Category: spain

Quimera Rooftop Bar by Meliá Sevilla

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Thursday evening (October 4) saw the inauguration of the new Quimera bar-restaurant on the rooftop of the Hotel Melia Sevilla, and since I’d been invited, and am ever curious to discover more about the facilities available for tourists, I went along to join in the fun.

As well as the new rooftop, the Meliá has recently undergone a major renovation of all its facilities, and although this was my first visit (so no before and after comparisons) I was impressed by what I saw. We started with a tour of the main reception area and downstairs bar, which are very cleverly designed with “open frame” partitions that preserve the feeling of spaciousness, while giving a sense of intimacy to the different areas, followed by the various conference rooms, this obviously being a major target market for the hotel.

We then went upstairs to see a couple of the new rooms, a very nice standard double, and a distinctly luxurious suite with separate bedroom and living room, with a distinct “I could live there” feel to it. As a bonus there are great views of the back of the Plaza España, and also of the new rooftop bar (which is on the lower roof above the reception area, not on the top roof), complete with swimming pool).

Finally to the new restaurant-bar Quimera itself, where we got to spend a pleasant couple of hours by the pool, sampling the food (actually pretty good) and wine, and listening to the entertainment – a not too intrusive disco, and a rather fun singer Juanlu (borderline lounge lizard – crooner, but skilfully done, and with just enough tongue in cheek). A nice place to unwind for an hour or two if you’ve been at a conference all day, or for a final drink before turning in. This is a side of what’s available in Sevilla that I don’t see very much of, as my own focus is on a different area, so it was a fun and interesting experience, and the hotel is certainly one I can recommend.

 

Hotel Meliá Sevilla
Dr Pedro de Castro 1
Tel: +34 912 764 747

Restaurante Ispal – New Seasonal Menu

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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

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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

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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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Pando Cheese Tasting

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Pando Restaurant @PandoSevilla in San Eloy Street has been running a series of excellent “Gastronomic Schools” – educational tastings – of which the latest was this week’s cheese tasting, hosted by Diego Ruiz de Terry of Pando (Grupo San Eloy) and presented by Antonio Rodriguez Vacas of cheese distributors TGT group.

We tasted three very different cheeses, one goats’ cheese, one sheeps’ cheese, and one dairy cheese, accompanied by different wines.

Queso Ibores is a surprisingly mild and creamy goats cheese from the Extramadura region, with none of the harsher overtones of some goat cheeses. We had the natural version, but it also comes flavoured with pimentón, which gives the cheese a deeper yellow-orange colour. Delicious served with a light white wine.

Queso Roncal is a typical strong mature (minimum of 4 months ageing) sheeps cheese from the Navarra region of northeast Spain that has been produced in the traditional way for hundreds of years, and was the first cheese to have a Denomination of Origin (1981). Serve with quince jam and grapes and an earthy red wine to bring out the full flavour.

Queso Mahón is a dairy cheese (a relative rarity in Spain) from the island of Menorca, named after the port which was its point of export. The version we had was an aged variety (it also comes fresh or semi-cured), hard and flaky in texture, with a yellow-orange colour and a strong, rather salty, flavour. Excellent with a nice red wine.

Thanks to Pando and TGT group for putting on an enjoyable event.