Lovely setting for our Withlocals dinner.
In an effort to find you the most awesome things to do in Seville, or for that matter, Asia and other corners of the world, we have boldly sacrificed our taste buds, just so we can bring you this review :-). I am delighted to say that this was a complete success. A very unique foodie experience that l would not hesitate to repeat. We had fun, and interacted with a wonderful local hostess. A runaway success!
Our hostess in the middle and the other diner.
Truthfully, l had never heard of Withlocals experiences prior to this interaction. It’s a rather unique concept. It is described as a marketplace that connects travelers with locals. Most people nowadays are not content to just go to the same old places, see and do the same old things. They are looking for more authentic experiences. One of the best ways is of course to interact with the locals of a particular place. How to go about it though? You just can’t invite yourself to dinner with a stranger on the street, can you?
Withlocals:
This is where Withlocals comes in. They arrange for you to have a meal with a local host who prepares whatever sort of dishes you agree on, be it authentic fare from the region, or like us, a potpourri menu. After being in Seville for a few months now, we welcomed the chance to eat something else, along with tapas of course ;-).
Wonderful and delicious home made pita bread..
Thanks to Withlocals who arranged our dinner with our hostess Damaris. We had a wonderful evening with her and another diner. We met up at her place at the arranged time. She had thoughtfully made sure to ask if we had any allergies, and to what sort of food we liked. She opened the door to greet us with a huge smile which immediately put us at ease. Her place is in the Seville center so it was not that hard to find. It was on one of those lovely tiny little streets that are the norm in the center.
The table was already set when we got there, and she had put out the appetizers, which was awesome as l was hungry. My eyes lit up at the home made hummus, which l love. It was presented in a Moroccan tagine . It looked and tasted awesome. Let me just show you the menu :-)
Croquetas de setas (Mushroom croquettes) – I almost didn’t have any of these. I am not a big fan of them for some reason. Federico, however dove in with gusto and he insisted that l try it. Boy, am l glad l did. They were fantastic! I forgot to ask if they were home made, l suspect so because of how fresh they tasted.
Lovely, tasty tapas..Federico said he didn’t want to look like a glutton, as he could have eaten all the croquetas by himself. :-)
Tostas de salmorejo y jamon (Ham and puree toast) – They were as good as it sounds. I love anything and everything with ham. This is an Andalusian specialty. The puree is made of tomatoes, oil and garlic etc, and served cold. I admit l only had one piece. I was saving myself for something else..
Hummus y pan de pita casero (Hummus and homemade pita bread) – I love, love hummus! a lot, especially homemade ones. The pita bread were hot as she had just made them. I admit that l ate quite a bit of this.
Yummy hummus with paprika.
Tabbouleh – I am so mad at myself because along with this, she had some homemade tabbouleh …and yep! we forgot to take a picture of it. I guess we were so busy stuffing our faces, we didn’t realize it until l was checking out the photos at home. For those unfamiliar with tabbouleh – It is a Lebanese vegetarian dish. It’s made with tomatoes, parsley, onion, mint and bulgur. It is also very delicious. The traditionalists will say it’s not real tabbouleh if it’s not made with bulgur, that it’s just a couscous salad if you substitute with couscous, which looks almost the same. I don’t care. They both taste great. I hadn’t had any for decades. One of my very good friends in college was Lebanese and she used to make it for us… aaahhh… If l didn’t hate cooking so much, l might attempt to make it. Her boyfriend is from Morocco so we had the good stuff, right down to the spices! :-). A good reminder that l need to unpack and start using the tagine pots that we brought back from our trip to Marrakesh.
Wikipedia image..
Revuelto de bacalao y patatas (Cod fish,eggs and potatoes) – This was very tasty, and super fresh. She made it at the moment. By this time, l was super stuffed, but managed to eat my share :-).
Revuelto..
Tarta de mousse de limon (Lemon mousse cake) – What can l say? There is always room for dessert!!! It was scrumptious.
This was so good :-)
I loved the fact that everything was freshly prepared. She also had Cruzcampo beer (the best selling beer of Spain, and is manufactured in Seville), Andalusia wine as well as fresh lemonade and ice cold water for us to drink. The conversation flowed very nicely, and the time passed quickly. We got to make new friends. It served another purpose as we got to practice our Spanish with natives (well, l cheated and mostly spoke English, but Federico spoke in Spanish a lot). On the whole, we really enjoyed this experience. I would definitely recommend Withlocals if you are in Seville, or Barcelona, or Madrid as they are expanding from Asia . They also arrange activities and tours with locals. Nothing like having your own personal guide when you go places. Our hostess herself, did not know about us coming to review the experience, which made it even more authentic.
Inspired? Pin it for later.
What about you? Does Withlocals experience sound like something you would like to try? or are you a stick in the mud that only likes restaurants and familiar places? Nothing wrong with either one of course, but we like a bit of adventure, and this was a nice one.
Hey Kemkem,
I was interested in this post because a couple of weeks ago we had a dinner using EatWith which I think must be a competitor of WithLocals.
Like you it was a nice experience: pleasant conversation, good food, nice wines. Your dinner looks very similar to ours, simple, local flavours.
But there were a few things that I made it that I would not do it again, at least here in Budapest. Firstly, we paid $92 USD ($124 CAD) which is very expensive for a simple 3 course dinner (we pay a lot less at a nice restaurant here with wine etc). Secondly: we didn’t feel that we came out of it knowing more about Budapest or the people we met. Like any other dinner, it is only as good as the people and conversation that takes place. And some people like to monopolize. We also got the feeling that once dessert was finished that ok, was time to go…Just felt that the hosts were looking at the clock.
In the end, we came out of with a pleasant but expensive and maybe empty feeling experience that I’m not sure we would repeat.
The concept however is great as we want to meet more locals and discover a place through them. Maybe we try it again somewhere else in the future.
Frank (bbqboy)
Hello there…so bummed that your experience was a bit off :-(. That does sound kind of pricy for what you got. I’ve been to Budapest and know what you can get for that amount. You’re right, the experience is only as the hosts. Luckily, we had a very nice hostess who was born and raised in Jerez, just a stone’s throw away and has lived in Seville pretty much her whole life. She was chock full of information, little things l did not know :-). We talked easily, about her grandmother, her mom (my age, we are both having hot flashes :-) ) etc.. I think you should give it another chance, maybe like you said..not there.. How about in Seville? :-)
Just finished writing about it Kemkem: http://bbqboy.net/review-dining-experience-eatwith-budapest/. And have included the link to this post as a comparison.
Frank (bbqboy)
Cool! I look forward to reading it and comparing.. :-)
Hey Frank,
We send you a ray of local happiness, check your inbox :)
Madalina
Happiness is always a good thing. :-). Thank you
You guys and all your yummy food all the time. I mean, seriously! =)
I guess we just love food.. :-). It was yummy though!
What a cool concept! Maybe I missed it, but how much does one of these types of things cost? I think it’s a cool side hustle. And as always the food looks amazing!
It is pretty cool isn’t it as a side hustle. Price ranges from €15-30 per person. Hers was €20. The food was great..especially the mushroom croquetas. It made me “get it” as everyone is always raving about them around these parts, including Fede, but l was never convinced. Now l am.
I’ve been wanting to try this…I’ve read great things. There’s another one called EatWith.com. Unfortunately, neither offer experiences for our upcoming travels this year or else we’d be all over it. Everything looks yum!
You should when you get to a destination that offers it. It was a really great night. Nice to chat with people that have a great sense of pride of their city and were willing to share. It wa syum!! :-)
omg, i LOVE this concept!!! I would totally sign up…do they have it in other countries, too?
It’s pretty cool..isn’t it? We enjoyed it. They have been in different parts of Asia and have just started up in Spain.. :-)
What a great idea! I never heard of Withlocals, but it sounds amazing – that’s how you can get the real taste of a country/city/region :) Homemade food is awesome and it seems that you had quite a treat. I am a big fan of hummus myself, and it looked delicious – just like everything else on the menu!
It does let you get a true taste, and you’re right..the food was really, really good. The hummus was so fresh, very yummy.. I could have eaten all the tabbouleh by myself too :-). I had never heard of them either, but glad that l do now. :-)
How cool is this?! I love the whole AirBnB / Uber / dine with locals / home exchange movement – things that actually get you into local people’s spaces and allow you to interact authentically a bit. So much better than traveling to a new city and getting overcharged for mediocre food in some touristy restaurant. Great review!
Yeah..the times..they are a changing :-). It is a very unique idea, and one l can get into, because even if we buy the same things and try to cook it the Spanish way, it will still be different than a local person doing it. We enjoyed it, and would definitely try it in other places. Thanks :-)