pitched at the tourist, pushed up as it is close to the Real Alcazar. Classy and classical looking with all manner of dark woods and bottles at the end of the working day when tapas bars are the place to be it was deserted. It was also the only bar where the staff ask people to come back later. Empty and expensive its one of the few in Seville definitely worth missing.

Michael Mackey