www.grupolaraza.com
Following a two and half hour drive from a villa near Periana, which had been the first leg of the holiday, the happy group of four; myself, Catherine, brother Rob and his girlfriend Jenny, arrived at the excellent Hotel Becquer in Seville on a Saturday lunchtime with the temperature high and all eager to sample the cuisine of Europe's hottest city. I had booked us a table at La Raza, set by the greenery of the Maria Luisa Park, a few minutes walk from the Old Town. Although the main focus of our stay was to be tapas (more of which to come in a future blog), we elected to eat from the à la carte menu in the attractive and airy conservatory area, the only minor quibble being that respite from the heat did not come as quickly as it might have done due to an only partly-functioning spray fan.
Nonetheless, once a beer arrived we were cooler and happier and were soon given a lovely caramelised goat cheese on toast to accompany a perusal of the menu.
While Catherine and Jenny elected to share a plate of king prawns in a peanut batter with houmous for their starter, Rob and I both chose the gazpacho, done to a recipe that had been served at the restaurant since 1960 and featuring basil oil and shellfish. It would be fair to say that neither of us were 100% certain of the choice but as one of the signature dishes we felt it was appropriate.
Our decision was proved correct as it was the dictionary definition of fresh, full of flavour and actually felt like we were putting something healthy inside us, a sensation that, despite the excellence of nearly everything else we ate in the city, it would be difficult to say we encountered much. The king prawns were also fresh and tasty, the only complaint from the girls was that, having been advised by our very friendly waitress to share due to the size of the portion, they felt they could have managed one each.
For main course Catherine and I shared squid cooked in its own ink with rice and served with aioli, a dish we had previously enjoyed in Valencia, while Rob and Jenny both went for sirloin steak.
It's difficult to make our dish look overly appealing, but the taste more than compensated. There was a richness enhanced by the creamy garlic quality of the mayonnaise and with plenty of squid ensured that - to no great surprise - I was able to manage second helpings. I was also able to sample the steak which was soft, flavourful and a hit with the other two. With the starters averaging out at around €9-10 and mains averaging at €20, prices were more than reasonable, especially when washed down with a couple of bottles of competitively priced Barbadillo wine.
Unable to manage pudding, we staggered back to the hotel with the sane pair - Catherine and Jenny - electing to siesta before the evening. Those with less sense trawled the streets looking to watch the Argentina v Germany quarter final, eventually ending up in of all things a German bar with no air conditioning and packed with sweaty Germans loudly extolling the virtues of Lukas Podolski. Bizarre (and hot) does not do it justice.
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