Seville – Maquila

Our chosen restaurant for our final evening meal in Seville was Maquila, a craft beer pub situated within walking distance of the city centre. The reviews of the pub were excellent, and it had the desired combination of craft beers and interesting food options. I reserved a table on-line for when the pub opened, just in case it was busy.

However, I did feel that the exterior of the restaurant was a little nondescript, and I’m not sure we’d have gone in if we had just walked by it without knowing more about it in advance.

The English version of the menu, and nearly all of the options sounded tempting.

The specials board, which was rather more extensive than I had expected. I was rather taken with the items on the main menu, but again, there were some interesting choices.

The beer selection and as this was a craft beer pub, there were plenty to choose from. I went with the Weihenstephan from Germany, but they also had a fruity saison beer, a pale ale, an IPA, a Helles lager and a New England India Pale Ale. I’d have ideally liked a darker beer to be available, but I only found this on tap in one of all of the craft beer pubs we visited, so it wasn’t a common option.

The olives to start us off with. When taking the order the staff member asked if we were going to share the meals, but as I’m British, I didn’t want any of that nonsense. I’m not that continental (or social).

This was the tapas sized portion of chicken wings with seven spice Japanese sauce, on top of noodles. The portion size was again generous given this was the small size, although I wasn’t entirely sure about the combination of noodles and chicken wings. The chicken wings could have been hotter in terms of the temperature and they seemed a little greasy, when I would have preferred a crispier edge. However, they tasted fine and the sauce had a rich and pleasant flavour.

I can’t recall actually having a Waldorf salad, so I thought I’d live the Fawlty Towers dream and order it as a tapas item. It also had chicken and prawn mixed in, which I’m not sure is traditional, but it added a little extra flavour. I rather liked it, with the crunch of the walnut and apple both adding texture. Given that it was just a tapas item, and not the racion (or plate), I felt the portion size was generous.

This was what Clive ordered and he ordered a racion, rather than just a tapas selection. It’s the Imperial Stout braised beef with lemon mashed potatoes, and the sauce was rich and full of flavour. He said that the beef was tender, and I liked the incorporation of the stout into the dish.

The crispy chicken with a creamy tandoori sauce, which I ordered as a tapas item, so the portion size seemed generous again. The chicken was crispy and they’d used dark meat which was tender and flavoursome. The sauce didn’t have a particularly strong flavour, but the chicken was excellent.

I wasn’t going to order a dessert, but the staff member really sold the French toast with ice cream and a pineapple sauce. When it arrived I was pleased that she had recommended it, although the French toast element wasn’t perhaps even necessary and was just a little bland. It was the rather lovely ice cream, which seemed home-made, and the rich pineapple sauce which really made the dish. I’ve never thought that pineapple could be so delicious, although Pineapple Fanta might be an exception….

Overall, I felt that this was an excellent bar, with a really engaging service and a contemporary design. The atmosphere was laid-back, there were some decent beers to choose from and the food was as good as I had hoped for. It wasn’t packed, even on a Friday evening, but it was still relatively busy.