What to eat in Seville

In Seville you choose the dish first and the bar second, because every old bar stands on one thing. The sensible lunch is a single plate at one counter, then a walk, then another plate somewhere else. This page therefore goes dish by dish, with the street beside each bar.

Spinach with chickpeas and pavía

Espinacas con garbanzos, spinach with chickpeas, is where most people begin, and it often comes with picatoste, fried bread. El Rinconcillo at Calle Gerona 40 has been pouring since 1670 and calls itself the oldest bar in Seville. Guides name it for the spinach and for its pavías de bacalao, so one table covers both dishes.

A pavía is cod in batter, fried, and at Freiduría Puerta de la Carne one costs €2 each, while the other fried dishes there are sold by weight. Cazón en adobo, shark lightly fried after a marinade of cumin, oregano, vinegar and lemon, belongs on the same counter.

Pringá and solomillo al whisky

Montadito de pringá is the sandwich to know: mashed meat from the puchero stew, usually chicken, black pudding and chorizo, packed into something small enough to hold in one hand. Bodeguita Romero at Calle Harinas 10 is the address people give, and its small plates are usually up to €3. Bodeguita Aurora, at Calle Pérez Galdós 9, serves pringá montaditos too, so the two kitchens are easy to compare.

Solomillo al whisky is the dish for the evening, roast pork fillet in a sauce of whisky, garlic and olive oil. The serranito is its daytime cousin, pork fillet with serrano ham, tomato and roasted green pepper inside a baguette. The verdict is one dish per bar and no set menu, because each of these places keeps to its speciality, and one plate done well beats three average ones.

Salmorejo and carrillada

Salmorejo is a thick cold soup of tomato, bread and olive oil, often topped with ham and egg, and it is what you want when the street is hot and a hot plate is the last thing you feel like. Carrillada is pork cheek stewed in reduced wine and served with chips. Bar Jota at Calle Luis Montoto 52 opened in 1936 and is known for its cod and mojama.

The old bars in order

These bars lie in different parts of the city, and there is no point stringing them into one day. Take one for lunch and another for the early evening, and let the counter do the rest.

The list is a selection; prices and closing days change.

A market instead of a restaurant

The Mercado de Triana has its stalls open Monday to Saturday until 14:30, and the bars beside them stay open after the stalls close. That makes it the easiest place to eat without choosing a restaurant. Mercado Lonja del Barranco is the gourmet version. For the evening, Álvaro Peregil at Calle Santa María de Gracia 13, by the cathedral, pours vino de naranja, a dark fortified wine made with orange peel.

Getting aroundThe getting-around page explains the way to Triana and back to Santa Justa.Getting around Seville →

2 daysThe two-day plan shows where lunch fits between the monuments.Seville in 2 days →

Where to stayTriana and Santa Cruz are the districts with the bars, and the page on where to stay compares them.Where to stay in Seville →

When to goThe page on when to go says which months suit eating outdoors.The best time to visit Seville →

Hidden gemsThe page on hidden corners covers places beyond the usual list.Seville outside the triangle: courtyards and a Roman basement →

Day tripsThe day trips stay on their own page.Day trips from Seville →