Wednesday 17 September 2014

PuraTasca, Seville.

As the taxi was speeding across the bridge over to Triana I had a brief thought that I wished it was how it used to be. Ten years ago we just used to pick tapas bars by the look of them at random. Imagine that these days? Incredible! Now it has to be researched to the nth degree. It takes effort and I'm lazy at times. Wouldn't it be easier to just go to a more touristy place near the hotel, we had been awake since 4am for the red eye flight.
When we arrived I forgot all about these doubts. PuraTasca just had a good feeling about it from the beginning. It feels like the best tapas bar in the neighbourhood, I'd take a guess that it is just that. We did like tourists do and got the last table on the street. Locals tend to eat inside and it was rammed in there on Saturday afternoon.
We ordered with assistance from our friendly and helpful waitress. She brought over some bread, it was decent, clearly a good sign. Naturally I'd got my scrap of paper with a list of dishes from Shawn Hennessey's excellent and authorative Azahar Sevilla website. (we actually met Shawn later on in the day, see future posts).
Firstly a wonderfully fresh and clean Salmon Tartare. (€6.50). The feel of the raw fish as it melts on your mouth is fabulous.
Caballa Shimesaba. A beautiful sharp and fragrant mackerel dish. (€5.90).
Then,  like junkies we needed our fix of foie gras (the first of three portions that day). So we had to order the Foie with apple chutney. (€5.50). It didn't disappoint either. Cold like a hard paté but unmistakably foie, the luxurious rich, divine taste is an addiction that's quite impossible to give up.
I had an urge to order everything on the menu but we had other places to visit on our whirlwind tour. We finished with Arroz Meloso. Risotto with mushrooms, parmesan and truffles. (€5.50).
This gets filed in my head as one of the best rices dishes we've ever tasted. My god this is so good! Gorgeously wet and creamy with unmistakable flavours of earthy woody mushrooms and truffle. There's a nice crunch in there as well, was it toasted parmesan?
We've turned another corner and I'm afraid there's no going back to your average touristy tapas bar for us after a taste of PuraTasca. If you go to Seville then it should be at the top of your list too.
* Total Bill for all that including drinks; £22.50 (Paid in full).

No comments:

Post a Comment