Casa Robles (Sevilla)

(Visited early March 2012)


A historical Sevilla upmarket eatery, the luxuriant interior decorated to make you feel the weight of history,

sadly, it has now developed a bit of a reputation as a tourist trap (or so says the voice of democracy.)


Except of course if, like us, you go with a trusted local. Then perfect service, their best produce and most honest advice is guaranteed (seriously, we don't know if you really need a local, but can it harm?).


Our starters were fantastic delicacies from the sea:





These are 'ortiguillas', i.e. sea anemone or sea nettle. They come panfried, and if you haven't tried them yet, think of the texture of soft sweetbreads with the flavour of the sea. Lovely. Lovely lovely.


Next come our almejas





which are also simply delicious, in good olive oil, nothing to add except to remember, like every time we eat properly cooked mollusks, the unforgettably horrible mollusk experience at Hedone.


The ritual of the fish in sea crust, seen so many times, is nevertheless like cricket: repetitive but endlessy fascinating. 
Before:





and after:





To be honest, this red snapper did not quite deliver what it promised, being less succulent and less flavoursome than we had anticipated (cooked too long we guess). Still, we wouldn't run away from that fish if it was served in London. And even here it wasn't bad, let's not be churlish. And the accompanying veggies were greasy, yes, but oh so tasty.


The list of desserts is hard to resists, truly hard.We choose two cakes from the trolley that look at us desperately wanting to be eaten: a "Two Chocolates cubanita" (white and dark chocolate) and a berry cheesecake:

Now, this is definitely not the most refined version of the art of patisserie, but once we've registered this with our brains, moving on to stomach judgement, boy they are good!


It was a very pleasant seafood dinner, in pleasant company, with good wine, in a sweet environment in a sweet late Winter night in Southern Spain - you get the drift. It was just impossible not to like our night at Casa Robles. 

The cost? We don't know as our host footed the bill, but our guess is: make sure your credit card is well supported by your account! And don't forget to bring along your Andalucian mate.


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