15 Monday Dec 2025
Posted in bitesize sevilla, food & drink, restaurants, sevilla, substack, tapas bars
New on Bitesize Sevilla 
… my top Sevilla bar and restaurant openings in 2015. Check them out and if you like it you can give it a “like”, maybe even say hello. And if you really like it please consider becoming a subscriber (free or paid). Hoping to reach 500 subscribers by my first Substack anniversary on January 1st. Thanks!
My Top Sevilla Openings in 2025
26 Wednesday Nov 2025
Posted in restaurants, sevilla, spain
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Michelin awards for Spain were presented Tuesday evening in Málaga. Happy to see my friends at Cañabota and Abantal maintain their stars and for Juan Carlos Ochanda receive his first star. Well done Sevilla!
10 Friday Oct 2025
Posted in culture, gastronomy, restaurants, sevilla, spain, tapas, tapas bars
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I’ve known Mariano GarcĂa for more than 15 years, ever since I started going to his wonderful award-winning CafeterĂa Donald (which is now just five minutes from my house). I love stopping in, even just for a quick Cold Beer O’clock, and having a chat with everyone. Mariano has lived almost his entire life in this restaurant, which he started working at as a young waiter and eventually took over when the original owner retired. He has since expanded to the space next door opening Bodeguita La Hermandad, with a slightly different concept, but the kitchen is basically the same. What I love about The Donald is that it has remained very much a neighbourhood spot with a classic menu and top quality product. Recently his daughter Conchi has joined the team, so it looks likely to remain a family-run treasure for some time to come.
Mariano is the epitome of a traditional restaurateur, sadly a dying breed, and the walls of his establishment are festooned with various awards and accolades that he has garnered over the years. This week he received not one but two awards: the Premio Tabernero Mayor 2025 at San Sebastián Gastronomika and another at the XIV Gala Premios Tradiciones Sevillanas, recognising his contribution to our local culture and traditions. I’d seen both of these saw pop up on his Instagram so on the way home from my long lunch with the girls yesterday I stopped in and asked to see them. You can see how proud he (rightfully) looks showing them off to me. I also feel proud to know him and to have him as a long-time friend and neighbour. It’s people like Mariano who make my life here so special.
07 Tuesday Oct 2025
Posted in friends, gastronomy, restaurants, sevilla
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They’re baaaack. Back in November 2021 Euen & Sue booked a Sherry & Tapas Tour (a tour! not a tasting, back in the days when I could still walk) and have been back to visit a few times since then. But in January Euen was planning something special for a big group of his golf buddies (16 in total) and basically wanted to show off his knowledge of great places to eat and drink here, so he got in touch with me to plan a food itinerary. And well, every place I chose for them was a hit, with a couple of them totally new to Euen.
Anyhow, the are back for about a week or so and invited me out to this fabulous lunch at IvantxĂş. So nice to see them again and catch up. I think they will also be coming to a special sherry event with me this week, more on that later.
30 Tuesday Sep 2025
Posted in restaurants, sevilla, spain, tapas bars
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Remember Zombie Bars? In a nutshell these are classic sevillano bars that close for any number of reasons. In some cases they are pushed out by greedy landlords, in others because the owner retires or dies, and then they are snapped up by vulture corporate groups who do a reno job to spiff the place up and reopen using the same name and even pretend they opened when the original bar did… basically pretending to be the same bar, appropriating its history and profiting from a legacy that doesn’t belong to them. I call them Zombie Bars because it looks like the same bar is still alive, but no, it’s an empty shell, dead inside without the heart and soul of the original people who created it.
Anyhoodle… just when you thought THIS COULDN’T GET ANY WORSE… let me introduce you to Zombie Bars 2.0. Recently two brand new tapas bars that were opened by two different corporate groups here (yes two of the same usual suspects) came to my attention because for some reason they had chosen to use the names of long-closed establishments here, ones that clearly have a history and are fondly remembered by people old enough to remember them. The two bars in question had both been long gone by the time I arrived in Sevilla in 1993.
I can’t decide which is worse. But worse still is they are even being lauded by our city council and even our regional government with awards for how they have “saved” our gastronomic heritage. How exactly? By appropriating family histories for their own profit? By turning a once-beloved tapas bar into a tourist attraction? Because their target market is not locals… it’s all about duping tourists into thinking they are having an “authentic” sevillano experience. Spoiler alert… no they aren’t.
Why not? Because you can maybe try to duplicate an ambiance, and even try to use the old recipes… but you have to wonder. WHY are they doing this? Because if you actually go to these places, the “old recipes” don’t have the same spark, the ambiance feels fake and forced, and the service is mostly young kids getting their first job in hospitality who don’t know anything about the bar or the food, or even how to be waiters. Not their fault. They weren’t given proper training.
I’m not about to name and shame here (don’t want a lawsuit on my hands) but if you’d like to see a selection of non-corporate tapas bars and restaurants in Sevilla, have a look here.
casa azahar 