12 Friday Jul 2019
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I arrived in Santiago late afternoon on Thursday and was met at the airport by Anna & Jorge @guitianmayer, who whisked me away to the lovely Hotel Pazo de Altamira, which was to be my home for my first two nights in Santiago.
10 Wednesday Jul 2019
Posted in food & drink, friends, getaways, restaurants
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[read full review of Mantúa on Azahar Tapas]
Last weekend I finally had the pleasure of visiting Mantúa, which had been on my “to-do” list pretty much since it opened in 2017 as it’s owned and run by chef Israel Ramos, who also owns one of my favourite places in Jerez, Albalá. I had made plans to go with friends Ann and Paul after the Harveys sherry tasting at the Consejo Regulador.
As you can see below, everything was beautifully presented, and the service was impeccable. Can’t really recommend Mantúa enough. It has the feeling of a place with real heart, and flavours that attest to the chef’s genuine love of his region. Unpretentious and about as perfect as a meal can get.
09 Tuesday Jul 2019
Posted in food & drink, friends, sevilla, sherry, spain, tapas, tapas bars, tapas tours
Although I have met up with Phoebe & Oli a few times while visiting London, and they have both been to Sevilla separately, this is the first time we have all met up together here. Yay!
It was a lovely day starting off with – what else? sherry and jamón – which led to a lunchtime tapeo (Las Teresas, La Barra del Inchausti, Palo Cortao). Finishing around 5 pm we took a break before meeting up again at 8.30. The plan had been to introduce them to Esteban and his fabulous vermutería Yo Soy Tu Padre and then leave them to have dinner elsewhere, but somehow one vermouth led to another, and we finished up eating rabbit ribs at La Azotea at 11 pm. Like you do.
These guys are doing a Spain roadtrip before they head back to London, pack up, and move to Australia, where Phoebe is from. So I guess that means no more London meet ups, but they assure me they will be back to Spain again before too long.
05 Friday Jul 2019
Posted in friends, restaurants, sevilla, sherry, spain
What a lovely to surprise when Jason @CortadoIngles got in touch to say that he and his wife Louise @ingamell would be in town this week, as part of Jason’s 50th Birthday Roadtrip. So we met up for an afternoon of sherry and seafood. Great catching up. Oh, and you can listen to Jason’s new album Distance of Hope here…
01 Monday Jul 2019
Posted in friends, sevilla, tapas, tapas bars, tapas tours
I mean, what are the odds? Got an email the other day from a guy called Chris who said he’d been in town for the past few weeks and that he’d been making good use of my Sevilla Tapas website. He mentioned that he was Canadian and that he was curious as to how another Canadian ended up in Sevilla, so we agreed to meet up for a tapita. Well. Turns out he’s not only Canadian, but also from Winnipeg. AND that he used to go see my ex-husband’s band Houndog back in the day. PLUS he lived in Toronto the same time I was there and probably went to a restaurant where I was working at the time.
He’s also a historian, so I told him how I used to have lots of historians as lodgers a few years ago. He’s been to Sevilla about seven times over the years, and no doubt will be back. Nice afternoon. 🙂
casa azahar 