No trip to Seville is complete without a tapas crawl. If you want good food with the historical background, Devour’s Seville Tapas Tour delivers.

Did you know there are over 3,000 tapas restaurants in Seville? And did you also know that tapas, the culinary tradition of sharing small plates with friends over drinks, was invented in the province of Andalusia? With these two things in mind, I had to go the professional route when trying to understand Spain’s edible history. Enter: Devour Tours.

Seville Tapas Crawl with Devour Tours and our fabulous guide, Clara

Why Devour Tours for a Seville Tapas Tours

Devour Tours is a food tour company that came highly recommended by several friends! This woman-founded tour group began in Madrid as a way to support family-run businesses struggling during the economic recession. It has grown into the one of the best tour operators in all of Spain, most recently joining forces with another beloved small-group tour company, Walks. I love Devours commitment to sustainable tourism and their genuine relationship with guests, employees, and their vendor partners.

Devour Tours has a few options for tours in Seville:

➜ Tastes, Tapas & Traditions of Seville Food Tour – 4 hours, Daytime
➜ Seville Tapas, Taverns & History Tour – 4 hours, Daytime/Evening
➜ Seville Tapas & Flamenco Tour – 4 hours, Evening
➜ An Evening Out in Seville: Triana Neighborhood Tapas Tour  – 3 hours, Evening

Every tour is led by a knowledgeable tour guide but we lucked out with Clara, who studied Anthropology in Sevilla

This is a great activity with friends and even solo!

What to Eat in Seville

There are few people whose love of food rivals the Spaniards. The nation’s worship of local ingredients is largely underappreciated by tourists seeking sugary sangria and paella as their daily fare. Spanish food, particularly in Andalusia, is a vibrant expression of the region’s diverse cultural heritage, where Moorish, Mediterranean, and Iberian influences converge in dishes that emphasize fresh, locally sourced ingredients.

The cuisine’s distinctive use of olive oil, spices like pimentón (Spanish smoked paprika), and techniques such as pickling food, reflect centuries of adaptation to the region’s climate and the blending of culinary traditions from the many civilizations that have inhabited Andalusia. The act of eating of tapas, known as tapeo, is the country’s most beloved social activity. Here are a few dishes to look for in Seville:

• Espinacas con garbanzos – stewed spinach and chickpea with Moorish influences

• Pringa – stewed roast pork, similar to pulled pork minus the barbecue sauce

• Salmorejo – dense tomato-based soup thickened with bread and olive oil and topped with bacon and cheese

• Croquetas – deep-fried bechamel filled with various ingredients like cheese and ham

• Bocadillos – classic sandwich made with Spanish bread

• Jamón Iberico de Bellota  – acorn fed Iberian ham that is only found in Spain

• Cazón en Adobo – dog fish (also known as sand shark) marinated in adobe seasonings and then fried(Fried dog fish)

• Carrillada de Cerdo – braised pork cheeks

▶️ Watch the video of my Seville tapas crawl

 

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Where We Ate: Best Seville Tapas Restaurants

Our tour featured tapas spots in the Santa Cruz neighborhood, known as the former Jewish Quarter. We lucked out with our tour guide, Clara, whose passion for food studies as a former Anthropology major, lent to some really solid spots on our tapas crawl, also known as tapeo. Fair warning: be upfront about dietary restrictions since the food is very gluten and meat-forward and drinking is a huge part of the tour as its a big part of Spanish culture. Also come hungry! Tapas portions are deceptively small but they are quite filling!

You also get a taste of the city’s best attractions on this walking tour

1️⃣ Café Bar Las Teresas

Opened in 1870, Bar Las Teresas is the oldest taperia in Seville’s Jewish Quarter. Visiting this place was such a fun surprise since I had it bookmarked on my Seville map and didn’t know this would be a stop on our food tour!

Bar Las Teresas started off as bodega, a commissary selling artisanal ingredients, and organically morphed into the tapas spot well-loved by locals. Their repertoire of jamon dangles from the ceiling like ornaments on a Christmas tree. Every inch of the walls is decked out in photos which is great sign of an authentic tapas spot. Taperias with long histories embrace maximalist decor because of horror vaccui, the fear of empty spaces. In Spain, an over decorated restaurant indicates a restaurant’s long legacy. You cannot visit Bar Las Teresas without trying their black label jamon, cured meat made from acorn fed Ibérico pigs.

On The Menu: Jamón Ibérico, Patatas con Alioli (Spanish version of potato salad) , sweet Vermouth apertif

Blue label jamon on proud display at Bar Las Teresas

2️⃣ Bodega Díaz Salazar

Spot number two is Seville’s second oldest bar, Bodega Diaz Salazar. It started off as a sherry wine taberna in 1908. As a nod to its former life, traditional sherry vats continue to be displayed at the entrance. Tabernas were the shabbier versions of its modern descendant, the tapas bar. At this proper sitdown restaurant, we were treated to a manzanilla sherry, the staple beverage of Andalusia. We scarfed down montaditos, which are bite-sized versions of the beloved bocadillo, the longer sandwich consumed all over Spain, and also had a local fried delicacy that blew our minds. We found out that dog fish, also known as sand shark, is found all. over the Mediterranean and eaten here after being seasoned adobo-style.

On The Menu: Shrimp and chorizo montaditos, Cazon en adobo (adobo-style dogfish deep fried)

Manzanilla Sherry is the perfect palate-cleanser for heavier tapas like these chorizo montaditos

3️⃣ El Atún

We ended our night of fun with a family-style al fresco feast at El Atún, meaning “the tuna.” The seafood-forward family-owned business serves up classic, rustic dishes. There was a delicious spread of local delicacies featuring Seville’s specialty tapas, spinach and chickpeas stew, as well as a fatty tuna belly bite. Our meal was paired with orange wine, which is not the same as the orange wine we westerners know of. It’s more akin to a Pedro Jimenez dark sherry. And we finished off all the savory moments with a luscious dessert.

The restaurant owners are also bullfighting super fans and brought us to their matador room where I got to try on a matador jacket. It was surprisingly very heavy! The hospitality of the restaurant owners definitely won all of us over. Watch my reel for a shot of me wearing the matador jacket!

On The Menu: Espinacas con garbanzos (spinach and chickpea stew), yellow fin tuna cooked in its own fat, tuna croquetas, tocino del cielo (heavenly lard)

The owner and founder of family-operated El Atun

Stewed meats are popular tapas in Sevilla

Honest Thoughts about Seville Tapas Experience

Devour Tour’s Tapas and Taverns History Walk was easily the most memorable and most fun food tour I’ve ever been on. Not only did I get to have a mom’s night out with my best cousin friend, but I got lucky with our fellow tour mates! This four person tour was led by the incredibly passionate and educated tour guide leading our group through a tinto de verano-charged evening. I will admit: I didn’t think we’d get to taste a lot of items only visiting three spots but we were so full by the time we got to the last place! I also didn’t realize how important the drinking aspect of the meal was. The tour operators do accommodate non-drinkers but hearing that tapas was the nation’s response to a growing alcoholism problem at tabernas made me appreciate the drinks we were given. It really does feel like drinking and tapas goes hand-in-hand so just a heads up to my sober travelers.

I really loved that Clara was also able to weave in history so seamlessly with the foods we were eating, like sharing a factoid that pork is so widely eaten in Spain because of the Inquisition as a effort to condemn Muslim and Jewish people who are non-pork eaters. I’ve struggled finding good Spanish food in the past but thanks to this tour, I really got to know and appreciate the cuisine more. This experience just reaffirmed that food tours and cooking classes are the best value add to any trip itinerary. It’s the fastest way to learn about the local culture while also getting a meal (or two!) taken care of. I highly recommend this tour if this is the only thing you do in Seville!

Our tour mates, sisters Kerry and Meme, and my awesome cousin Micaela

DISCLAIMER: I was a guest of Devour Tours, but all opinions and  photos, as always, are my own.

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