EBG Rating: 8.5/10

Choice/Quality of Drinks:
❤️❤️❤️❤️
Style/Décor:
❤️❤️❤️❤️
Atmosphere/Character:
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Amenities/Events:
❤️❤️
Value For Money:
❤️❤️❤️❤️

Description:
One of Spain’s most distinctive bars, Taberna La Manzanilla is a sherry Bodega, originally a wholesaler when it opened in the 1930s, but, like so many, it evolved over the decades into becoming a tavern.

Everything about this place is marvellous, and I would have drunk the place dry had here not been other venues to experience.

Here, under a curved arch, large racked sherry casks are displayed directly behind the bar top in a singular manner, with the menu to the left of the entrance.

The charismatic frontman pours the sherry direct from the barrel which is presented in a simple glass with a few olives.

The sherries on offer are local (although depending where you draw the line, virtually every Andalusian sherry is near enough Cadiz) Bodegas Delgado Zuleta in Sanlúcar de Barrameda. This town is known for Manzanilla due to the soil, which produces a certain saltiness which distinguishes it from Fino.

The bar top is very much centre stage of the rhythms of this bar. You’re stood in a space that is very social, civilised, both refined and indulgent all at once. Yet in the manner almost of a Knajpa in shape and furnishings, there is a compact and cosy back room of large wooden tables and chairs behind which are affixed large bullfighting and festival posters in the patrician Taberna style, which compliment the place wonderfully.

If that was all there was, that’d be enough, but if you look around you’ll find display cabinets opposite and adjacent to the bar stuffed with memorabilia to pore over.

Few bars inspire a genuine longing to return, and writing this review really underscores how much I loved it. I’m pretty sure you will too.

Also if you’re crying about a lack of beer, cocktails or whatever – Don’t be a baby – order a sherry.

(Added September 2026)