Museo Bellver | Casa Fabiola

The inauguration of Sevilla’s newest art museum in the Casa Fabiola, housing the collection of Mariano Bellver and his wife Dolores Mejías, took place on October 11, and a week later I went to see what was on offer. I have to say I was very impressed.

Casa Fabiola is an excellent choice for the collection, and can be found opposite the upper end of Mateos Gago, on the edge of the old Jewish quarter (a short section of the remaining wall can be found just along the street) in the heart of the historic centre. It’s a late 16th century Casa Palacio built around a typical courtyard with marble columns and floors and decorative tiling, and takes its name from the novel Fabiola, written by Nicholas Wiseman, who was born in the house in 1802 and went on to become the first Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster.

The Bellver collection is housed in the rooms around the courtyard on the ground and first floors, and consists of 567 pieces: 299 paintings, 112 sculptures, 57 figures in ivory and bone, 44 pieces of furniture, 42 pieces of porcelain and ceramics and 13 clocks. And the building itself is a work of art – be sure to check out the ceilings in each room.

The museum has a great atmosphere, small enough to avoid art fatigue, large enough for a good variety of styles and types of art. For me it particularly managed to encapsulate something of the essence of Sevilla in its paintings of patios and street scenes, and the decorations and furnishings of a typical upper class house, so that I was constantly reminded of the reasons why I made Sevilla my home, and the things I love here. It’s a delightful homage to Sevilla and Andalucía.

I will certainly be paying this one another visit in the not too distant future, can wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone visiting Seville. A few photos below…

Museo Bellver
Calle Fabiola 5
Open: 11.00 – 20.00
Closed Monday

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Restaurante Ispal – New Seasonal Menu

This week (on October 4) I was invited, along with other journalists, bloggers and regular commentators, to the presentation of this season’s tasting menu at Restaurante Ispal. Ispal has been the dream of Pedro Sánchez-Cuerda Rodríguez (director of Grupo La Raza) for the past 15 years, and together with Antonio Bort (his executive chef), and Ispal’s new head chef Rubén García Chacón, Pedro’s dream has now been realised.

The objective of Ispal, which opened a year ago, is to showcase the traditional cooking of Sevilla, using indigenous products and providing support for local family businesses, and then reinterpreting these popular dishes by elevating them to haute cuisine. This, by definition, involves the use of the highest quality ingredients, meticulously prepared and presented.

The local ingredients include salt from the salt flats of Utrera, cheeses from Castilblanco de los Arroyos, the famous tomatoes of Los Palacios, goat kid from Los Corrales, fish from La Puebla del Río, wines from Sierra Norte de Sevilla, Ronda, and sherry wines from Jerez.

The tasting menu, which you can see below, was spectacular. Many thanks to Fernando Huibrodo for the invitation, and to the entire Ispal team, including maître Alonso Reche and sommelier Cisco Nuñez.

Pedro Sanchez-Cuerda Rodriguez – director of Grupo La Raza
Antonio Bort – executive chef of Grupo La Raza
Rubén Chacón – head chef at Ispal
Fernando Huidobro – president of Andalucía Academy of Gastronomy & Tourism

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Orio Basque Restaurant

The new Restaurant Orio has been open for a few weeks, but the official inauguration for a select group of press and hospitality professionals was held this week (October 3), and I was fortunate enough to be invited.

The Sagardi group also has Orio locations in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia, which are aimed at a more day to day market, incorporating a Basque style pintxo bar (Sagardi was founded in the Basque country) as well as a restaurant featuring Basque cuisine.

The front of the premises is a spacious pintxo bar opening onto Calle Santo Tomas, with a terrace facing the Archivos de India, and the bar itself on one side, with a very appetising array of Basque style pinxos so typical in Bilbao and San Sebastián, but something of a novelty in Sevilla. We got to try a few as an appetiser, my favourite being the chistorras (small spicy sausages).

Beyond the bar are two dining rooms leading out to a second terrace on Calle Miguel Mañara, with space for around thirty diners. Decoration is minimalist, but with lots of wood, and a big mural of a fisherman (Orio is the name of a Basque fishing village).

Lunch was a nine course tasting menu (including dessert), starting with oysters and working through a prawn carpaccio, salad, monkfish, and roasted piquillo peppers to the grilled beef finale. The quality was excellent throughout, and it looks like Orio will be a welcome addition to dining out in Sevilla. Check out the photos below (but only if you’re not hungry!)

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Semana Santa 2018

Well, that’s it for another year. Semana Santa was quite a different experience for me this year as it was the first one since moving to the new Casa Azahar. From this location other processions were closer to me, so I found myself seeing a few I had never seen before. And my mission – to get a few pics of at least one or two processions each day – was accomplished. In retrospect I should have edited and filed the photos every evening because going through them all now was a bit overwhelming. Anyhow, here are some of them (unlabelled and not in chronological order)…
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Premier Sherry Cocktail Bar

A new and welcome addition to the world of sherry in Sevilla, the Premier Sherry & Cocktail Bar had its official opening on October 19th, with a special master class tasting to showcase some of its brands. The sherry cocktail bar is the sixth establishment in the Premium chain, which was founded in 2010 by brothers Martín and Enrique Maíllo, and has until now specialised in spirits – rum, gin, whisky and vodka, together with a range of tonic waters. The sherry bar is therefore something of a new departure, but aims to maintain the high standards of the group in events, service and quality of product.

In most respects the ambiance is what you might expect of a cocktail bar, with concealed blue light at the junction of walls and ceiling shining through the glassware and serried ranks of interestingly coloured bottles lining the shelves. It’s relatively small size and hints of exposed brickwork give it a subtle sense of intimacy that is quite appropriate to the nature of sherry. The unique element of the decoration, though, are the diagrams along the side wall, designed by José Peñascal, detailing the various grape and sherry production processes, and how they result in the different styles of sherry.

Aside from offering great wines and cocktails, the Premier Sherry Cocktail Bar also gives private tastings, in both Spanish and English, by appointment only. The space can also be booked for private events.

The opening day tasting was interesting and lots of fun, with as good an attendance as the venue really allowed, and was headed by sherry ambassador Pepe Ferrer. An excellent range of sherries from the Consejo Regulador was accompanied by delicious snack pairings.

Many thanks to Cristina Botija and Desirée Ramos of Premium for organising the event, which I hope will be the first of many.

sherry ambassador Pepe Ferrer

pouring palo cortado

the sherry production wall

Pepe Ferrer, Enrique Maillo, Martín Maillo, José Peñascal

Premier Sherry Cocktail Bar
Jaen 1
Tel +34 955 133 032
3.00 pm – 2.00 am (4 am weekends)