Category Archives: friends

what a night!

19 Wednesday Nov 2025

Posted by in bitesize sevilla, friends, gastronomy, restaurants, sevilla, spain, substack

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A while back I had the idea of writing a post on Bitesize Sevilla about Los Chicos de Petit… all the boys who started off working at Petit Comité and then moved on to open some of the most dynamic and delicious restaurants in the city. Brothers Emilio and Álvaro are still with Petit and so we all met up there for an evening of food, wine and memories. I think it’s going to be a great story. Watch this space!

✨ steak tartare with quail egg yolk
✨ red tuna tartare with payoyo cream
✨ portobello soup with jamón
✨ grilled corvina with pumpkin purée
✨ delicias de pato
✨ grilled beef tenderloin with shitakes
✨ tocina de cielo & custard puff pastry

sherry bar!

10 Monday Nov 2025

Posted by in friends, sevilla, sherry, sherry week, spam

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There is a lovely sherry bar around the corner from my house and for Sherry Week they were holding a sherry tasting by one of my favourite bodegas, Lustau. How could I resist? So on Friday evening I went with Peter, Sharon and Fiona (aka my angels) and we had a great time tasting four gorgeous dry sherries from Lustau’s Almacenista line:
🥂Fino del Puerto
🥂Manzanilla Pasada de Sanlucar
🥂Amontillado de Sanlúcar
🥂Oloroso del Puerto
Many thanks to Eduardo Rodríguez for being a great host and sherry educator 💛 💫

Nick & Jim

05 Wednesday Nov 2025

Posted by in friends, sevilla, spain, substack, tapas

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Jim & Nick at Manolo Cateca

Mexico-based food writer Nick (Nicolas Gilman) and I first met ten years ago in London during a mad whirlwind gastronomic weekend hosted by Jeffrey Merrihue (formerly Foodie Hub now Xtreme Foodies) though we barely remember as there were so many people and so many places. Anyhow, we reconnected this year on Substack and this week he and his partner Jim are in town so we got together for a little sherry and a snack at Manolo Cateca. It was lovely meeting them both and I hope we can get together again before they leave.

fred & susan are back!

04 Tuesday Nov 2025

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

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I’ve known Fred & Susan for years now (first via Twitter), then we met up in person about a year and a half ago and had a great time together. And this week was no exception. Suddenly they were back in town and so of course we had to meet up. We started off with a glass of cava at Catalina El Bar before heading for a fabulous lunch at Amara. Then it was time for a penúltima. On the way to my first choice (El Cairo) I decided to pop into Augurio because Fred & Susan were planning on eating there during their stay and I thought it would be nice to make the booking in person and introduce them to the girls. 

Imagine my surprise when the last two tables having lunch there were also friends of mine! In fact, the last time I was at Augurio (for an amazing sherry & dinner event) Elba and Bill were also there and they had joked when they saw each other that the only one missing was me. So we ended up having our penúltima there and it was a lovely finish to a very enjoyable afternoon.

Elba (seated) with Fred, Susan, friend of Bill and Bill

Fred & Bill

melissa & ben

30 Thursday Oct 2025

Posted by in friends, london, sevilla, tapas, tapas bars

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I first met Melissa Cole (aka London’s Queen of Beer) back in 2016 in London, and we last saw each other (also in London) at an event at the Spanish Embassy. This week she and her husband Ben are in town for a “birthday trip” and today we went out on a slow-paced crutches friendly tapas tour. Basically three bars close together in my barrio. I’d love to do this more often but these bars don’t take bookings and are usually jam packed (well, they took bookings for me today, but I wouldn’t want to have to call in favours like that too often). Anyhow, what a fabulous time we had. Lots of good food, wine and chat. Hope they’ll be back soon.