Simply Spanish

A must-visit for authentic Spanish flavours Simply Spain stands out for its genuinely authentic and flavourful tapas, prepared with care and true respect for Spanish cuisine. Every dish feels well-balanced and thoughtfully made, making it an excellent choice for both a quick bite or a longer, relaxed meal. Beyond the food, the service is efficient, friendly, and impressively fast, even during busy periods. The atmosphere is lively yet welcoming, creating a comfortable setting that encourages you to enjoy the experience without feeling rushed. It’s a place that consistently delivers quality, warmth, and great energy — well worth the attention.

Big pan paella was a winner for our group. It was readily available, packed with flavor and fresh ingredients, very filling and definitely worth coming back for. There are also other kinds of paella to choose from. We ordered the squid ink paella which was delicious too. We sampled some tapas. The fried goats cheese with beetroot was the perfect choice to cap off the hearty meal we had.

Ah yes, Simply Spanish, a place that doesn’t so much serve food as stage an intervention for anyone who thinks Spanish cooking is all paella cosplay and bad sangria. I studied my order afterward like a police report, and every line checks out as evidence of good judgment. Prawns Madrid Garlic arrived sizzling like they were arguing with the pan moments earlier, plump, assertive, unapologetically soaked in garlic and olive oil, the sort of dish that makes vampires cross the street. Pork belly was rich, obedient, and clearly raised with discipline. Braised beef cheek collapsed on contact, which is exactly how beef cheek should behave if it respects you. The meatballs? Round, confident, and smug, the kind that know they’ll be remembered. Then there’s the drinks. An Espresso Martini priced like it knows its own worth and tastes like it does too. Albariño doing what Albariño does best: crisp, coastal, quietly superior. San Pellegrino behaving like bottled diplomacy. Coke present for moral balance. The bill? Painful only in the way excellence always is. You don’t complain about the price of honesty, and you don’t haggle with food this good. Simply Spanish is loud without shouting, confident without showing off, and runs its kitchen like it’s been doing this longer than most of us have been making mistakes. In short: exceptional. If you leave hungry, confused, or unimpressed, the problem isn’t the restaurant, it’s you.

Ordered the seafood paella ($80), which had prawns, calamari, diced fillet, clams, mussels, and scallops. The flavors were fantastic, full of seafood goodness and umami. The rice had crispy edges and a slightly crunchy bottom, which was delicious to scrape and eat. All the ingredients came together perfectly, one of the best seafood paellas I’ve had. 🥘

Tried the authentic paella at Simply Spanish and it was absolutely delicious! Packed with mussels, chorizo, chicken and squid, the flavours were rich and comforting. The portion size was generous and super filling. Such a satisfying, yummy meal.

We purchased a few portions of food. But, we were never asked whether we would like it to dine in or takeaway? The rude waitress forbidden us to sit down in their restaurant area. She said due to our meals were takeaway meals (which were a few dollars cheaper than the "dine-in" meals), we were not allowed to sit there. Despite all of the meals we have purchased from them and empty seats in there. Unbelievable!!!!! The food were not tasty and very expensive. Overall, it is OVERPRICED and OVERRATED. We definitely will never go back there again. We should've bought our meals at the Queen Victoria Market instead. Lesson learned. Just go to the Queen Victoria Market instead, Guys! QVM has a lot more of different food, more choices, cheaper prices and their service is heaps better! It's not far from the South Melbourne Market. 😊

Authentic Spanish flavors right in the heart of the city! From the fragrant seafood paella to tender chicken in rich tomato sauce and warm, buttery garlic bread, every dish was packed with taste and cooked with care. The lively atmosphere and friendly service made the meal even better. Highly recommended for anyone craving true Spanish tapas and paella. #genastar

I really liked the bread with vinegar and croquettes, it was really tasty. I wish the paella rice was less soft, it would have been more yummy

The paella was amazing but the seafood pasta may have been better. The ambience is cool; so much so that we forgot about the rain outside and just enjoyed our meal. Service was friendly and prompt.

Arrived at the Sth Melbourne restaurant around 7.45 and were seated quickly as there was only one other table of 3 in the restaurant. Ordered 2 cocktails and then a tapes of beef cheeks and then pulled pork paella from our lovely waitress. Meals came quickly and were delicious. This is when the night began to turn as sour as my pisco sour. As soon as we finished eating, our plates were whisked away and the bill presented to our table. Then the supervisor came and asked "how do you want to pay?" We said we weren't quite ready yet as we were still finishing our drinks. She glared at us over her mask. We asked are you closing soon? "We are already closed". It was 8.35pm. At no time were we told they were closing at 8.30. "why, do you want us to leave?" We asked with a smile. We were sure she would say "no worries, ladies, take your time". Instead she glared at us and said deadpan "yes". We looked at each other aghast at her rudeness. She said "you were told we close at 8.30 and the kitchen closed st 8pm". No. We were not. "Yes you were!" She was adamant. No we weren't. By not taking our word, she was basically insinuating we were lying. She then proceeded to argue with us. She would not accept that we hadn't been told. We said we are trying to support the local businesses by eating locally and spending money here and our experience here is not conducive to a return visit. She just glared again and said "it is my responsibility to ensure we close on time. We can't stay open just for you" It's at this stage I want to point out that, although our waitress and the other server who brought out our meal were totally lovely, but didn't tell us about closing time, we want to ensure they don't get in any trouble.  It was the manager who made us feel totally unwelcome and angry.  It was this manager who was rude. Her management skills are sorely lacking. She was not friendly and had no customer service skills. This was a very poor experience. Won't be back, and won't be frequenting the CBD restaurant again either in protest. And by the way, google says you close at 9pm. I hope management reads this.

Oh my goodness, just thinking about Simply Spanish has my mouth-watering! The vibe at the South Melbourne Markets was alive and buzzing. Simply Spanish was packed and it was only midday. We ordered the lunch special - house paella with chorizo and seafood and it did not disappoint. The seafood was fresh and it came with mussels even! There was so much flavour to the paella and it had that little bit of crunch. It was sheer joy! Party in my mouth! The service was perfect. Staff was friendly and fast. The waiter came back to check if everything was fine. I wish I had more time there to relax with a jug of sangria, rather than rushing back to work. Maybe next time. I'll be back, Simply Spanish!

I come here all the time whether to enjoy dining there enjoying people watching or taking it away. I order the paella as it's simply made to perfection. The seafood is delicious in it too. The service is always great when I am here. Consistently great taste and they deliver an award winning Paella!

Spent the morning at the market looking at all the wonderful food and crafts in there. Went to Simply Spanish for lunch and had a great meal. Had the paella and Moroccan chicken salad washed sow with red sangria. Delicious! Servers were friendly and ate outside. They cooked the paella outside where people could watch. Great way to advertise lunch!

Pretty standard for breakfast. Got the vegetarian breakfast with extra tomatoes instead of mushrooms. Tomatoes had a nice charred flavour but were a little undercooked and harder to cut. With breakfast I like tomatoes a little softer. Can't fault it but it wasn't exceptional either.

Had the simple paella from the large pans and it was scrumptious!!! You can taste the saffron, chorizo, chicken flavors all blended nicely together. The rice was perfectly moist and seasoned. It's the perfect paella. The sangria, on the other hand, was a bit light. Opt for a nice glass of wine instead.

Simply Spanish is a little Tapas bar positioned out the front of the South Melbourne Market. They have a huge wok style cooker out the front that they use to make the traditional Spanish dish paella, just the smells coming from this little stall are enough to make your mouth water! For about $12.50 you can get a pretty decent serving of the brightly yellow coloured dish, however prawns will cost you an additional $2 (prawns are are a standard ingredient in Spain so not sure why they are additional in Melbourne.) The Paella is a hearty dish and although I definitely found the portions great, the flavours were not quite as strong as I was expecting. Still a good option to fill you up while wandering through the market, Simply Spanish do lunch Wednesday to Sunday and dinner Thursday to Saturday with live entertainment and traditional Sangria to keep you dancing.

The food is great the coffee is fantastic and the staff are friendly and helpful, I had the mushroom and spinach paella it was delicious. The only criticism I have is the prices are a bit high for a market venue. The alfresco dinning is also lovely, they have many options for the unpredictable Melbourne weather

While walking to the South Melbourne Night Market today, I had to keep myself from salivating as I passed by the huge Paella pans set up on the walkway outside Simply Spanish. Needless to say when we were done with the markets, this thriving restaurant was the dinner venue of choice and without even looking at the menu, we ordered Paella. It came quite promptly and the serving was pretty decent (for $12.50). Sadly though, the delicious looking paella was a little bit disappointing. It was nice but not great! But I could be biased because I only recently came back from a holiday in Spain and I remember the paella to be gastronomically amazing! We actually did want to try other things on the menu but after the paella, we really couldn't so we washed it down with a chilled glass of sangria (of course) and promised to come back soon to sample the rest of the menu. Next time though, we'll probably leave the paella out.

Coffee is delicious. 2 chorizo croquettas for 8 bucks. Winning. Their award winning paella for 14.50 is a sizeable portion for two and delicious. Not super amazing but pretty good for the price. Will definitely go back to try their wines and other tapas dishes.

They have a selections of Spanish wines and unique spiced sangria to accompany your meal. Their staff is knowledgeable and able to help you with your food and drinks selections. Overall the tapas are well prices, paellas are very affordable and they have a quick take away paella packages as well. Simply Spanish has two other branches in the CBD, one at Bourke St and the other is at Elizabeth St. On market day they have small stall in front of the restaurant with several big pan of special paella's.

Really happy service staff, deliciously cooked meat to my requirements and plenty of Spanish speaking clientele. Scrumptious!

I'm torn when writing this review - the food was good, the service was good, it was reasonably priced and it's well located in the vibe of South Melbourne Market. But there was something about the place which just didn't grab me - when I left it was a case of "Let's go, that was nice" and it was almost instantly forgotten rather than "Oh... That was really good! Must come back!" I can't put my finger on it - the only thing which occurs to me is that the atmosphere was a bit flat, and there wasn't anything to make them stand out. That said... If you're in the area and you fancy some good Spanish food, you won't be disappointed.

If you can resist the paella, cooked in a giant pan and served up to customers, if you can resist from drooling over that yummy delicious smell wafting over towards you, and can turn your nose up at the beautifully cooked seafood, then do yourself a favour and order the potato tortilla. The latter is a traditional tortilla, much more like a frittata than what gets wrapped around a burrito. It comes served with a choice of sauces (the one I always order is green, vinegary and spicy, but I can't remember for the life of me what it's called. Try everything until you get the one you like). This is real Spanish food, to be accompanied by wine, women in red dresses and lots of music. Best served hot, with lots of summer.

Was over at the South Melbourne Market this afternoon to grab some fruits and veggies for our weekly juicing, and (being hungry) decided to check out Simply Spanish (on the recommendation from a co-worker). Like most (if not all) of the eateries at South Melb Mkt, there's always a packed al fresco patio to enjoy (if you can find a spot), or you can beat the wait by eating inside (usually a tight space, as well). We took a seat inside this time around. SS has a tight footprint, so it really reminds me of those little cafes in Barcelona. I started with my favorite thirst quencher, lemon lime & bitters. The menu is short-n'-sweet, with almost all paella dishes. We just decided to go with the straightforward original paella ($14.50 for eat-in; $13.50 for takeaway). Since SS already has the paella going full-steam out in front of the restaurant, there wasn't much of a wait to be served. The bowls of paella were served piping hot, rich with the scent of chorizo and saffron, with a good amount of chicken, mussels and calamari rings. The entire dish was cooked extremely well, and the flavors were robust. Surprisingly (to me), even the calamari rings -- which I thought might be tough as the paella seems to be cooking for long periods out front -- were nice and tender enough that you could simply use your fork to cut it. My paella bowl was simply wonderful; my partner's dish didn't get as many mussels, and one of his mussels hadn't opened (and it still had an attached beard), so he was a tad bit disappointed (still, though, he really liked the flavors). Simply Spanish did, indeed, take me back for a moment to my Barcelona days...! :D

This is the kind of place that makes you travel. The atmosphere on a sunny market day is quite unique, with the hungry crowd gravitating around the giant paella pans, soothed by Latin accents and Spanish flavours. Their paella is the best I had in Melbourne so far. It's perfectly cooked and served generously with heaps of seafood. Combined with a lovely glass of Sangria or a pot of their refreshing Spanish beer on tap, you are in for a very good time. The staff is very friendly. And they have good Chouros.

Consistly good Spanish food and friendly staff. The tapas and paella's are better than many that I've had in Spain. I've worked my way through the menu and my favourites tapas are the prawns in garlic and the pork belly.

Convenient location (across from work). Nice outdoor patio area and seating to have a chat. Yummmmmy coffee and reasonably priced for the CBD! Will bring my 4 workmates there for the $8 spanish brekkie in a couple weeks! More reviews to come ...

I've eaten here on each of my trips to Melbourne and was pleased with the paella. Although I would have rated it 5 stars upon my first impression, I had heard, and sadly experienced, that the quality of the paella was not quite as good as it once was in its heralded past. That said it is still very good and I'll be going back often.

Impressive! Nice place, wonderful food, waiters were spectacular and attentive. Great place to come alone, with a partner or friends!!!