18009 Granada
Spain
Phone: +34 958 222 405
Website
This patisserie was the first opened by Casa Isla in Granada (the original was founded in the nearby town of Santa Fe in the 19th century) and it was one of the few patisseries in the city when I was a kid. The place was a hang-up place for families on Sundays, after Mass, and was one of those places you would go to buy your sweets for birthdays and presents.
This is not a posh in vogue patisserie place by any means, as it is an old very small cafe, with a very limited seating area. Still, it has some elements that remind the visitor of its former splendour years, with a lovely marble counter, the chandelier lamps, the framed Royal Appointment, among other elements of decoration. The chairs used to be the traditional wooden ones, round tables, which I miss, because they made the perfect old-style cafe and were way comfier than the current ones.
They sell a selection of traditional sweets, cakes, slices, tarts, (and ice-creams and ice-cream tarts in the warmer months), but most people come here to have a coffee with a pionono or to buy boxes of piononos, which are delivered fresh every day and disappear every day way before closing time.
So, what is a pionono? It is a small sweet that you will only find in this city, no other place in Andalusia, Spain or the world. They could have the same name, but they are not the same. The original Granada pionono is a historical piece of patisserie. The founder of Casa Isla, Ceferino Isla, was its creator. This man was very religious and wanted to create a special sweet to honour Pope Pius the Ninth (Pio Nono in Spanish). So, he created a small cake that reminded him of the Pope's shape: plump, roundish, short, its head covered by a papal cap. In 1916 King Alfonso the 13th, while visiting a friend in Granada Province, was offered some piononos with his mid-afternoon tea. He loved them so much that he appointed Ceferino's patisserie an official provider of the Spanish Royal House. A title that the bakery still holds.The pionono is a golden small, short, plump spongy cylinder rolled over itself, slightly infused in syrup, topped by a round "cap" of toasted cream. It goes in one morsel, or two, perfect to date your coffee. It has a distinctive flavour, it is moist, mid level of sweetness, fluffy and very fresh.
Lately, the traditional piononos have been joined for some summery flavoured versions that are far behind regarding flavour and quality except for the citrus one, which I loved.
There are piononos in other patisseries in the city but they are not as good or fresh as the ones sold here. Regarding other sweets they sell, varies from type to type. I like some of them and not others. I used to love their ice-cream tarts when I was a kid.,
Service changes from person to person, some of the ladies lovely some others a bit dry and matter of fact. Thank Gosh for the moist cakes :).
If you are lucky to grab a seat, you will stay here for a long time, as this is one of those places that, for whatever reason, keeps people there talking for hours. No joke!
This places is part of my emotional-belly memory. Even the things I don't like make it special to me.
