Entering the Seville Fair street
Although you will always come across Japanese tourists who seem to carry their bags everywhere, in their low season you will also enjoy a more leisurely Seville , which will welcome you with open arms and, also, with a cuisine that is as local as it is cosmopolitan. A city that cries for fans every Easter (as Miguel Rivera wrote) but that the rest of the year strives to go out, face the matter and enjoy it to its full extent.
It turns out that in Seville This extension passes fundamentally through the center, which was once limited by the Arab walls and the Guadalquivir river . It is the axis of everything that happens in the Andalusian capital. Or almost everything. And in it, the street fair , in full La Macarena neighborhood It is the beginning and end of all things. In its short kilometer length lies the essence of Seville, which makes this city unique. Lose yourself down the street, like ** Mr. Chinarro **, to enter a world of parallel worlds that reaches its climax in the middle of the week with the incomparable thursday flea market.
The Thursday market, the life of the neighborhood
The rest of the week is not far behind, since old traditional businesses coexist with the future: from Jose Luis 'El Mato' Confections Y Carmona Furniture to vintage clothing stores, old grocery stores, passing through a unique traditional market surrounded by tasquitas or the attractive facilities of Diwap Gallery . His creative team moved there in 2013 to launch a unique space. Its large windows will allow you to take a look at the exhibitions and events that they organize from the outside, but if you go inside, you will be able to discover the art of serigraphy or the work in situ of some interesting artists. And, if you get lost, they become your community managers, design a website for you or prepare an advertising campaign for you. That's how eclectic this place is, where you can also buy modern t-shirts and hats that will make you dress differently from the rest of the planet. Even in that, Feria street is different : no big brand stores or franchises, everything here is original (well, except in the one-euro stores, which also exist) .
At the southern end, the road merges with another as small as it is unfathomable in a single afternoon. It's about the Regina Street , barely 200 meters long and full of places that you will want to return to every day. ** The Ecological Pantry **, full of healthy and rich products in a corner , and the bar Saint John of the Palm , opposite, are a good declaration of intentions of what you are going to find when you explore it. It is worth investigating the genre of bottles and cans , a place full of one and the other, but also of many other products that will make you go crazy if gastronomy is your thing. Tasty wines with original names share the shelf with Asturian beans, green beans, homemade jams, craft beers, algae mixes, lentil rinds or even some wasabi fries hams calling you from the roof, preserves from your town and an infinite variety of pâtés (lobster, mussels, red shrimp, sardines, Pedro Ximénez deer, mushrooms, duck...) are added to an offer that also highlights cheeses that whet your appetite just by naming them.
Bottles and Cans
The person responsible for all this is Carlos Calzada , which opened the business 13 years ago with the intention of make your purchase more fun : there you will forget about white label products and discover an incredible amount of quality products from all over the country. Carlos is an intrepid and passionate person who discovers each delicatessen at gastronomic fairs, but also in lost corners. As you will be when you leave this precious grocer. And if you dare Piacieri Italiani , maybe you don't go out anymore thanks to its very tasty products from Italy, like the incredible scamorza affumicata.
Qmono interior design or Curtains José María García are also some places that deserve your attention, as well as The Brand, The Coquettish Mushroom or Strawberry Trees , just three of the many fashion, accessories and jewelry stores in this small shopping area, where Sweets Regina, Bar Regina or Cutlery Regina . The street, of course too regina , culminates in the Incarnation Square, best known for a few years for that enormous building that came from the future called Metrosol Parasol and is popularly known as Mushrooms . Do not miss the opportunity to look out on its terrace to enjoy unique views and take the obligatory photo for Instagram or immerse yourself in its cellars to walk among Roman remains that are more than 2,000 years old.
After so much walking, your stomach will be asking for joy. The inaugural can be given in Vizcaino House , a classic among classics that you will find turning your steps towards the heart of Calle Feria and in front of the Mount-Sion Square . Its rich vermouth is a great alternative to the beers that everyone asks for over and over again at all hours (pass when you pass, there will always be someone at your bar). They say that the business was born in 1929 as a weaving house, but soon they saw that Cruzcampo's remnants had more public, so in 1934 they were transformed into a tavern. Mussels on weekends, lupins and olives on weekdays , they are the perfect accompaniment for the drink, which you can have in the premises or on the street. At noon the sun can be seen there and half of Seville takes the first drink there while they bask in the sun like lizards.
For the second you can go to take some cured meats or some of the rich suggestions they make in the ambigu , just a few steps further north. And, for the third, the food market is your place: The joy of Fair or The little corner of yerbabuena will take you into parallel universes and The canteen , which is accessed through an alley with a gate next to the Omnium Sanctorum Parish , will be your tapas temple (and your downfall) based on nettles, scallops, shrimp omelettes, fried fish, house tuna or choco eggs. If you want more, ** La Lonja de Feria ** can definitely make you lose your mind based on Japanese, Mexican food, rice or fried fish. But moderation, which still remains.
under the hot sun fair street It is a perfect place to enjoy the Sevillian winter, but very close by there is another option that never hurts: sit like a lady or a gentleman in a charming place and have the best of the house put before you. It is precisely what they do in the Old San Lorenzo Grocery Store , located in a building from the 18th century and which is a review of the country's gastronomy. There they have a menu called What Ramon Says And, if you get carried away, what should you do? Ramón will give you the best products of the moment so that this is your new home in Seville.
Grocery San Lorenzo
You also have the option of ordering a la carte, full of products that make you hungry just by reading them: from a good montadito of loin with Cabrales to Andalusian sausage, goose sobrassada or some mythical chicharrones from Cádiz without forgetting a marvel made blue cheese made from payoya goat's milk . Is named andblue, It comes from San José del Valle and goes perfectly with a vermouth or a Pedro Ximénez. Among the classics of the groceries are the carpaccio of beef loin on an oak leaf, montillana-style artichoke hearts or the potato omelette with ratatouille. And do not forget to ask about the proposals outside the menu, such as croquettes of skate and prawns. All with good Andalusian wines and a unique surprise: a silence worthy of a temple of worship (good food, in this case). They open from ten in the morning until midnight, so you have time to have many bites and, even if you feel like starting the day with a good coffee and a sandwich of pringá , this will also be your place.
the calm of the Old San Lorenzo Grocery Store changes radically in just a few meters, where it is Rafita House , a small bar for beer lovers in which it sounds the same cher that the 'Voyage Voyage' of Desireless or they are watching football (declare yourself a football atheist so as not to hurt sensitivities between Betis and Seville). But there the fuss is the least of it: you can accompany the fresh reeds with their classic mantecaítos (a montadito with a loin fillet with ham topped with a fried quail egg) or the aubergines with salmorejo. Never stop asking about what is off the menu, which is usually a success and, on many occasions, in the form of mechao tuna.
Rafita House
Before it's too late, We return to Calle Feria to understand that in Seville it is not all tradition. (Do it, if you can, under the passage of the Alameda Multiplexes in what will seem like a little walk through the most vintage past). The La Macarena neighborhood It also offers a good number of proposals that combine foods from here and there or that bring the best of each house to the city. A good example is the fun Brotherhood of Sushi, on the same street as Feria: its cook and owner, Takashi, The same goes for a butterfish nigiri than a tofu salmorejo, a scallop sashimi or some stew and white miso croquettes. And even a Japanese summer red based on plum wine . A rich variety that mixes the good Japanese work with the Sevillian accent and that supposes a roundtrip tour of oriental cuisine without leaving its small premises while Camarón's flamenco sounds on the background music (sometimes with live dances) or the rock of Triana, That's why they were born on this street.
a new journey, this time to Mexico , is the one proposed in Holy hand , a name that is perfect for a place where you will fall in love with Aztec cuisine. Ceviches, aguachiles, a cactus salad, a guacamole with tortilla chips or a quesadilla with huitlacoche They are a good choice to start the Mexican journey, which will also take you through some great tacos al pastor, a yummy pibil suckling pig and a gringa like no other. Don't forget to order one of their natural juices, a Pacifico beer, a michelada or the powerful cocktails, which dress your menu to perfection and, why not, will make you want to go dancing to the electronic rhythm of The Sunken Cathedral . Another option, which is for everyone, is to have a coffee. two steps you have Mrs Pop where, yes, they usually sound Los Alslandticos, Los Delinqüentes or Tomasito . An eclectic place full of chiaroscuro where they sound the same where you can order a kit kat ice cream shake or lacasitos, or one of their delicious (and splendid) homemade cakes or a waffle, as well as a multitude of assorted coffees. If you go in the morning, a mechá meat toast will wake you up ; and if you do it at night, its numerous concerts will sing you.
Alameda Multiplex
Many other proposals from the surroundings of street fair are the responsibility of two powerful groups that have specialized in fusion cuisine and that already have a dozen establishments: La vida en tapas y Team MpuntoR . Nazca, Duo Tapas, Gigante or Sidonia are the main proposals of Life in Tapas . So much so that on Fridays and Saturdays you will find a good number of people queuing to enter them and waiters going from one place to another with their trays along the Calatrava street . The group also opened a few months ago The terrace on that same street and, a few weeks ago, Lobo-López a stone's throw from the Town Hall.
Almost a year ago it was the turn of Chifa tapas , a beautiful restaurant next to the Alameda de Hércules that offers a fusion of Peruvian and Oriental food based on ceviches, salads, woks, makis or some delicious bao bread . The excellent ají de gallina and the sea bass and octopus ceviche stand out, dishes that you can season with sweet or savory cocktails. The place allows you to get an idea of the rich ideas that, in the form of food, they offer you in the rest of the establishments of the La Vida en Tapas group. Of course, on weekends the place is usually filled to the brim, at which point you will understand why the foreigners say that Andalusians are (we are) very noisy: fifty people on the second floor of the Chifa make for a lot of fuss and little intimate conversation.
Mollina de Chifa chili
Similar but different are the proposals of the MpuntoR Team. They have three restaurants in Alameda itself: **Bar Antojo, Zero Tapas and La Niña Bonita, but a few minutes away they have PerroChiko and Perro Viejo **. The latter makes a perfect allusion to the motto of this business group, which says that they are your home away from home. There they have converted an old Sevillian building with several floors into a cozy establishment: as soon as you enter, a beautiful fireplace warms the atmosphere together with some pretty armchairs, as if you were having lunch by your fireplace. Meanwhile, in the main hall, an olive tree serves as the central axis around which you can order those little miracles in the form of food that abound on the menu. Sardines marinated with portobello, dashi and crispy Parmesan, the Aguachile of salmon direct from Mexico D.F. or Black Rice with saffron ali oli are just some of them, like the oysters that you can order at the bar or the fun variety of cocktails.
Old Dog Eater
Between one and the other you have a dozen places to eat tapas for half a lifetime but, luckily, Seville is even much more. And you can always get lost in the labyrinthine street of the Santa Cruz neighborhood to get to know El Alcázar and enjoy traditional cuisine in bars like the Rosemary Winery (Long live your pringá montaditos) or The star (with its eggplant with salmorejo and prawns among many other gastronomic stories). Also go to the San Luis neighborhood to discover the Slow Food cuisine of the conTenedor restaurant. Dare to discover that other Seville and, if with Calle Feria you have enough (which is very likely) for this time, Come back so we can tell you another day.
Rosemary Winery