28 May Eating tapas in Cadiz, Jerez and Cordoba
Since I took Cadiz and Jerez de la Frontera on a day trip and I only spent one day in Cordoba I thought to write a post that details my food experiences in these places rather than spending time writing three smaller ones, one for each town.
From the start I must tell you that the reviews will be very short and after seeing my pictures you will understand why.
I had one place I enjoyed, one that I was neutral and one place I did not enjoy so much. There will be two smaller references also, one to a street food kind of place and one to a store from which I have bought some products.
The places I tried were:
- Bar Merodio in Cadiz
- Con-Bulli Tapas in Jerez
- Garum 2.1 in Cordoba
Also I tried a few things at Pollos Asados el Gallo de Oro and at Viandas in Cordoba and I will write a few things about these places also.
While this post is not as concluding as the one from Seville or the ones that will follow from Ronda, Granada or Malaga I feel that it is a decent way to read about some places and my experiences with them.
Due to the fact that I spent only half a day in Cadiz, half a day in Jerez and one full day in Cordoba I admit that this is not very comprehensive but even so I have found some things I liked and some things I disliked.
- Bar Merodio-51 reviews on Trip Advisor- 411th restaurant in Seville.
First things first: WOW. If you check on Trip Advisor you will see that in Cadiz there are 500+ restaurants and this place sits at 411.
Even though Cadiz has a rich history and it is an ancient city it is not that big. So imagine my surprise when I opened Trip Advisor to write this article and saw that number.
In Cadiz I did not look at places before I went there. I just took my time, visited the town then as I was walking near the market I just stopped in a restaurant that sold sea urchins outside its door.
This is not a fancy place but rather an old place, filled with locals. As I sat there waiting for my meal I looked at the simple table and the old walls and wondered about how food will taste.
The staff is nice, even though they don’t speak so much English, and finally I managed to communicate with them and told them what I want to eat.
I must confess that even today, more than one month away I regret not eating sea urchins. I felt so hungry when I saw the man outside cleaning, cutting them but I did not ordered it so that I regret.
Regarding the food I can honestly say that this place has decent food. I did not eat a lot because it was a hot day and I was travelling next to Jerez but I think that the food here managed to keep me full without leaving something memorable behind.
The fish salad was interesting and had a really ok flavor but I cannot honestly say I would return here for another meal if in Cadiz.
I think I would try a restaurant in the top 50 or top 100 and see how different it is from this place.
The food is simple, it tastes ok and it can keep you full until your next meal.
My verdict is 3 out of 5 stars.
- Con-Bulli Tapas- 2 reviews on Trip Advisor-214th of 410 restaurants in Jerez
The surprises never end and Jerez ranks high with 410 restaurants from where to choose a meal. I will spend just a few lines here because I wanted more to enjoy a glass of sherry (Jerez being famous for its sherry) and chose something cold, not cooked to eat.
The staff was nice, the place is small and has one or two tables outside and I actually enjoyed the cold tapas.
I wasn’t really impressed with the sherry so I won’t stress much on this subject.
I won’t really grade this restaurant since I do not think there are enough evidences for that but if you are looking for a quick place to eat something while visiting Jerez you could give this place a try.
- Garum 2.1 – 952 reviews on Trip Advisor- 49th of 856 restaurants in Cordoba
While this place is held in high esteem from the reviews on Trip Advisor I felt honestly disappointed.
The place is actually big, comparing to most places I been to, and has the staff dressed the same, in a way like a real restaurant is supposed to.
I do not think much of the staff that seemed rather bored, lazy and slow in responses. Even though there were only 3,4 people in the restaurant, a huge no for me but I thought I was there a bit early(12:30-13:00 hours) they moved at a very slow pace and they let a young family with child wait for a good time before taking their order.
Regarding the tapas I do have some complaints. First of all I think the tapas here are small. I eaten tapas in 20 places in Spain but here they just felt smaller. The price is high. Really 6-8-10 eur for a single tapa? I think that it is just too much. Paying close to 20 eur for tapas is just ridiculous.
Now for the taste. Even though this place has hundreds of good review I felt really disappointed. The food was not bad tasting but it was not good either. I think that some ingredients were too much and gave a weird, strange taste to the tapa.
Also I waited like forever to receive the two tapas. The restaurant was empty so that couldn’t be an issue.
I won’t review this place also but I would never eat here if ever again in Cordoba. I truly believe this place is one of those fake/ inflated places on Trip Advisor and due to places and reviews like these I chose not to contribute anymore on that site.
After my bad experience at Garum 2.1 I still felt hungry so I started wandering the streets and I Found a little place, not far away that I truly can recommend.
Now this is not Spanish tapas and this is not a fancy meal but if you want to try something good and very very cheap you can look for Pollos Asados el Gallo de Oro in Plaza de Abades, 6.
I ate a big hamburger and a Cola for a fraction of the price I paid at Garum 2.1 and yes, you can’t really compare them but I would eat anytime a hamburger from here than a meal from that restaurant.
A small advantage is that this place is situated in a small square and you can sit on a bench, outside and enjoy your meal.
I don’t doubt there are quite a few good restaurants in Cordoba. Actually I am sure of this since Andalucia is a land filled with delicious eats. Unfortunately for me I had some bad luck landing in Garum 2.1 but the hamburger saved the day.
Since I wanted to see the Semana Santa processions and I had booked online tickets for the Alcazar I wanted to eat something fast, outside the Alcazar just to be ready for the scheduled time of entrance.
So 20 meters away from Hotel Gonzales there was a Viandas shop and locals and tourists were lining up to but sandwiches and chorizo.
I won’t spend much time talking about this place since it is a big store with locations thorough Spain and possibly more but the chorizos were nice and I was ok with the sandwich also. A bit expensive if you come to think of it since with that money I ate good things in other places.
And that’s about it. Cadiz, Jerez and Cordoba in a single post. A big disappointment, an unexpected surprised in the form of a burger and two decent places. I am leaving Viandas out of it because this is not a traditional restaurant/bodega.
My next food article will focus on Ronda and the tapas I ate there so stay tuned.