Eat in Santa Marina, Córdoba

Taberna Regina ★ 4.1

Taberna Regina keeps a corner of Plaza de Regina in Córdoba, one of the houses on the city's historic-taberna register, pouring Montilla-Moriles.

Signature: Montilla-Moriles generosos, Cordobés tapas

Order: An amontillado with a plate of whatever the bar is frying.

Tip: The midday service runs Wednesday to Sunday and the only dinner sittings are Friday and Saturday, so plan an evening visit for the weekend.

Taberna Regina ★ 4.1

Taberna Regina holds a corner of Plaza de Regina in Córdoba, a registered historic taberna pouring Montilla-Moriles generosos to a mostly local room.

Signature pour: An amontillado from the house range

Wine focus: Montilla-Moriles generosos by the copa

Food: Cordobés tapas

Order: An amontillado with a plate of whatever the bar is frying.

Tip: The copa hour is midday Wednesday to Sunday, with an evening pour on Friday and Saturday only.

Mercado del Marrubial ★ 4.2

The Marrubial is Córdoba's biggest municipal market, forty-five trading pitches with ten fishmongers and, unusually, a stall selling nothing but snails.

Order: Caracoles from the market's own caracolero, in the spring snail season.

Tip: Ten fishmongers in a landlocked city is a direct product of the Mercacórdoba wholesale platform.

Taberna Regina ★ 4.1

Taberna Regina opened on its small Córdoba plaza in 1904 and still serves albóndigas de la abuela and a flamenquín stuffed with rabo de toro.

Try: Albóndigas de la abuela

Order: Albóndigas de la abuela, then the rabo de toro flamenquín.

Tip: It shuts Monday and Tuesday and serves dinner on Friday and Saturday only, so a midweek evening walk-in finds the door closed.

Taberna Regina ★ 4.1

Taberna Regina has held its corner of a quiet Córdoba plaza since 1904, off every standard walking route and open mainly for the midday service.

Why locals love it: It sits on a small plaza that no standard Mezquita-to-Corredera walking route passes, and it trades mostly at lunchtime, five days a week.

Tip: The taberna shuts Monday and Tuesday and opens for dinner on Friday and Saturday only, so time a midweek visit for the midday service.

Mercado del Marrubial ★ 4.2

The Marrubial is the biggest municipal market in Córdoba and sees no tourist trade at all, forty-five pitches including a stall selling only snails.

Why locals love it: It is the only market in Córdoba with a dedicated snail stall among its pitches, and it runs ten fishmongers in a landlocked city.

Tip: Go before 11:00 if you want the fish counters at their best; everything shuts at 14:00.