Breads, Pastries, Cakes & Cookies Made by Nuns

To be honest, Seville’s traditional pastries aren’t outstanding. They have a tendency to be bland and sugary rather than flavorful, so keep your expectations low. There are, however, a few truly outstanding places to indulge your sweet tooth.
​

Artisan bread in Pan y Piu

​Bakeries

​Confiteria Ochoa, Calle Sierpes 45, very old school with an attentive staff and classic offerings

Convento del San Leandro, Plaza de San Ildefonso, where you buy from invisible cloistered nuns via a turntable; the cookies are just OK, but the experience is outstanding.

Pan y Piu, Calle Cabeza del Rey Don Pedro 15, truly excellent and the only place I buy bread or croissants

The torno (turntable) at San Leandro

​Desserts

Bolas, three locations, ice cream from fresh ingredients, options for those on special diets

Gollerías, Calle P edro Pérez Fernández, 29, hands-down the most delicious cakes in town
 
Vineria San Telmo, P.º de Catalina de Ribera, 4, serves Gollerías cakes by the slice
​

Gollerías cakes in Vineria San Telmo's display case

Click on the map to find these sweets spots.

The Art of the Second Breakfast

Sevillanos like to refresh themselves with a midmorning break at a nearby café, enjoying a second round of coffee and toast to fortify themselves until lunch.
​
To accommodate the second-breakfast habit, the city has café-bars on practically every block. Some are grand, an increasing number are corporate efforts, and the hipsters outdo one another in providing quirky environments, flat whites, and wifi workspaces. But the mainstay continues to be modest little neighborhood places you wouldn’t look at twice in the US.

​To American eyes, plain white tables and plastic chairs suggest mass-produced, substandard food; a back alley location would be another red flag. But those rules of thumb do not hold true in Seville. The locals love small, inexpensive neighborhood places that have been around for years, with traditional cooking and tiny tables for intimate conversations. 

Merienda (afternoon snack) is often taken at an outdoor cafe.

Merienda (Afternoon Snack)

Sevillanos embrace the post-siesta snack with the same enthusiasm they show for all the other pleasures of culinary life in this city.

One of the tastier options is a torta de aceite (olive oil cookie), invented here in Seville by Ines Rosales in 1910 and still sold wrapped in old-style waxed paper. In addition to the original anís, you can get them in various sweet and savory flavors including orange, cinnamon, and sesame. You’ll find them in countless local bakeries and shops as well as the Ines Rosales store in Plaza San Francisco.

Other local specialties include torrijas (similar to French toast but served cold, bathed in honey), milihojas de crema, (flaky pastry filled with whipped cream), spongy little muffins called magdalenas, crumbly Christmas cookies known as polvorones (literally dusty ones), yemas (an insanely sweet candy made of egg yolk and sugar), and huesos de santo (bones of the saint, a kind of marzipan stuffed with yema). For January's feast of the Three Kings, everyone buys Roscón de Reyes, a donut-shaped cake stuffed with whipped cream; a single bean is hidden inside for luck. 


These are just some of the offerings you'll see on local café tables around 5:00 pm every day as Sevillanos gather to enjoy every sip and nibble of their merienda.