Andalusia tapas with kids
Sep 20th, 2013, 06:47 PM
#21
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I haven't read all of the responses, so I may be repetitive here, but several years ago, when DD was 11yo, we visited Spain, including Granada and Sevilla (also Cordoba, Toledo and Madrid). We all very much enjoyed the tapas culture. We customarily ate late here at home, though, and DD is a night owl, so 10 pm dinners were no problem for her.
Many restaurants have tapas-type dishes on their sit-down menus. That is, a menu may have tapas portions, media-raciones, and raciones. So the entire table can get a nice selection of smaller items and still sit down. We often preferred that, after touring around all day.
At the places known for tapas, we found if we arrived early, right as we opened, we could get a seat at the bar, have a leisurely (and filling) meal, AND get a little extra help from the wait staff on what to order. That was fun for everyone.
A couple of times, at lunch, not dinner, we had mini-meals at several different places. (We did a tapas stroll more in Madrid.) Mostly, we'd fill up at the first place we stopped at.
In Sevilla, our favorite place was La Azotea, at Jesus del Gran Poder, 31. We stopped by for an early lunch, and the staff could not have been sweeter or nicer - we sat at the bar, and the food was delicious. I would say it was more gourmet tapas, not the more standard items. We went another evening for dinner, and arrived early (no reservations) and got a table. Like a number of places (ask if you're not sure), you need to order at least half-raciones if you sit at the table. That was ok with us; we still had enough to choose from, and the food was so good that we were happy to eat too much. We also ate at Vineria San Telmo, Paso Catalina d Ribera, 4 (table); Restaurante Enrique Becerra, c/ Gamazo, 2 (at the bar); and Robles Placentines c/Placentines, 2 (at the bar).
Especially at popular tapas places, they get to be a zoo as the evening goes on, noisy and crowded. Everyone is very congenial, and will pass back a tapas that you've ordered from the bar, but not very restful, and difficult with a party of 4. And if your kids are smaller (as our was), she got a bit squished in the crowd.
Granada was not our favorite city for food. We stayed in the Albaicin, and mostly had drinks and complimentary tapas at a bar in the plaza near our hotel. We had a nice dinner at Restaurante Oliver, Plaza de la Pescaderia, 12, in the sit-down restaurant, though many people were having tapas in front. Diamantes is well-known for tapas, but it was totally packed every time we went by, so we ended up at a no-name sit-down place down the street - it was still good. We had (sit-down) dinner at Puerta del Carmen, Plaza del Carmen, 1, where they had very good jamon bellota.
If you don't already know about churros con chocolat for breakfast, you have to plan on doing that. In Granada, we ate at Churrería Cafetería Alhambra, Plaza Bib-rambla. Lucky for us parents who can't stomach an entire order of churros con chocolat, they have other items too (you're not going here for the atmosphere - it reminded me a bit of Denny's). That's a great plaza for afternoon drinks, as well.
In Sevilla, get churros from Calenteria Cano y Cueta, c/ Cano y Cueta, which is a tiny storefront that sells only churros and chocolat - a sign outside says you can order coffee from two nearby cafes. So again, DD had churros and we had other items at Modesto, c/ Cano y Cueto, 5.
Enjoy - now I want to return to Spain, especially Sevilla!
Many restaurants have tapas-type dishes on their sit-down menus. That is, a menu may have tapas portions, media-raciones, and raciones. So the entire table can get a nice selection of smaller items and still sit down. We often preferred that, after touring around all day.
At the places known for tapas, we found if we arrived early, right as we opened, we could get a seat at the bar, have a leisurely (and filling) meal, AND get a little extra help from the wait staff on what to order. That was fun for everyone.
A couple of times, at lunch, not dinner, we had mini-meals at several different places. (We did a tapas stroll more in Madrid.) Mostly, we'd fill up at the first place we stopped at.
In Sevilla, our favorite place was La Azotea, at Jesus del Gran Poder, 31. We stopped by for an early lunch, and the staff could not have been sweeter or nicer - we sat at the bar, and the food was delicious. I would say it was more gourmet tapas, not the more standard items. We went another evening for dinner, and arrived early (no reservations) and got a table. Like a number of places (ask if you're not sure), you need to order at least half-raciones if you sit at the table. That was ok with us; we still had enough to choose from, and the food was so good that we were happy to eat too much. We also ate at Vineria San Telmo, Paso Catalina d Ribera, 4 (table); Restaurante Enrique Becerra, c/ Gamazo, 2 (at the bar); and Robles Placentines c/Placentines, 2 (at the bar).
Especially at popular tapas places, they get to be a zoo as the evening goes on, noisy and crowded. Everyone is very congenial, and will pass back a tapas that you've ordered from the bar, but not very restful, and difficult with a party of 4. And if your kids are smaller (as our was), she got a bit squished in the crowd.
Granada was not our favorite city for food. We stayed in the Albaicin, and mostly had drinks and complimentary tapas at a bar in the plaza near our hotel. We had a nice dinner at Restaurante Oliver, Plaza de la Pescaderia, 12, in the sit-down restaurant, though many people were having tapas in front. Diamantes is well-known for tapas, but it was totally packed every time we went by, so we ended up at a no-name sit-down place down the street - it was still good. We had (sit-down) dinner at Puerta del Carmen, Plaza del Carmen, 1, where they had very good jamon bellota.
If you don't already know about churros con chocolat for breakfast, you have to plan on doing that. In Granada, we ate at Churrería Cafetería Alhambra, Plaza Bib-rambla. Lucky for us parents who can't stomach an entire order of churros con chocolat, they have other items too (you're not going here for the atmosphere - it reminded me a bit of Denny's). That's a great plaza for afternoon drinks, as well.
In Sevilla, get churros from Calenteria Cano y Cueta, c/ Cano y Cueta, which is a tiny storefront that sells only churros and chocolat - a sign outside says you can order coffee from two nearby cafes. So again, DD had churros and we had other items at Modesto, c/ Cano y Cueto, 5.
Enjoy - now I want to return to Spain, especially Sevilla!
Sep 21st, 2013, 09:24 PM
#22
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Thanks again for all the suggestions and comments. It's particularly good to hear from families who've been there and done that. In general, I think we will aim for opening time and try to get a table for the evening. Looking forward to the new (and tasty) experience.
Sep 27th, 2013, 06:37 AM
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indy_dad - another fun family trip - I'm jealous again! My wife and I were in Spain for a couple of weeks a few years ago and we had tapas for about a third of our dinners and went to restaurants for the other two thirds. Like a lot of people say above, your family will have a lot of fun with the whole tapas experience - each place is different and there are a LOT of places so you will be able to find something that works for you. We usually picked one place that we liked and just ate a lot of tapas there - we did not hop from one place to another too much.
We really liked one of the tapas places where we sat at a table outside and they had the tapas already prepared sitting on the bar. We would walk in, grab what we wanted off of trays, eat them at out table and repeat the process until we were full. They had toothpicks stuck in them (small toothpicks for cheaper tapas, large toothpicks for more expensive tapas) and when finished, we just counted up our toothpicks and paid. Another place we had to order off a menu but they kept track of the amounts by writing them in chalk on the bar. When finished, they added it up, we paid and they wiped it off ready for the next customer.
We love paella so we ordered that nearly every other meal in restaurants - and it was delicious. We did not have our granddaughter with us but we saw kids everywhere having a great time. Have fun and I'm looking forward to your report!
We really liked one of the tapas places where we sat at a table outside and they had the tapas already prepared sitting on the bar. We would walk in, grab what we wanted off of trays, eat them at out table and repeat the process until we were full. They had toothpicks stuck in them (small toothpicks for cheaper tapas, large toothpicks for more expensive tapas) and when finished, we just counted up our toothpicks and paid. Another place we had to order off a menu but they kept track of the amounts by writing them in chalk on the bar. When finished, they added it up, we paid and they wiped it off ready for the next customer.
We love paella so we ordered that nearly every other meal in restaurants - and it was delicious. We did not have our granddaughter with us but we saw kids everywhere having a great time. Have fun and I'm looking forward to your report!
Sep 28th, 2013, 01:51 PM
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Our apartment was around the corner from Bar Estrella and I don't recommend it. Before I go any further, I will throw out the caveat that my daughter and I are vegetarian, so we're not the best ones to give general food advice, but - my husband is not veg and he didn't like it either. None of us liked our food there and thought it was sub-par, although the service was very good and friendly, and the drinks good. My husband had some kind of fish as well as the cold tomato soup with cream in it, and ham strips as garnish. He also had an eggplant dish. He didn't like any of it. Daughter and myself shared a salad and a couple of other tapas I don't even remember except none of it was good. It was only one of two places I ate at in southern Spain that I didn't care for. Everything we had did not taste or look freshly prepared, was bland, or just tasted "off" including the olives. The woman who owned our apartment had even warned us not to eat there, but we went anyway as it seemed to be a popular place. I just didn't care for it though. Maybe we ordered the wrong things, maybe they have great meat dishes besides the fish my husband got, I don't know... just my humble opinion.
One place in Sevilla we really liked was a cuban place called Habinita. It's off the main plaza of Plaza Alfalfa on Calle El Golfo (?) I think. We went there because they had lots of vegan dishes, but they had meat dishes too. What we had was excellent, so I assume that would carry through to the other foods they offer. The food was fresh, seasoned well, generous portions. You could also eat there a little earlier as they closed up a little earlier than other places it seemed. We went there three times, we liked it so much. Owner doesn't speak much English, but there's an English menu.
One place in Sevilla we really liked was a cuban place called Habinita. It's off the main plaza of Plaza Alfalfa on Calle El Golfo (?) I think. We went there because they had lots of vegan dishes, but they had meat dishes too. What we had was excellent, so I assume that would carry through to the other foods they offer. The food was fresh, seasoned well, generous portions. You could also eat there a little earlier as they closed up a little earlier than other places it seemed. We went there three times, we liked it so much. Owner doesn't speak much English, but there's an English menu.
Sep 30th, 2013, 02:20 PM
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Well I was able to order a few things at Bar Estrella. But none of us thought the food was very good quality.
It's possible we were there on an off-night. And yes, it's possible that we simply ordered food that wasn't their forte, even my husband. But there were a couple of other "regular" restaurants we went to and the food was good, and we went back to those. Another place, Huelvas Ochos, was very vegan-friendly and I wasn't that impressed with their food, but their drinks were good.
It wasn't awful but I wouldn't recommend the place.
It's possible we were there on an off-night. And yes, it's possible that we simply ordered food that wasn't their forte, even my husband. But there were a couple of other "regular" restaurants we went to and the food was good, and we went back to those. Another place, Huelvas Ochos, was very vegan-friendly and I wasn't that impressed with their food, but their drinks were good.
It wasn't awful but I wouldn't recommend the place.
Oct 7th, 2013, 07:56 AM
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Hi! I'm Spanish, and can assure you your kids will be welcome everywhere. We usually take children with us everywhere, unless it's a very posh restaurant.
You can go from place to place or, if you find somewhere you like, just stay there. Many people do that, specially with kids, it's easier not to have to move than around. On the other hand, the times you mention are waaaaay to early. Dinner time is at 9 at the earliest, if you go before some tapas place will still be closed... And the open ones will be empty/full of tourists, no Spaniards in sight.
You can go from place to place or, if you find somewhere you like, just stay there. Many people do that, specially with kids, it's easier not to have to move than around. On the other hand, the times you mention are waaaaay to early. Dinner time is at 9 at the earliest, if you go before some tapas place will still be closed... And the open ones will be empty/full of tourists, no Spaniards in sight.
