Lalola de Javi Abascal — Restaurant in Seville

We visited on Tuesday for the pork tasting menu, having a desire to try our first Michelin star restaurant and our first tasting menu. We found the venue to be clean, inviting and with an air of quiet sophistication, despite reading mixed reviews about it being in a hotel lobby, we actually quite liked the ambiance. From the tables to the chairs to everything in between, it felt like a solid place to dine. Our server, Antonio, went above and beyond and exceeded our expectations, it certainly felt as though it was a great place based on his warmth, knowledge, and general demeanour throughout the night. The rest of the team were similarly friendly and welcoming. He was very happy to talk through wines with us, and always had a smile and some personal tidbit or thought to add to our experience of the food.

Now. Onto the main reason we visited, and the sole reason for the low overall score. Although we had high expectations, we felt that many of the dishes failed to impress. To start, we were given a gelatinous pork square in a glass, to be stirred into a broth with hot water poured by our waiter. It was light and delicate, and felt like a porky palate cleanser to start the night. We enjoyed the interactive element of the dish, and while not brimming with flavour it felt like an understated tone setter for the evening. 6/10. Next up was probably our favourite dish of the night. Scallop tartar with pepper purée and shrimp mayo atop a slice of pork. This matched what we had come for: excellent flavours combining seamlessly to create a symphony of tastiness. 10/10. Next up was a red cabbage soup with a slither of aged pork. It was fairly tasty, but didn’t spark the same flames as the scallop dish. 6/10.

We then moved onto the main courses, the first being a pork tongue pâté with a sauce and a cooling leaf. I say sauce, as I can’t remember what it was it was that unremarkable. The cooling leaf wasn’t even cooling, just tasted of foliage. 3/10. This was followed by a bean purée with crispy pancetta style pork, served with chimichurri sauce. This was pretty good, although felt like a scaled down version of a regular sort of meal you’d have in a typical mid-high end Spanish restaurant. 7/10. We then had a kidney patty/burger, which was almost flavourless and with a slimy texture. The sauce did nothing beneficial except to mask this unpleasantness. The pak choi added a splash of colour I suppose. The picked allium on top was the only (limited) saving grace. 1/10. Moving on, the marinated secreto iberico (one of my favourite bits of the Iberico pig) was just okay, and was desperately in need of a sprinkle of course salt. The sweetcorn sauce accompaniment was too sweet and didn’t pair very well unfortunately. 4/10. For our final main dish, we were served slow cooked pork shoulder with a sort of dauphinois with hollandaise sauce. Again, the pork could’ve done with more salt and the accompaniments were of little help in elevating the dish to the next level. 5/10.

The desserts were fine, nothing to note really just a sweet way to end the meal. 6/10. We had a nice evening, and although the food let us down, it was still interesting to try it out. We are confused as to whether we caught the pork menu on a bad day, or whether the Michelin star has lost its grandeur as we simply cannot believe this meal would...

If you’re too lazy to read — TLDR, it was fantastic and I would visit this place again.

I had a glass of wine — was okay, probably not the most memorable but went well with the dishes.

Appetizer: Frisona cow roast beef, with cured egg yolks, truffle mayonnaise and onions caramelized in Oloroso wine from Jerez

Sweet from the caramelised onions, but was salted a bit too much. There was a subtle hint of the truffle — would prefer for it to be stronger. Meat is very tender and melts in the mouth. Warm toasted bread to soak up the remaining sauce yum! But it costs 2.5€ (wasn’t aware till the bill came)

Main: Iberian pork rice, with mushrooms and smoked Idiazabal cheese

Smokiness from the cheese came though, meat is super tender and a little smoky. Also has the right amount of fat. Some parts are a little charred and crispy, which I love. Mayonnaise was probably redundant? It is rather salty but overall good dish. Can afford to put in more veg to break the heaviness of the dish. Key to a good meal is… having everything in the right proportion. So having less rice would be ideal.

Dessert: Heaven’s bacon

wow wow wow. I felt actual joy eating this. Little sugary crumbs pop in your mouth. Perfect end to the meal.

Service is 11/10 — Special mention to Gonzalo who speaks fantastic English, and made the patrons feel right at home. His recommendations hit the spot for me and I had a very enjoyable dining experience. Didn’t push for me to order the most expensive stuff as well.

I also think it’s priced very reasonably for the quality of the food.

Would I eat...

Simply put, this restaurant is not at the level that can be recommended by Michelin. Maybe it was, but indeed the experience I had yesterday it was not. Apart from the very cold atmosphere, first bad impression was granted by visiting the restrooms: dirty and without toilet paper. The menu was very scruffy, very used, not to mention the winelist presentation.. very unclassy. The menu itself: basically only pork and divided in sections that do not really make sense.. also in the website it doesn not says that is specialized in pork. I asked the server what was "abanico" and the answer was: "a part of the pork". I asked which one, and the answer was " I will ask". So not a very knowledgeable staff. When we ordered we have been asked about the cooking of the meat.. if we wanted well cooked, medium, not too cooked... really ?? This is not beef. Anyway the meat was nothing special, with an embarassing side of 4 small pieces of cauliflower on one dish, and a tiny rectangular potato thing on the other. The desserts as well very very bad, poor quality and just not tasting good. I had way better desserts in any other bodegas or tapas bar in Sevilla. At least the wine was very good. It was my last night is Seville, and of the worst meal experiences I had in the last 5 years, with also an expensive bill....