01 Monday Apr 2019
Posted in food & drink, friends, london
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So right in the middle of making plans for my upcoming trip to London, up pops this photo in my Instagram Memories… taken exactly two years ago in London! I remember this day very fondly. We met Nicola @shedlikesfood for an east end market tour which lasted most of the day. And coincidentally I will be staying at Nicola’s place in May. Getting excited!
18 Monday Mar 2019
Posted in food & drink, friends, gastronomy, restaurants, sevilla
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Back in November 2010 I was invited by my friend Annie Bennett @anniebennett to join her for dinner at Gastromium. And it turned out to be one of the best meals of my life. Not only because the food was gorgeous, but the service was impeccable, with a lovely Scottish man called Duncan as our maître for the evening. It was such a memorable experience that I have kept the Gastromium post up on Sevilla Tapas, even after they sadly closed their doors and the three chefs moved on to other projects.
So imagine my surprise when I stopped for lunch at Tradevo Centro and one of the waiters said to me in perfect Spanish… hey, you have a website about tapas, don’t you? I told him my website was called Sevilla Tapas and has been going since 2007, and then he said he remembered me having dinner at Gastromium with a friend of mine. IT WAS DUNCAN. And well, we ended up having a nice chat and I thanked him again for having made that evening at Gastromium so memorable. Love when stuff like this happens.
05 Tuesday Mar 2019
Posted in food & drink, gastronomy, sevilla, wine
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I mean what could be better than an evening hosted by 12 jamón ibérico de bellota producers and 14 wineries, along with some fabulous cheeses? Well NOTHING much that I can think of. I think this is an annual event, though the last time I went was in 2016. It was great catching up with friends while sampling some amazing jamón and terrific wines. In fact, after a few of these wines my pal Esteban (Vermutería Yo Soy Tu Padre) even convinced me into taking a selfie with him. I’ve had worse Mondays!
04 Monday Mar 2019
Posted in food & drink, friends, fun stuff, gastronomy, restaurants, sevilla, wine
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Calçots are basically a type of green onion that are milder than regular onions, with a length of between 15 and 25 cm (white part). The Calçotada is an annual event in Catalonia celebrating the harvest of Calçots. They are grilled over a hot fire, wrapped up in newspaper to steam a bit, served on terra cotta tiles and eaten, after peeling with bare hands, by dipping them one by one in romesco sauce, accompanied by red wine and bread. Typically followed by a course of roasted lamb and sausage and white beans. For dessert, oranges and cava are served…
16 Saturday Feb 2019
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andalucia de santa maria, cuatro gatos wine fest, el puerto de santa maria, el puerto getaway, wines
The fourth edition of the CuatroGatos Wine Festival was quite different from last year’s event. This time it was held inside a lovely hacienda on the outskirts of El Puerto de Santa María and there was also the promise of a special dish prepared by Michelin star chef Ángel León. I met my friend Tomoko @Fu_yan at the train station and, having just missed the Wine Bus, got a taxi over.
[click to enlarge]
It was a great afternoon revisiting old friends and making new ones. And thanks to Tomoko I tried several wines I may not have otherwise (brand new love is La Choza by Bodega Callejuela). I was also happy to discover that several of the wines I liked are available in Sevilla, and almost all of them at Ana Linares’s fabulous wine shop Lama La Uva (will be visiting her soon!)
Tomoko and CuatroGatos founder Federico Ferrer
Although there were a lot more food options this year, with several stands set up on the patio, Tomoko and I decided to walk over to Restaurante El Faro so we could sit down for awhile and, frankly, have a nicer lunch. 😉 Which you can see, we did indeed have. The only thing was that by the time we got back to the event, several of the producers were already packing up (!!). Since they were offering another Wine Bus back to the train station around 8 pm we assumed that the producers were going to stay around longer. Oh well. It was still a fabulous day and great to hang out with Tomoko again.
spectacular lunch at Restaurante El Faro
casa azahar 