Restaurante conTenedor is a good sized place with only a chalkboard menu that is propped on a chair on top a mini-chair. Bare wood tables are set with medium sized cloth napkins and a variety of chairs. It is fairly bright with a really lively atmosphere and a good amount of art on the walls, exposed duct work and no musical background. When the place filled the noise level was significant probably because there are few absorptive surfaces. There is an old looking machine at the front that is used to print a business card for you, that declares it is a slow food restaurant. Service was helpful, efficient and super friendly. We shared a number of items that were well recommended by our fabulous server Mercedes, who also provided great translations of the menu.
Tables are set with olives. The bread had some denseness with a good crispy crust but was just okay. Seville is not a city for great bread.
Ensalada de Caqui Asados con Habitas y Espinacas Eco was a salad of greens with persimmon, peas, beans and “cooked onion”. It was refreshing and the dressing was vaguely reminiscent of “French”. It could have been mixed more in the kitchen to make it easier to serve and eat but that can be done at the table if you don’t mind a bit of mess. It was very nice and tasty.
Boletus and shitake mushrooms were prepared with an “ajoblanco, crema de chirimoya tostada y hojas de mostaza eco.” This all combined to be a custard apple sauce that was pink with 2 types of mushroom, boletus and shitake, almonds and a white garlic sauce. Both mushrooms blended great with the sauce. It was mild yet strongly flavored if that makes any sense. It was overall quite good.
“Chuletón de vaca vieja retinita con papas al romero, limon, chalotas y romesco” roughly translates to a Romanesco sauce with a southern cow’s t-bone steak served with potatoes and kumquats. It was an aged tasting beef with some parts of the meat quite tender. Parts of the fat showed definite aging. Not all parts were equally tender and the knives they served were woefully inadequate. Alongside was a sauce that wasn’t nearly as spicy as it looked. The potatoes and onions were very tasty. The onions had been browned to a caramelized state and the kumquats on the plate were a completely surprising taste that was really fun. It was a huge plate of food and could only be ordered for 2 people. We had considered adding one more dish to our order and the server was right to steer us away from that plan.
We finished with a chocolate tart that was made with hazelnuts, toffee and caramel sauce and topped with mango ice cream. The chocolate was like a giant piece of ganache but more creamy It was rich and a good sweet fix.
