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Category Archives: food & drink

cuatrogatos wine fest 2019

16 Saturday Feb 2019

Posted by azahar in andalucia, events, food & drink, getaways, sherry, wine

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

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

 

orujo

11 Monday Feb 2019

Posted by azahar in food & drink, sevilla

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

orujo, sevilla

Orujo – also known as aguardiente – is a digestive similar to Italian grappa, distilled from the “leftovers” of the grape pressing process. The sweet version on the left, orujo de hierbas, is infused with herbs. On the right, orujo blanco… pure firewater! I much prefer the white orujo. No matter how intense a meal you’ve had that stuff will cut right through it like nobody’s business. And, as you would expect, a little is all it takes. Do you have a favourite digestive?

an impromptu tapas tour

04 Monday Feb 2019

Posted by azahar in food & drink, friends, sevilla, sherry, tapas, tapas bars, tapas tours

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

friends, sevilla, sherry, tapas, twitter


Twitter strikes again. Someone I’ve known on Twitter/Instagram for ages – Michael @renoirguides – got in touch to see if I had a tour going on Monday that his friend could join. Which I didn’t (there’s a two-person minimum), but when I found out the friend lives in Gibraltar I said I’d be happy to meet him for a drink and give him some tapas tips. What started as a quick sherry and tapita turned into an impromptu tapas tour, with Frank and I hitting four of my favourite traditional bars, including a stop at my “happy place” – Rafael’s jamón cutting station at Las Teresas. Nice day.  🙂

gambones!

28 Monday Jan 2019

Posted by azahar in food & drink, friends, sevilla, spain, tapas, tapas bars

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friends, sevilla, tapas

An unexpected pleasure today when Tomoko @tomokotours was in town for a few hours and we managed to meet up for a quick lunch at Alcuza, which included these mahoosive prawns crispy fried in a noodle breading. Great catching up and looking forward to seeing Tomoko again soon. xx

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trianeando

22 Tuesday Jan 2019

Posted by azahar in food & drink, friends, sevilla, tapas, tapas bars

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friends, sevilla, tapas, triana, trianeando

It had been awhile since I last saw Ania @aniainspain (Christmas time in Málaga) and even longer since we’d gone out together in Sevilla. So we made a plan to go Trianeando. We started off with a bit of jamón and cheese at the gorgeous Alfarería 21, before moving on to my latest discovery. I’d spotted a new opening in Triana, a small abacería called Clochard (French for vagabond) and heard that the owners were a Pole and an Italian. An intriguing international combination.

Ania was especially interested to meet the Polish owner, as she is Polish herself, but he was away. But we did meet Francesco, who was lovely, and had a nice time chatting with him while trying some delish fish tapas. We also met a Canadian family there, who are staying in Triana for a few weeks and, just before leaving, also started talking to three people at the next table. Turns out they run Sevilla’s only pawn shop, and vintage goods store, called Overtime. Some of the cool décor at Clochard came from Overtime, so I am looking forward to visiting the shop soon

Last tapas stop was Las Golondrinas for a couple of their famous – and delicious – pork tapas. By this time Ania was craving something sweet, so we headed over to Manu Jara’s dulcería. I’m not big on desserts, but I love his colourful displays. Normally we would have finished the afternoon with a penúltima, but Ania had made plans to go running with her gym group, so we were spared any more wine (probably a good thing). Such a fun afternoon. Pics below…

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