For a non-Sevillian it is difficult, at first, to understand how in one of the main cities of Spain there has been the gastronomy of table and tablecloth has so little curdled. Until you take a walk around the city, regardless of the neighborhood, and see that Sevillian life is one of bars and taverns.
It doesn’t matter what it is Santa Cruz, Macarena, Alameda or Centro… It also doesn’t matter which bank of the Guadalquivir welcomes us. Triana, on the left bank of the river, is another fortress where the bars manage the tapas and the cuisine with that bar idiosyncrasy that the city has as its flag.
However, there is a growing wave, of white foam like beer and with a certain air of conch sound, that begins to bathe Seville with restaurants in which to demonstrate that the capital of Seville also understands sitting at the table. Precisely in the boom current Andalusian cuisine.
Even in Triana, one of the most traditional neighborhoods in the capital, daring to welcome to a boutique hotel. Just 12 rooms in an old palace from the beginning of the 20th century. Cavalta is its name and from its barely four floors – including a green and charming terrace with views of the entire neighborhood – it tempts tourists with a different way to discover Triana.
In the heart of the neighborhood of Triana, Balbuena and Huertas, they claim to sit down for Andalusia
Also, if we talk about the table, eat Andalusia on all four sides from purity and from local cuisine. The young chef is in charge of this Jose Luis Pastranawho is popularly known as ‘Pastrana’, explaining that “I think only my mother calls me José Luis.”
Maybe that familiar touch is also part of what justifies the letter from the Balbuena and Huertas restaurantopen to both the hotel public and non-residents, is so Andalusian and so successful.
Far from the show that is beginning to prevail in Seville, dressing in extravagant fusions new gastronomic wave of the capital, Balbuena y Huertas is a delicious temple where you can expect flavor and product without artifice. Roots and talent, little more is needed to explain a restaurant where everything is recognizable.
The tasting menu that Pastrana has attests to this. Furthermore, resorting to names and surnames for countries where the Andalusian takes the world by storm. It happens with the way of interpreting the classic anchovy in Sevillian marinade which serves, says the chef, “as a tribute to an icon of Plaza Peñaflor, here in Triana.”
“We want everything eaten here to represent Seville and Andalusia. They are very identifiable flavors, but ones we take a look at,” he comments. Always champions of the product as is the case with the garlic prawns, which are accompanied by a fried egg in colorá butter, the same ‘bath’ that the prawns received (from Sanlúcar de Barrameda, of course).
Or what happens with a particular way to deal with tripe with chickpeas which, he explains, “are vegetable tripe because we make them with a mushroom called Judas ear and that gives that tripe texture, but there is no meat at all.”
A great dish, as is also the case with the version of potatoes with choco or with the way of working wheat, as a risotto, “we also accompany it with a bull tail background and we finish with the quail breast.” In addition, to reach all audiences, Balbuena y Huertas puts four different tasting menus on the table, between 39 and 70 euroswhich allow the proposal to be brought closer to almost all budgets.
Subtlety, flavor and Sevillian sense in a way of understanding cuisine that is also consolidated with sommelier. It is taken care of by Adrián Sisto, who has around 150 wine references, more than half of which are Andalusian, also betting on fortified wines from both Montilla-Moriles and Marco de Jerez, including rarities such as some of the vertical ones from the Ximénez-Bodegas. Spinola.
A authentic luxury that invites you to cross to Triana and that shows that there is a new wave in Seville where the Andalusian becomes fashionable without losing the witness of the past that has cradled it.
Balbuena and Huertas
- Where: Calle de San Jacinto, 89, Seville.
- Average ticket: €65
- Schedule: Monday to Sunday from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
- Bookings: 955 44 20 81 and on their website.
Images | José María Casco
In DAP | The Sherry wine embassy in the heart of Seville: 22 square meters of amontillados and flamenco eggs
In DAP | Gastroguide of Seville: what to eat in the capital of Andalusia