Abantal

Abantal is Julio Fernández Quintero's restaurant on Calle Alcalde José de la Bandera in Seville, between Menéndez Pelayo and Luis Montoto. It holds a Michelin star for creative cooking rooted in Andalusian tradition.

Its name is the old word from which delantal, the Spanish for apron, descends, a modest image for a kitchen that has been working since 2004. Fernández Quintero, head chef and co-owner, trained at the school of La Taberna del Alabardero in Seville. By the end of 2020 Abantal had kept its star for longer than any other restaurant in the city, and at that year's gala it was the only Seville address to hold on to its rating. Spain's Repsol guide gives it two suns.

The kitchen works with local, seasonal produce and pushes familiar Andalusian flavours towards a more experimental style, with occasional Arab notes. Meals are built around tasting menus, each with the option of a wine pairing. A menu from a few years back opened with ajoblanco under avocado cream and a puchero broth topped with mint foam, then moved to sea bass tartare with a gazpacho of roasted vegetables, sherry vinegar ice cream and strawberries. Iberian presa came with a truffled cream of roasted pumpkin, figs, pomelo and lime, hake with spinach cream and chickpea foam, and the meal closed with a light poleá with pestiño and cinnamon ice cream. Names like puchero and poleá keep the local vocabulary on the menu even when the format is new.

Architects Santiago Pérez Barreda and Jaime Márquez Escudero designed the dining room, a minimalist space with southern touches where cool granite meets warmer oak and the kitchen is in view from the entrance. After a renovation, Michelin's inspectors likened the decor to a museum, and a chef's table inside the kitchen puts a few guests next to the stoves. A plain room keeps attention on plates that carry most of the colour.