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Cordoba Spain restaurants
I'll be in Cordoba for 2 days, but see no recommendations of restaurants on the forum. Does anyone have a favorite in Cordoba?
Thanks Paul H |
For tapas, Casa Pepe de la Judería. For sit down dining on their tranquil upstairs outdoor terrace, El Caballo Rojo. Both are located in the Judería near the Mezquita (Mosque).
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Excellent! Thank you very much!
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Ok, Paul. I didn't have my info when I first read your question, so I went back to my pocket notebook for references. I can definitely suggest where you should eat/not eat (or at least know what to expect) in Cordoba. El Caballo Rojo, as another person related, starts out great but goes bad. Formal service, free appetizer... you're feeling all charmed and like you picked a good place, but it's too stuffy and old, and the food is not good. The worst foie gras I've ever had (and who knew it could be bad?). If you go there, be warned, it's popular but not good.
Bodegos Campos is another institution and you'll hear a lot about it. The bar is more fun than the restaurant. Went to the bar twice, and the staff's very nice, tapas were good. In the restaurant, the service is so formal, it's positively overwhelming. You can barely relax, the staff is so tense. Even when the place is busy, it's high stress. But then we also had 2 men at a table behind us tell off the host for about 45 minutes. The flustered host kept going back to defend himself and his staff and kept having to eat his hat and apologize every time. The food was good though, at least. Not great, but at least medium-good. Baby clam appetizer and I had oxtail steak. DH sirloin steak, gin and tonic ice cream dessert. We do speak pretty good Spanish, and didn't think to ask for an English menu. After tackling it for 10 minutes, they realized to ask us if we wanted English, and it was easier to know for sure what everything was. So if you're headed to Bodegos Campos, just psyche up and you can expect pretty good food. But where I would definitely send you would be to Paseo de la Ribera and the restaurant "La Boca". We were so pleased to find them, and the baked goat cheese with jam appetizer foretold of other good things. We had a great lunch at this airy, bright restaurant: salad with cheeses and DH couscous with beef. Maybe this doesn't sound like the living end, but I assure you it was a relief after the presumptuous presentations of former restaurants with these refreshing dishes. Lots of flavor, minimalist presentation, a lot of thought to ingredients. They were fairly empty at 2 or so when we ate there, but coming back for dinner, it was "totally happening". On a weekend night, it was busy and we felt like we had a look at the local scene among the hip! We had peppers with cheese & anchovies, salmon tartar with avacado and the tiniest bit of wasabi (this was great). Dinner courses: chicken with couscous and duck confit with mashed potatoes. On top of this great place, there was another just down the street that I wish we could go back to. Ate there for lunch and it was terrific (though we didn't have as much connection as to La Boca). It's just down the same street, on the corner of Paseo de la Ribera and Calle Cruz Rastro. The interior decorating was uber cool, and the food and service nice too. I'm sure dinner there would be good. Wait, I have a killer bar review for you too, but I have to stop for now. |
traveler,
Sorry you had a disappointing experience at El Caballo Rojo. Maybe resting on their laurels? Paul H, The reliable Guía Repsol (formerly Guía Campsa) gives El Churrasco in the Judería at Romero 16 one "sol" (their equivalent of a Michelin star) but it's as much as a local institution as El Caballo Rojo. They give another "sol" to the up-and-coming, new wave Choco, but it's quite off the beaten path and would require a taxi ride to the Barrio Fuensanta. It's getting a lot of "foodie" press. www.restaurantechoco.com Here's the web page for La Boca www.restaurantelaboca.com |
I was in Cordoba for just a day, went on line to find a suggestion of a place to eat, went with traveler_99 suggestion of Paseo de la Ribera. It was a huge disappointment. The Gazpacho was hands down the worse I've had, tasted like sour vinegar. I usually love Spanish Corizo, once again this was the worse I've had, anywhere. The one dish that I thought was good was the Pistaue(?) spelling may be wrong, it was a Cordoba version of ratatouille. That was good, not great, but good. Would recommend trying any other place, what a huge disappointment, worse meal in Spain. If you are going to go there, would at least recommend not ordering what I ordered. The meal I had before this one was in Seville, whole heartedly recommend Oriza, wow, now that was amazing.
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jz2010 , did you realise this post is two years old?
The dish you mention is "pisto". |
If you enjoy Moroccan/North Africa cuisine, I highly recommend the Comedor Arabe Andalussi on Plaza Abades in the historic quarter. Had an excellent and very inexpensive meal there with my dad.
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