Restaurante Arbequina — Restaurant in Córdoba

We went here for the „Michelin tasting menu“, expecting great tastes and a journey through local cuisine. Service was nice. The menu consists of seven predefined courses. On paper, they sounded great, however the taste was a big let down.

We started off with a cold bloody mary foam, nothing wrong with it, nothing special, tomato and wodka flavours. On the menu it said „pork airbag“ - no idea what that was, couldnt find it or taste it. On the same plate came the second course, a toasted brioche with a tiny sliver of cream on top of it. This was supposed to be the sea urchin roe, but lacked any kind of its normally sweet and subtle sea flavour. Both of the dishes were not horrible, but not great either. We continued with a truffeled cheese cream with mushrooms and egg yolk. Nice, but very rich. Also not great, not horrible either. The next course was a carabinero with rice. The carabinero was nice, the rice was also okay. Decent course but again nothing i would order again. Next course was tuna with tom yum water. The tuna was okay, a little to cooked, the tom yum essence was watery and carried little flavour. The sesame was not toasted and added little flavour. There were tapioca pearls on top of the fish that did not have any taste. For fine dining no ingredient should be on the dish that does not contribute to taste, especially when the rest of the dish is also bland. The next course was one of the worst dishes I had in years. My piece of suckling pig was not tender meat, but contained a piece of either liver or kidney, cartilage and was very tough. This should never happen. The rest of the plate was ice cold, a bitter jus, cold celery cream, no idea where the wasabi was supposed to be, ice cold roasted pumpkin and raw apple pieces with still a piece of the apple core and peel on them. Then came three desserts, a lemon Creme brulee that was unremarkable, a very sweet custard with toffee and the last let down of the menu: „strawberry marshmellow with lemon effervescent and cocoa candyfloss“. This course was so bad, it was almost funny. No candy floss or cocoa in sight. It looked like a toddler had smashed some biscuit cake, plunged a marshmellow and a lemon drop on in and decorated with flowers from the garden. The marshmellow had no taste and the lemon drops were just standard supermarket lemon drops. How this can be titled as a Michelin Menu or how this restaurant could end up in the guide Michelin is a riddle to me. Maybe their normal a la carte food is better, but the tasting menu tries very hard, but lacks any kind of understanding or flavours or gourmet cuisine. Dishes desperately need refinement in taste (acidity!), plates need to be preheated for hot dishes and the concept should be revised. We gave our feedback when checking out and received a small discount on the menu price (70€ pP). However, I would honestly not have this menu again if someone...

Timing is everything - particularly when afternoon siesta is imminent. With this added pressure and little success as we made our way around various sites of interest during our day trip to Cordoba, we resorted to the tried and trusty five star hotel restaurant. A google search brought us to Palacio del Bailio and Restaurante Arbequina! In spite of an initial hint of “are you lost?” (we were after all dressed for sightseeing), our maître d’ quickly redeemed herself and ensured we felt welcome and valued - including my coeliac requirements which I was happy to note were not to derail my dining experience on this occasion. Artisan breads and a pretty darned good GF alternative served with truly noble olive oil and balsamic, were to keep us going while waiting for our mains. The quite delicious Pedro Ximénez white while not strictly speaking ideal for our main course, was very much to my liking and perfectly chilled! On my glowing recommendation, we both opted for “Rabo de toro tradicionale alcachofas y patatas baby” (Traditional oxtail stew with artichokes and baby potatoes) and a shared generous selection of char grilled vegetables. Well… not since my dear old mum cooked this meal for my husband some decades back, was I this joyful with the result! We’ve been treated to some pretty exceptional “cheeks” these past weeks - both pork and beef - but oh my god… the humble and frequently overlooked “tail end” hands down takes out the best on tour award! Clearly that “Michelin ‘25” was deservedly bestowed. But to dessert then. My cousin opted for “Crumble de manzana asada, vainilla, avellanas caramelizadas y helado de mantecado” (Baked apple crumble with vanilla, caramelized hazelnuts and shortbread ice cream); while my adapted for GF “Cremoso de leche fermentada con velo de flores, crumble y helado de violetas” (Fermented milk cream with flower veil and violet crumble ice cream) suffered no discernible hardship in catering for my needs! The trail beckoned and having consumed an extremely elegant sufficiency, not even coffee could be added! Five stars from this apprentice food critic and...

I cannot believe the bowl of peas is on the menu. I have had microwaved frozen peas that were better, leading me to believe this was exactly a bowl of microwaved frozen peas with a tiny strip of sad bacon (not pancetta) on top. I wouldn't eat it again if it was free, let alone 17 euros. Absolutely disgraceful. The lamb was fine, but pretty dry. Ceviche was fine, but kind of bland. The next morning at breakfast, I order an egg soft boiled (4 minutes), and the white of the egg wasn't even cooked all the way. Cooking an egg should be the first thing any cook learns. Thoroughly disappointing. The service was also poor, none of the waitstaff ever looked at the tables to see if any guests needed anything, they walked through the dining room staring straight at the buffet tables. In the span of 5 minutes, we had 2 other tables' coffees delivered to us, and ours delivered elsewhere.

How much did you pay for your Michelin rating? Because it certainly wasn't...