Restaurante El Fogón Sefardí

Great restaurant just off the Plaza Mayor. Great value menú del día. Excellent service from Mariano.

We rarely dislike a restaurant experience as much as this one. The bread was hard and stale. When we asked for fresh bread, the waiter was brusk and brought out another basket of stale bread. The food wasn't bad, but also wasn't good. It was boring, with little flavor. Since we had chosen this restaurant for our 25th anniversary dinner date, it was a major disappointment.

Great food in a nice environment! We tried two different menus, and each was good! We were a bit scared by the size of the first starter that came out in the menu that had three starters, but luckily the other courses were not so big!

My sisters and I were in Segovia as a day trip, and wished to make the trip thoroughly worthwhile, so we did some research and finally decided to go here for lunch in between visiting the cathedral and the castle. The restaurant, which can be entered either through its own door or through the hotel, is an interesting bit of architecture on its own and well worth observing for a few moments before concentrating on the meal. The waiter delivered impeccable service, and while he did not speak English, we made do quite well with my broken Spanish and have no regrets. The menu was pondered over the usual bread and water [with the expected minor fee, it being Europe].We ultimately decided against the price fixe and simply chose individual dishes with our usual gusto, trading back and forth the following, with a shared bottle of crisp white wine- Sopa Castellana- A hearty soup of beans and bread in a delicious stock of some sort, thoroughly delightful Falafel Israeli-Europa- Falafel balls, no more no less, quite tasty Gazpacho de Cerezas- Cherry gazpacho is precisely what the name suggests and turned out to be a refreshing cold soup still with the characteristic but gentle bite of garlic. It was quite tasty and actually turned out to be excellent spooned over the falafel, though I am quite certain the mix was never intended. Surtido de Filikas Sefardies- Tiny phyllo dough wrapped triangles with various fillings. I would cheerfully have eaten the lot of them by myself, but my sisters would have done me harm. Pato Confitado-Detapas- Duck confit served over grain with a delightful gravy Cochinillo Asado- Perhaps a strange choice for a theoretically Sephardic restaurant, but Segovia has its traditions. Not for the squeamish as there are wee ears and feet involved, the suckling pig was an absolute delicacy with crispy skin and ridiculously juicy meat. Lomo de Bacalao Superior- For whatever reason, I have always been wary of cod, perhaps because salted, it is an imposing, club-like ingredient, and hardly seems up to my usually demanding standards for freshness in fish. This cod is probably the loveliest I've ever had, with sugary caramelized leeks and tomato, a splendid crust and moist, flaky flesh underneath. I'd consider returning to Spain for this alone. The desserts we chose were the Ponche de Segovia [delicious and draped, I think, in marzipan], Tarta Charlota [less exciting, but lots of whipped cream], and the Sansaticos [more phyllo triangles with delicious filling], joined with pleasant little cups of coffee. Overall, the meal was probably the absolute best of two solid weeks in Spain.

I find food in the historic center of Segovia to be standard, often a disappointment. People seem to get excited by famed dishes even if they are prepared with rote tradition. Segovian cochinillo comes to mind (this from a fan of everything pork). El Fogón is not exactly a standout, but it was interesting. They have a menu reflecting some Sephardi dishes dating back to the days before the Spanish Empire expelled Jews from its realm. Heavy concentration on eggplant here, which I was happy to have while visiting a region of Spain where it's easy to ignore vegetables other than asparagus. Try the batter fried eggplant with honey. They also offer their award winning tapas selections the honors are received during an annual, local restaurant competition. The eggplant with anguilas (eels) was ok. Our other choice from this list of honored tapas, a tumaca smothered toast with lomo, was boring. It also felt expensive, but most restaurants in this city are due to heavy tourism. Three stars because of the interesting if not great Sephardi menu and because they try to be different in a city of culinary sameness.