Where Locals Eat, Drink & Relax in Sevilla, Spain, Seville, Spain

The best way to experience a new city is to immerse yourself in the local culture. I was incredibly lucky that I stayed with a good friend in Sevilla (or Seville) who was born and raised there. She brought me to all the local spots and introduced me to so many new dishes. With the gastronomic excitement comes a couple of challenges. The biggest one was trying to get used to the local dining timetable. Locals tend to have a late breakfast around 10 a.m., eat a HUGE lunch between 2 to 4 p.m. and dinner closer to 10 p.m. My body is used to food at certain times (especially around 7 p.m. on the dot) and it growls when it’s not fed! It seemed like my friend was saying, “Are you hungry again?” incredulously on a daily basis.

Locals mainly eat at home or at tapas bars, rather than at restaurants aimed at tourists. My friend’s mother is an incredible cook who made the most amazing lunches of grilled sardines, salmorejo, jamon, paella and stews. Check out her recipe for lentil stew which was the very first dish I ate when I arrived from my 15 hour flight. I knew from then on that I would eat really really well in Sevilla, and indeed I did. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).