Eterno Restaurant, Seville – Review

Andalusian soul food from a chef inspired by his family’s recipe book and the region’s extraordinary produce. Eterno Restaurant is an intimate restaurant in central Seville, created by Chef José Luis Pastrana, is a secret I almost want to keep to myself, with its fabulous, competitively priced tasting menu, and a tempting wine list that barely leaves the south.

I first met Chef José Luis Pastrana a few years ago when he was running the kitchen at Balbuena y Huertas, the restaurant at the Cavalta hotel in Seville’s Triana. In six months, he picked up both a Michelin recommendation and a Repsol Sol. Then he left to do his own thing.

He created Eterno, a restaurant that captured the spirit of meaningful moments that stay with you. The restaurant first opened on the outskirts of Seville and has now found it city centre home in Calle Zaragoza 18, right in the heart of the Andalusian capital.

The Restaurant

The new space is intimate and minimalist. Blond wooden tables, organic lamp shades, and touches evocative of Andalusia, such as the ceramic botijo water vessels. The team is young and knowledgeable, and the service has the warmth of people who genuinely enjoy what they do. Chef Pastrana comes to the table during the meal.

The Food

The menu is divided into purezas (pure, clean plates built around a single excellent product) and guisos (slow-cooked stews, sauces and broths drawn from Andalusian family cooking). You can eat à la carte or hand yourself over to the eight-course Degusta Eterno tasting menu, with an optional wine pairing. The value is remarkable.

Chef Pastrana’s cooking is personal. He talks openly about his mother’s kitchen, her handwritten recipe book, and the smell of her stews. His opening statement on the menu reads: “Mi cocina es andaluza. Es un abrazo a la tradición y al sabor.” My cuisine is Andalusian. It is an embrace of tradition and flavour. He uses serious, contemporary techniques for time-honoured recipes, giving them a wonderful modern feel.

What We Ate

We had a memorable lunch. It started with an ensaladilla de atún mechado, drizzled with local Seville olive oil, and a homemade pâté with figs. Then langoustines in manteca colorá, the paprika-spiced lard that is one of Andalucía’s great unsung ingredients.

The standout was the guiso de tomate, gamba y bollo preñao de yema. At first sight, it appears a simple dish of prawns in a rich tomato sauce. But it’s standout. Inspired by his grandmother’s recipe, it is served with a warm fritter filled with egg yolk that you squeeze over the dish. This is the kind of food where you eagerly order more bread (The sourdough bread comes from Panadería El Motor in Marchena).

A ravioli de pringá, the slow-braised meat mixture from a Seville puchero, came wrapped in rice paper with egg, and then a jug of the puchero stock was poured at the table. Simple. Deeply flavoured.

The Wider Menu

The full carte is concise and seasonal. Among the purezas and natural oysters, foie micuit with cotton candy, Almadraba bluefin tuna croissant with Payoyo cheese, and a creamy cockle ensaladilla with manzanilla air. The stews and vegetables section runs from cuttlefish albondiguillas in a yellow sauce to spinach with Escacena chickpeas and a fried egg. Rice dishes include a creamy arroz of carabinero prawn and sea anemone. Meats run to boneless oxtail with smoked jowl, marinated venison loin, and a beef tenderloin with potato terrine.

The Wine

The wine list focuses heavily on Andalucía, with sherries, whites and reds from Cádiz, Huelva, Seville, Córdoba and Granada, with around 160 references in total. We drank a crisp Huelva white that matched the seafood beautifully. It’s a smart, regional list that avoids the obvious choices.

The Chef

Pastrana trained under Manolo de la Osa in Cuenca, worked in five-star hotels and Michelin kitchens, and has distilled all of that know-how into something that feels genuinely his own. Eterno is not trying to be modern for the sake of it. It is a contemporary Andalusian restaurant that respects its roots, serves beautiful produce, charges fairly and makes you feel welcome from the moment you sit down.