Category Archives: food & drink

what a day!

25 Thursday Jan 2024

Posted by in food & drink, friends, restaurants, sevilla

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what a day

Paul is back in town this week, and is very generously offering to be the “auxiliary stomach”, helping out with some Tapas Research. For the most part tapas bar visits are 2-stomach affair, a few tapas can be sampled and that’s fine, especially for updates. But some restaurants clearly require 3-or-4-stomachs, such as the fabulous Restaurante La Peña, in order to be able to sample a good selection of what they have to offer. And so we found ourselves on the edge of Nervión today and I have to say we had what will probably end up being one of the best meals of 2024.

I’ve known Mario (manager and front of house) forever and so when he opened La Peña back in 2019 with chef Alejandro I was there! And I was also there to update a couple of years later… but you know… it’s a bit of hike from the centre (but well worth it – and the metro tram drops you off five minutes away)… also it’s mostly a restaurant. There are a few tapas but you really want to go there with a full-on appetite and – at least – three stomachs.

And so we feasted and feasted and afterwards walked back (about 45 minutes or so) stopping for a penúltima at Las Teresas before finally getting home around 7.00 pm. Now THAT’S a proper lunch.

what a day 2

  • tuna and manteca paté on sourdough
  • whole artichoke with vinaegrette
  • crispy fried cuttlefish strips
  • cornichas gallegas – delicate sweet clams in garlicky sherry butter
  • cardoons al velouté with fried egg
  • seaweed-wrapped baked monkfish with its liver, fennel, leek, cauliflower
  • sizzling abanico Ibérico with chips

rude food

29 Friday Dec 2023

Posted by in food & drink, humour, social media, tapas

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rude food

I admit I chuckled when I was served this the other day. And when I pointed out the obvious to the barman he said “omg, let us make you another one for your photos!”. I said it was fine as I wasn’t planning to post it anywhere… but then I did. I didn’t mention the bar’s name but wrote that this was a case when the term #foodporn was justified. And my god, it’s turned out to be my most “liked” Instagram post ever (330 and counting) with lots of comments too. Not sure what this says about my followers though… 😅

deb’s back!

06 Wednesday Dec 2023

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debs 2023 me, lorna, debs & claire

It’s been just over a year since Deb was last here. This time it was a “girls’ trip” and I was invited to join Deb, Claire and Lorna for lunch.  I also got to chose the restaurant so we went to the orginal La Azotea location, where Deb hadn’t been to before (she knows their Santa Cruz one well). Lots of glasses were raised to Dan, love of Deb’s life, and lots of memories shared. Dan died just before Christmas two years ago and Sevilla was their special place. It was where Dan proposed to Deb and somewhere they often came back to. As you can see below lots of glasses were raised in general and, including an extra long penúltima after we left La Azotea, our lunch finally finished around 9pm (!!).

So much fun, though, spending the day with these lovely, smart, caring and funny women. I didn’t want it to end. Looking forward to seeing them all again.

debs 2023 (2)

on being proactive

28 Tuesday Nov 2023

Posted by in food & drink, hospitals, sevilla, tapas

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gamba taco

What does a gorgeous looking gamba taco have to do with being proactive? Well I’m here to tell ya.

Today I decided to stop waiting around for my upcoming appointments with my oncologist and also the breast ultrasound that was ordered after my mammogram… last spring!? So off I went to the hospital to talk directly to the Oncology secretary. And well, damn good thing I did too! After more than an hour wait – with next to nobody wearing a fucking mask IN THE FUCKING ONCOLOGY WAITING ROOM – I managed to secure an appointment for two weeks from now. The hold up, it seems, was that they were waiting for me to do the second colonoscopy, which I did in August, but blah blah… it somehow wasn’t registered in their files.

Then it was off to the Women’s Hospital to ask about the ultrasound but by the time I got there the office had closed, so now I will have to call. I hate calling. But I will.

After that, given the location of the Women’s Hospital, I suggested to Peter and we go to a cosy local bar about ten minutes away for a beer and a snack. Well, it wasn’t ten minutes, more like twenty after having to go under rail tracks and and back up, whatever… we got there to be told the tables were all reserved for members. Fuck. So we kept walking… until Tradevo Nervión.

Tradevo is one of my fave places, though I usually go to the central location, and well, we literally stumbled in really needing to SIT DOWN only to see the entire bar and restaurant jam-packed full. Then someone said “Shawn, is that you?” and we were whisked out to the back patio with a little heater beside us and all was well. There was a quick cold beer, followed by a couple of tapitas, a glass of wine, and after that lovely experience it was just a ten minute walk to the Tram to take us five minutes from home.

And so… appointment secured, a lovely light lunch and almost 10,000 steps!

arbequina amontillado

22 Wednesday Nov 2023

Posted by in andalucia, food & drink, olive oil

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arbequina amontillado (1)

Arbequina Amontillado by Castilla de Canena in Jaén. A young extra virgin arbequina olive oil refined in Bodegas Lustau amontillado sherry wine barrels more than half a century old. I first tried this at the Auténtica Food Festival in September and it blew me away, crazy gorgeous flavour, the best of two worlds. So excited to finally have some at home. Also hoping to visit the producers soon. Been missing Jaén a lot!

arbequina amontillado (2)