Cordoba's signature dish is salmorejo — a thick, garlicky cold soup of bread, tomato, olive oil and vinegar, topped with chopped jamón and hard-boiled egg, and richer than gazpacho. Try it once and you'll order it again. The other classics worth chasing down are rabo de toro (slow-braised oxtail), flamenquines (rolled pork-and-ham fritters), and berenjenas con miel (fried aubergine with cane-sugar molasses).
Tapas culture here runs alongside Seville and Granada — most bars in the centre will plate up a small portion with your drink, and a couple of rounds usually adds up to dinner. Eat late: lunch from 2pm, dinner rarely before 9pm.