store | Azahar Sevilla Tapas

Updated May 2024

It took me almost 15 years after moving here to finally go into Sevilla’s oldest and best loved ultramarinos/abacería (grocery store) and tapas bar, Casa Moreno. Well okay, not entirely true. I’d walked in a couple of times but it felt so intimate and so SPANISH – like I had stepped through a portal to the 1940s – that I felt too obviously a guiri to comfortably stay. But I needn’t have worried. From the first time I sat at the end of the crowded bar (hidden away behind the grocery store) I was made to feel right at home. The people here were so friendly and welcoming that I kept coming back and now I feel as if they are family. These days I am torn about telling others about Casa Moreno because I’d like to keep it as my own, but it’s probably already too late for that.

I should point out that, as at all abacerías, the tapas are made from things that you can buy in the store – there is no full kitchen (in fact the entire “kitchen” here consists of a toaster oven). So it’s mostly excellent quality cured meats and cheeses and various high-end tinned goods (anchovies from Cantabria, duck mousse…), though there are also a few prepared foods like tortilla and stews (stews are only available at lunchtime). It’s a great place for breakfast, a light snack or lunch, or to start off your evening tapeo. Lovely charming clutter everywhere, lots of tauromaquia memorabilia, stacks of tins and boxes, baskets of legumes … and an impressive list of wines by the glass, including frosty cold manzanilla La Gitana on tap.

Owners Francisco Moreno and Carmen Portillo have recently retired and their children Marta and Fran have taken over the reins, with the venerable Emilio Vara – barman and resident poet – running the bar, as he has done for the past 35 years. This is not a place to be in a hurry and your patience will be rewarded not only with delicious food and wine but also with one of Emilio’s handwritten bills, possibly the best souvenir you will take home from your visit in Sevilla. Me? I have quite a collection by now.

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