Seville for foodies

Best restaurants

Seville's restaurant scene reads as a city that has stopped apologising for what it loves: long, late lunches; tapas eaten standing; fried fish and Iberian pork at counters where the bill is still chalked on the bar. The twelve places below are not the postcard addresses around the Cathedral, and they are not chasing a Michelin star: they are the rooms a working Sevillano books on a Thursday night. Some are old-guard tabernas that have been pouring sherry since long before the city had a tourist board; others are newer arrivals, Italian and Japanese and Argentinian kitchens that the neighbourhood has quietly absorbed. Geography matters here. The list spans Santa Cruz, San Vicente, the Macarena edge, the streets behind the Setas, and the Nervión flats out toward Luis Montoto: a deliberate spread, because eating only inside the casco antiguo is the fastest way to eat badly in this city. Read it as a working week: a long lunch on one day, a counter dinner on another, a paella at midday because that is when paella is meant to be eaten. Bring cash for the small places, and book ahead for the rest.