Seville in August is hot. No that's underselling it; its very hot. I had booked a short break to Seville at the end of August without checking the temperatures in advance. Maybe the ease of getting hotel rooms at short notice should have been a clue but anyway I ended up in Seville and sweltered. The locals who obviously know about these things had all decamped to the coast so the city was practically empty. The only people one saw were bewildered and sweaty tourists; the modern day mad dogs and englishmen going out in the midday sun. Actually the temperature did not seem to drop much even at night as by 11.30 in the evening it was still 37°C.
was there partly to go and eat at the El Bulli hotel which is about 20 minutes outside Seville. When this first opened a few years ago I tried in vain to get a reservation only to be told that it was full up or that they had a minimum stay of two nights. I was actually quite glad not to have to eat two nights running as previous experiences in El bulli itself have left me with happy memories of far too much food and it is not something to do too often. The hotel is located in a not particularly promising small town. I got to know more of the town than I wanted as despite having a sat nav with me I ended up going round in circles trying to find the hotel before the god of angry drivers finally took pity on me and revealed a road sign that I would swear was not there the previous five times I had passed it. The building itself is very grand and once you are inside the surroundings are comfortable with a nice pool and gardens replete with day beds and floaty curtains. I felt like an intruder in a Vogue fashion shoot.
The menu is all composed of dishes that come from the great Ferran Adria and are faithfully presented by his chef Rafael Zafra. Having eaten at El Bulli previously I found that I had already eaten about half of the dishes on offer so for some of the time I was greeting old friends while the rest of the menu came as a surprise to me. I think that the surprise element is an important part of the experience as you are taken on a gastronomic journey by the chef. As at El Bulli the hotel only offers a menu degustacion. The difference is that whereas in El Bulli proper they just bring food to you, in the hotel the advertised menu came to a mere 13 dishes, some of which are single bite tapas portions and others are slightly larger. Now the El bulli experience is memorable for me as it has involved more courses than I have ever had anywhere else. Thirty courses was the last count even though some of these are just single bites. I remember on my first visit enjoying the seemingly endless stream of dishes until realising that by course number 20 we were still on the fish dishes. I got very worried that I might be faced with another 20 meat dishes but luckily Mr Adria is more interested in fish so the meat plays a very small part of the menu.
Here at Hacienda Benazuza, for such is the Hotel's official name, the menu actually came printed out so the element of surprise was distinctly lessened. I must have looked disappointed when I read the menu as the maître d' offered me the extended version which came to 20 or so dishes. I was pleased and entertained by the experience but somehow the choices did not challenge as much as some that I had eaten in El Bulli nor did they overtax the system. It's as if the choice has been made simpler and less challenging but it is still worth the detour.
The wine list is not as extensive nor as interesting as the one in EBP(El Bulli proper) and generally the food is so diverse that trying to find something that matches the cuisine will only work half of the time so its best to just choose something that is in itself interesting and keep fingers crossed that it will match at least some of the dishes.
I drank Selosse Substance which fitted the bill well as it is great and characterful champagne. This is sold as a non vintage champagne but is actually a collection of old wines that Mr Selosse produces on a solera system. The solera was I believe established in 1986 initially and he now produces around 3000 bottles anually so the wine has the appearance of a mature vintage champagne as it is composed of a mixture of all the vintages since the establishment of the solera.
For those unfamiliar with the solera principle which is principally used in the production of sherry (of which more next time) what happens is that the solera is composed initially of a certain number of barrels which will all be from the vintage in which the solera is established. Each year the new wine is added to the solera and part of the wine is drawn off to be bottled and the space left is filled with the previous years barrels. The end result is that what ends up being bottled has lovely mature characteristics but with the freshness that results from recent disgorgement.
I am becoming a great fan of the selosse wines and can recommend them to lovers of champagne. The only caveat is that these are not for the faint hearted who like bland champagne for aperitif sipping. I have heard the wines of Selosse described as being like Burgundy with bubbles and indeed they have a depth and complexity that compares with great white burgundy. It is just a pity that selosse makes so little.
The picture shows one of the aperitif courses. A jar of green olives that one is instructed to eat all in one go as they are in fact composed of olive oil that dissolves once in the mouth.
