Category Archives: friends

madrid getaway 2019

14 Monday Oct 2019

Posted by in friends, gastronomy, getaways, madrid

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On my way to ENBHIGA 2019, starting off in Madrid. The official “cocktail party” meet up at the hotel was scheduled for 9 pm, but I came into town at midday to meet pal Andrew @undertheflor and have lunch at La Retasca, the latest venture by chef Juanjo López.

It’s always fun meeting up with Andrew, and this was a place he’d been wanting to go to as well. I left my bag at the station and walked to La Retasca, somehow missed my turn off and arrived late, which was unfortunate because Andrew was on a tight schedule. So it was short and sweet, with the company way better than the food.

Then it was back to the station to collect my bag and taxi over to the Hotel Nuevo Madrid, which was way the hell out somewhere I’d never been before. Checked in and went down to meet the group that was to be my travelling companions over the next few days. I’m so not good at group stuff, especially meet and greets. Lovely to see Jorge & Anna again of course, and also Twitter pal Rachel @R_McCormack from Scotland, but l snuck away while desserts were being served because it was going to be an early morning and long (5 hour!) bus ride to Ourense in the morning.

Rachel, Jorge, Anna, Pepe

more fun with paul!

11 Friday Oct 2019

Posted by in friends, instagram, social media, tapas, tapas bars, twitter, twitter friends

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Yet another Twitter/Instagram Pal, Paul @pauljwhite is from Newcastle but he spends a lot of time travelling, especially to Spain. We first met in person earlier this year when he was in Sevilla and he’s been back a couple of times since. And guess what? He loves doing Tapas Research!

He was also very helpful this time because one of our dishes arrived way overcooked. As I had already *ahem* mentioned a couple of other things to the waiter I asked Paul if he could send back the offending tapa. Well, Paul speaks next to no Spanish, and the waiter spoke no English, so I called the waiter over and just pointed to Paul, who picked up a piece of the dried out solomillo with such a perfect scowly face and kind of shook the dead meat around… that plate was removed SO FAST and was quickly replaced with a perfectly cooked version. Ha.

Looking forward to Paul’s next visit in January, and to meeting his daughter Molly. 🙂

the renoir boys

01 Tuesday Oct 2019

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

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The boys were back in town for a brief stopover before heading to the Cádiz coast, so we met up for a tapeo. I’d first met Frank back in February when he was passing through and his friend Michael @renoirguides (who I’d known for ages on Twitter and first met in person last May in London) suggested we meet up. This time their friend Pankaj was with them and we spent a lovely evening bar hopping, eating, drinking, walking, talking… and finishing with penúltimas and desserts. Good times.  🙂

anniversary lunch at la cochera

17 Tuesday Sep 2019

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

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Part of the “problem” with having a birthday or anniversary fall on a Monday is that a lot of my favourite bars and restaurants are closed that day. I mean, I didn’t do too badly yesterday, hitting up 6 bars (2 on my own, 4 with my friend Corinna) but I had been hoping for a proper celebratory lunch. And then the lovely Cinta got in touch and invited me for an anniversary lunch today at her bistro La Cochera del Abuelo. So I thought what the hell, if I can have Birthday Week (or Month) then I could also do Anniversary Week. Plus I had bought a ticket for a Kiko Veneno concert at the gorgeous Lope de Vega theatre tonight, so all in all it seemed like a perfect day.

When Cinta joined forces with chef Bosco Benitez Ruíz del Pozo earlier this year, La Cochera went from being an events venue to a restaurant offering set tasting menus four evenings a week. A more recent change saw La Cochera grow into being a full-time restaurant with a bistro menu, which I have been wanting to try.

Everything was fabulous, as you can see, and it really was a perfect place to continue celebrating. Last year I had talked with Cinta about booking La Cochera to host a 25th anniversary party, but then things got busy and I didn’t get it organised in time. So I think I’ll wait now and – fingers crossed! – celebrate my 30th anniversary here.

Off to the concert soon! More on that tomorrow.