Food & Tapas in Seville

The Sevillian character is friendly, welcoming, and generous. People love being in the street and in the open-air bars and terraces. It's not a surprise that the streets are bursting with tapas bars as opposed to traditional sit-down restaurants.

Tapas bars move faster than restaurants and are very active and social places. They also boast some of the best cuisine you will find anywhere, normally in three sizes: una Tapa (small serving), Medía (Ración) (medium serving), o Ración (large serving).

Instead of eating a meal of just one specific dish, Sevillians snack (picar), eating a few tapas or sharingamong various dishes.

Eating is usually accompanied by beer, wine, or tinto de verano, which is red wine mixed with orange, lemon, or clear soda.

Tapas can be an inexpensive way to eat (prices range from about 1.50€ to 4€ and about 1€ to 1.50€ for a drink).

While eating tapas, people either eat sitting down or standing up at the bar or at a small, high table.
Remember that eating schedules are different in Spain, lunch starts between 14:00 and 15:00 (or even later) and dinner from 21:30 onward.
The rhythm of life in Seville is more relaxed and eating is a daily social event not something only reserved for weekends.

Here is a list of the most common tapas:

Pinchitos morunos: Typical Andalusian dish, inherited from Arabic cooking. It is made of pieces of chicken or pork flavored with a mix of spices.
Montaditos: Small pieces of toasted bread like a sandwich, filled with different things (like cured ham, sausage, anchovies, shrimp, etc.).
Gazpacho: A typical Sevillian and Andaluz dish known for its excellence. It is usually eaten in the summertime and served as a starter plate. It is a cold soup made of tomato, cucumber, pepper, garlic, bread, olive oil, salt and vinegar. "Salmorejo" is the same but no water is added.
Pescado frito: Fried fish, whole or cut into pieces, battered in flour and deep fried: anchovies, pijotas, squid, puntillitas (very small squid) among other things. A good way to try them all is to order a "frito variado", which is a bit of everything.
Espinacas con garbanzos: Spinach with garbanzo beans, a traditional Sevillian dish. The condiments that give the spinach flavor are fried bread, garlic, cumin or bay leaves, with salt and crushed red pepper.
Menudo: Made of cow tripe. In the rest of Spain it's called "callos". It is a spiced and hearty stew, sometimes quite hot, and contrary to its appearance, not too greasy. It can be stewed up with garbanzo beans, chorizo, blood sausage, etc.
Huevos a la flamenca: This dish is made of vegetables (tomato, red pepper, peas, green beans, onion and garlic), chacina (a mix of cured ham and sausage) and egg. It is prepared in a casserole clay dish in the oven.
Tortillitas de bacalao: This is made of dough with codfish (stripped and unsalted), garlic, onion, and parsley mixed together and then battered and deep fried.
Ensaladilla: Potato salad with hard-boiled egg, tuna, peas and mayonnaise.