And speaking of Javier Muñoz, the newly minted Repsol sunned “sherry chef” of La Carboná, he has extended his expertise to Sevilla, opening a new restaurant, Amorío with a 12 meter bar, which just won a Gurmé Sevilla award for best opening of the year.
But it’s not in the historic quarter but instead in the Nervión district, the quarter where the Santa Justa rail station sits.
One to watch…
Shawn´s review here.
Maribel,
I just read your news about Javi Munoz–I’ll keep an eye on reviews of his Nervion venture.
Chef Munoz was not at LA CARBONA last night, understandable from Maribel’s news about his new Sevilla venture. If AMORIO is near to as great as is LA CARBONA, it should be addition to the city’s already hot dining scene.
The relatively few foreign tourists who visit Jerez come for one or three, of these reasons: Sherry bodegas; horses; and flamenco.
Despite its well-deserved designation as the "2026 City of Spanish Gastronomy,). Jerez does seem to be on the radar of those Reddit “Fine Diners,” or any other English-language online fodder I’ve consumed lately, and it’s not exactly blanketed by the few Spanish gastro blogs I’ve peeked at… (Maribel, tell me if I am wrong here…I imagine your fave gastric critic (is it CM?) has been and gone a hundred times, but news of the food scene here just by passed me…I did not research because I knew that my one dinner would be at LA CARBONA.
Preparing to translate my notes into this report, about my sole dinner on my one night in Jerez. I flew from Barcelona to Sevilla. (Wednesday is the only day that Vueling has no direct flight BCN to XRY; driver-known-to me who I highly recommend, drove me from Sevilla airport to my hotel in Jerez. There are so many restaurants in Jerez I’ve not tried, including two that are high on the “fancy” side and just don’t grab me for my usual quick in-and-out overnight in Jerez, but I pretty mcc knew when I booked, that’s I’d return to LA CARBONA.
My dinner last night was every great as those in recent years. I’m sitting here with my photos and notes and I check Maribels’recent report, above.
Turns out I’m off the hook, because my dinner was a replica of theirs! So no chatter here, just a few photos, of the gorgeous interior:
My dinner, a mirror of Maribel’s, above. (I don’t’ know why these are not posting..)
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I don’t follow at all the Reddit “fine diners”, but Jerez is now coming into focus among the many Spain gastro blogs and food critics that I follow, particularly because it has been named the 2006 City of Gastronomy. And yes, the gastro critics have paid recent visits. One particular critic loved the cuisine and service at Albalá, so put it on your list. He did not, however, say kind words about the newly renovated city icon, El Gallo Azul, which I´m sure you passed by at one point. Don´t put it on your list unless you happen to want a late night wine after a flamenco performance, but you can do far better elsewhere.
Yes, there are 2 Michelin starred places that we have purposely avoided because we try to avoid long tasting menus these days—Lu, Cocina y Alma by Juanlu Fernández and Mantúa by Ismael Ramos.
But we love Ismael Ramos´s casual dining spot, Albalá, which I highlighted above that never fails us.
We didn’t get to try Juanlu’s casual place, Bina Bar, which is a long walk from the historic quarter, but we’ve put it on our list for next time. Very good reviews.
Now one begins to read many articles about this City of Gastronomy distinction in the Madrid press at least.
Interesting enough, the city of Jerez itself has been strangely slow in promoting its new honor. We saw only one sign promoting this, a lone sign above the entrance to the Mercado de Abastos. However, the tourist board is busy promoting the city’s candidacy for Europe’s “Capital Europea de la Cultura”
in 2031. Go figure…
Those visitors who love to taste sherries while snacking on small plates in a convivial setting with 2 charming hosts should make their way to the new “Albariza en las Venas”, run by enthusiastic wine lovers and former sherry bodega workers. It’s handy to the Royal School of Equestrian Art and also for lunch at the lovely Albalá.
Not sure if the pics, above will load (wireless can be a tin bit dotty here. While I’m waiting to see if they post, I look back at my Jerez pics from 2023 (the dark ages when ek had yet to master posting photos on this site…). and I see a few pics of mu solo dinner in 2023.
Master Chef Javi Munoz Soto; he was so warm on that first dinner’ he advised me on what to choose and chatted with me during my meal. Three years later----so thrilled for this diligent and enthusiastic native of Murcia.
Last night’s pics have yet to post, so here goes, a few shots in LA
, from March 2023
Dinner, solo: March, 2023 CHEF JAVI MUNOZ
Here’s a last stab at posting last night’s dinner; no worries, because the dinner was the exact same one as Los Seńores Maribel enthused about a week or so ago:
Walking back from LA CARBONA to my hotel about 11pm or so…this city is achingly picturesque, especially at night.
Yes, chef Javier is very warm and welcoming, eager to chat and gladly posed for photographs on our visit with his newly minted Repsol sun, along with his wife (I suspect, your greeter and head of the house, “the boss”).
But he’s not a native of Murcia. He was born in Jerez in 1983, a native jerezano tried and true, and his parents, as I mentioned above, started the restaurant as an Asador. He starting honing his cooking schools in the sherry triangle at age 16!
There are several interesting times to visit Jerez–
for me, during the International Flamenco Festival, held yearly during February-March, when the most prominent flamenco dancers in Spain come to perform and to give classes to their students who come from all parts of the globe, especially important to aspiring flamenco dancers in Japan.
for dedicated sherry lovers, during the Vinoble (Salón International de Vinos Nobles), that our friend Azahar Sevilla Tapas attends every year, as she’s a cerfiifed sherry educator. It happens on the last weekend of May. This year, from May 30 to June 1.
also for me, Holy Week (Semana Santa) with the most solemn, intense processions of all of Andalucía, but void of the massive tourists crowds of Sevilla and Málaga. One of Spain’s oldest and with the most brotherhoods. It reaches its “fever peak” on Maundy Thursday through Good Friday, the two most important days with the most processions.
during the annual horse fair in May, Feria del Caballo (if you’ve seen that episode of José Andrés & Family in Spain), a replica, of sorts, of the April Seville Fair but not so internationally known
during Christmas, from Dec. 1- to Dec. 24 for the “zambombas”, the impromptu flamenco singing and dancing at night on the city’s squares.
in the fall for the Festival de la Vendimia, the harvest festival, from the very end of August until mid-September.
This sounds fantastic!
It really is fantastic. What is most exciting is being in the audience in the two venues, Teatro Villamarta, the main performance hall, and the smaller Sala Compañía, sitting among the locals, the true, die hard flamenco aficionados and the students, who interact with the performers (shouting out, yelling, stomping) and are hugely enthusiastic. So different from experiencing flamenco in a tourist-filled tablao in Madrid or Sevilla or elsewhere. I’m surrounded by flamenco experts when attending an event during the festival.
Tickets go really quickly, though, when they appear online in November on the festival page here.
Maybe next year!! 
Seriously consider it! The dining is fantastic, as is the sherry sipping in the lively tabancos and the electric performances in the all the festival venues. And temps are mild. Easy train travel from Madrid or Sevilla and easy excursions by train to El Puerto de Santa Maria and Cádiz and easy bus to Sanlúcar de Barrameda and to Arcos de la Frontera. Or fly from Madrid to Jerez. No need for a car at all. We stayed for 7 nights so didn’t opt for the pricey but gorgeous Casa Palacio Maria Luisa but instead stayed at at 3-star that punches well above its weight, the new-ish, art filled Palacio Corredera, a reconverted mansion, perfectly located for walking everywhere. There are tons of tourist apartments as well (too many, actually).
Of course, he’s not from Murcia! I confused Chef Javier Munoz Soto with Chef Javier Munoz Callero…not to be confused with Javier Cuesta Munoz!!!
Time to get under the covers here, in the countryside of the province of Cadiz!
Excellent recommendations as always! I was thinking of a week or so in London, so maybe a week or so in Spain could be possible as well. We’ll see how things pan out.
And a wonderful hotel as well.
Maribel, about those Conil tomatoes we both had in the tartare at LA CARBONA:
I have not yet made a trip to the Cooperative Los Virtudes, but I did spy beautiful-looking tomatoes today in the Vejer Carrefour. Origin is Andalucia but they did not say where…would these be the much-vaunted ones?? Price sign got cut out of photos but they were very reasonable as compared to the US…maybe abut 4 euro per kilo??
Here I’ll just add, for Peter and others, some pics I took during my morning amble around and inside the market. Look at this gorgeous city, just ordinary scenes on an ordinary weekday in March:
Entrance and breakfast area of CASA PALACIO MARIA LUISA
Market scenes; this woman is cleaning spring vegetables: “tagarninas.”
More Jerez photos of ours
Window shopping for a feria traje de flamenca
More Jerez dining
coquinas at A Mar, an excellent seafood restaurant
A mollette covered with salmorejo??? The gastronomic treasures are just infinite!
In three stays in Jerez, I have seen no flamenco, no horses except a group walking along the avenue on their way to the arena, and visited briefly only one bodega. But even then, my enchantment with this city knows no bounds, and I have a full plate on my card for a near-future stay…
Already turning over plans for next year…
A mollete covered with salmorejo or a tostada covered in salmorejo is very typical of Jerez and actually mostly of Andalucía, and we had it every morning at Bodeguita Casablanca in Sevilla.
On your next visit you might attend the horse ballet at the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art, “How the Andalusian horses dance”, “Como bailan los caballos andaluces”. All sight lines are great and everyone runs to the bar during the intermission for a glass of sherry. It´s a 90-minute show, staring at noon on Tuesdays, Fridays and sometimes in high season on Saturdays and is handy to Albalá by Israel Ramos for a terrific lunch.
These are the cousins to Vienna’s Lipizzaners, whose “ballet” I saw many years ago.
The Saturday shows at the Yeguada de la Cartuja are another exciting and quite different option but that requires a car or a long taxi ride.
Which bodega did you visit briefly? We love Tradición, that has a priceless art collection and a very high level tasting, plus Lustau, handy to lunch at La Carboná, Rey Fernando de Castilla and Faustino González.
These are all sherry wineries, producing vinos generosos not “vinos tranquilos” (dry, not fortified)
The sherry visits to Tío Pepe and Sandeman are quite touristy but best for those who are first time sherry bodega visitors.
The bodegas producing merlots and unfortified sherries, vinos de pasto, are located outside of town, Forlong and Luis Pérez, and there is one in Sanlúcar as well, in the Barrio Alto along with Barbadillo–It´s Muchada-Léclapart, whose wines we enjoyed at Desde 1911.
Jerez, for me, is perfect for a leisurely 7-day stay. We’ve already signed up for Holy Week next year, after Córdoba, as the processions here are extremely solemn and some of the oldest in Andalucía. The high point is Maundy Thursday through Good Friday, but anytime is a great time to be in Jerez, except in July-August when the Tío Pepe music festival is going on----it’s just too hot!
A recent night scene
For a week in Jerez, one can easily take the very inexpensive and frequent Cercanías (suburban/commuter) train to El Puerto de Santa María or to Cádiz and also the local bus to Sanlúcar de Barrameda , the other town in the “sherry triangle” (best not on Sunday), or even the bus to Arcos de la Frontera but…
to Vejer de la Frontera, Barbate, Zahara de los Atunes, Conil de la Frontera, Tarifa, the ruins of Baelo Claudia and really all of the Costa de la Luz, including the very fancy resorts of Novo Sancti Petri (Chiclana de la Frontera), one should have a rental car.
Related to conversation, above, about the tomatoes from Conil de la Frontera’s huertas, here is a photo I took yesterday in Carrefour, Vejer. The tomatoes are from COOPERATIVE LAS VIRTUDES, but I wonder if these are different from those we had in the tartar of tomatoes at LA CARBONA:
They also had these, which look better., more like the RAF tomatoes.
But I am used to tomatoes in the US, so no idea which of these promise better things on the plate:
You can always fill out the online form and ask them who their purveyor is.
Or send them an email :
comunicacion@lacarbona.com
Or perhaps ask them that question on their Instagram (I follow them).
And I subscribe to their newsletter.
