Córdoba eats on its own terms: salmorejo thick enough to stand a spoon in, oxtail braised in Montilla wine, flamenquín fried the length of your forearm. Three days through market pavilions, cask-lined bodegas and kitchens reviving Al-Andalus cooking.
Andalusia's first gourmet market, housed in an 1877 cast-iron pavilion in the Jardines de la Victoria. Around 30 stalls pour Montilla-Moriles by the glass and serve salmorejo shots, Iberian ham cut to order and fried anchovies. Open 10:00–24:00 daily.
The working produce market burrowed under the arcades of the Corredera, the only Castilian-style square in southern Spain. Fishmongers, olive vats, Pedroches sheep cheese and jamón counters trade Monday to Saturday, roughly 08:00–15:00.
Tiled tavern trading since 1879 in a house off the Corredera, with an orange-tree patio and barrels ranged behind the bar. The order is salmorejo, naranjas picás (orange, salt cod, olive oil) and berenjenas con miel. Closed Sundays and all August.
Bare tiled room on Calle Judíos hung with bullfighting posters and mounted bulls' heads, where three enormous casks dispense fino, amontillado and Pedro Ximénez from the wood for about €1.50 a glass. Cash only, closed Thursdays.
The tortilla bar facing the Mezquita's eastern wall, cutting wedges from a potato omelette almost 10 cm thick onto paper plates since the 1960s. People eat it sitting on the stone steps beneath the bell tower with a cold beer.
Rambling 1928 house of stacked patios with a roof terrace level with the Mezquita's bell tower. The kitchen turns out rabo de toro braised in Montilla, salmorejo cordobés and croquetas de puchero from an open charcoal grill.
Kisko García's two-Michelin-star kitchen in Ciudad Jardín builds every course from the province: Guadalquivir eel, Los Pedroches acorn pork, Baena olive oil, Montilla wines. Tasting menu only, around 18 courses, lunch service Wednesday to Saturday.
Paco Morales reconstructs 10th-century Andalusi cooking from medieval manuscripts, refusing tomato, potato and pepper because none reached Córdoba before 1492. Zellige-tiled dining room in Cañero; seatings from 20:30, closed through high summer.
The city's breakfast institution on the square whose clock chimes a flamenco guitar on the hour. Molletes toasted with olive oil and crushed tomato, or churros dunked in chocolate thick as pudding, served at marble tables from 08:00.
Clarisse nuns have sold pastries through a wooden torno turntable on Plaza Santa Marina since 1491. You speak to an unseen voice, set coins on the revolving drum, and boxes of pastas de almendra, perrunas and magdalenas rotate back out.
Tavern built into the Almodóvar gate of the Roman walls, terrace pressed against the crenellations. Flamenquín — pork wrapped around ham, breaded and fried the length of a forearm — plus berenjenas con miel de caña and salmorejo.
The silversmiths' guild tavern on Calle San Francisco, set in a 16th-century convent courtyard with a stone fountain and Montilla drawn from the barrel. Rabo de toro, callos and salmorejo, most plates still under €10.