Category Archives: food & drink

madrid fusion 2018

17 Wednesday Jan 2018

Posted by in andalucia, events, food & drink, gastronomy, sevilla, spain, tapas, tapas bars

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Madrid Fusión is an international gastronomy fair aimed particularly at chefs, but also at other industry professionals. As well as the main exhibition area, the highlights are the cooking demonstrations and master classes, wine tastings and competitions, and seminars on a wide range of topics from new cooking techniques to environmental issues.

This year’s event is the 15th edition and runs from the 22nd – 24th of January, and is extra special for Sevilla because the City Council and Tourism Board is promoting the city and its tapas, including a Tapas Jam Session “show cooking” on the opening day. This fabulous video features the four bars taking part in this presentation and I am so proud to be able to say that they are not only four of my favourite bars, chefs, owners and teams, but they are also my friends. I’d love to be there to cheer them on, but I have a previous work obligation so will be there in spirit instead.

The featured bars are: La Azotea (chef Santiago González) Cañabota (chef Marcos Nieto), El Gallinero de Sandra (chef & co-owner Nacho Dargallo) and Lalola Taberna (chef & owner Javier Abascal). Watch the video – it’s gorgeous.

[also posted on Azahar Sevilla]

international croquette day

16 Tuesday Jan 2018

Posted by in food & drink, sevilla

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Yes, these “international whatever days” are all random and silly, but after having been cooped up at home for two days, when I saw that today was Día Internacional de la Croqueta it was just the excuse I needed to get dressed and get out. So I met up with Peter @SVQconcierge to do some tapas research.

We actually had limited time because Peter had a class in the afternoon, so I chose three bars we could get to that I knew have great croquetas (trust me, this is not as easy as it sounds). We had fab chicken & jamón croquetas at Palo Santo, classic jamón Ibérico ones at La Azotea, and finally some lovely prawn croquetas at Taberna del Alabardero. As an honourable mention, the ones on the stripy plate are some salchichón croquetas we had last week at Lalola Taberna Gourmet, quite possibly the best I’ve had in Sevilla.

What the heck. Got me out of the house. And it was a beautiful day for a walk.

 

amigas & más

10 Wednesday Jan 2018

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

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chef Javi Abascal & Cinta Romero

I love this chica. I was fortunate to meet Cinta Romero a year ago when I visited her unique private catering venue La Cochera del Abuelo. And I was even more fortunate when shortly afterwards she became a part of my fabulous We Love Tapas team. Since then we have become friends as well as colleagues, and she is always an inspiration to me.

As Cinta and I share a passion for gastronomy in Sevilla we also make great “tapas research” partners. But yesterday was an extra special outing as we finally managed to meet up at La Lola Gourmet Tapas, which is run by a friend of Cinta’s, chef Javier Abascal. We were treated to a special tapas tasting menu, which was outstanding.

Later we were joined by Cinta’s daughter María (who had the burger) and later still by her husband Javier (for a penúltima). It was a fantastic afternoon, with lunch finally finishing around 6.00 pm. Great food and wine, even better company, and lots of interesting conversation. Mostly “talking shop”, which could have continued for a few hours more. Instead we made a date for a “tapas dinner” next week to pick up where we left off. Really looking forward to it.

birthday 2018

08 Monday Jan 2018

Posted by in birthdays, food & drink, friends

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Yesterday I woke up to the sound of RAIN falling on my laundry on the roof (damn) but after that the skies cleared and it turned into a fabulous birthday. Peter had come up with a plan for the day and it was a good one. We started off in the best way possible – a plate of jamón Ibérico and some lovely sherry at Las Teresas. Then it was off to do some birthday shopping (more on that later!). And then it was time for lunch.

I couldn’t decide where I wanted to go and so Peter came up with the idea of going back to Porta Rossa, which used to be my go-to spot for birthdays (back in the day, before I became queen of tapas). I hadn’t been there for years and it was like revisiting an old friend. It was difficult not to just order “all the usual favourites” and try something new, but Piru the owner made some great suggestions, including giving us two half orders of pasta when I couldn’t decide between two of them.

The dishes were: artichoke crepes with mascarpone and parmesan sauce, spinach and cheese gnocchi and ravioli in butter sauce, grilled beef tenderloin in black peppercorn vodka sauce. All absolutely delicious. I never order desserts, and even if I did wouldn’t have been able to eat anything else after this fabulous lunch, but Piru brought me this one perfect profiterole with a birthday candle, which was lovely.

The plan for after lunch was to go for a penúltima at nearby La Azotea in Calle Zaragoza and then take a ride on the C5 bus (really, it’s such fun). But I was so FULL and suddenly tired (the now constant abdominal pain is wearing me down) that I suggested taking a break and relaxing at home for awhile. I reckoned that after a short rest I’d be ready to go out again. Wrong! So we ended up spending a quiet evening hanging out, watching a film, and had an early night. But it was all very nice – thanks for a great day, Peter!