Category Archives: friends

paul’s back! AGAIN

12 Wednesday Feb 2025

Posted by in bluesky, food & drink, friends, sevilla, spain

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It’s actually been a while since Paul was here… last August! Usually he doesn’t leave it so long between visits, but you know, life stuff and this and that. Anyhow, he’s here now for almost ten days and yesterday we met up for lunch and – also due to this and that – our Plan A turned into Plan B and then finally Plan C (technically D as we were going to C when I spotted La Casa del Tigre and I remembered they have a new tasting menu). And so we popped our heads in and they had a free table and that’s what we did. Well, we weren’t sure at first if we would do the tasting menu but then went for it and it ended up being quite fabulous (will update the website soon). Lots of wine, chat, catching up, the usual. It’s gonna be a fun week.

radish fever

11 Tuesday Feb 2025

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

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Jeffrey was in town over the weekend and on Saturday he invited me out for THIS AMAZING LUNCH at La Carmela. But before that we had to stop in at Las Golondrinas so Jeffrey could get his radish fix. This is a guy who regularly eats out at Michelin starred restaurants, as well as having his own place in Marbella called Andala, so it’s kind of cute how giddy he gets about these radishes. But they really are simply spectacular.

Somehow we both ended up starting on Substack at the same time last month and it’s actually been quite fun and helpful having a Substack buddy. We give each other encouragement and – really important at the beginning – helped each other figure out how the damn site worked (many whatsapp chats and calls). It’s quite a steep learning curve but works great once you get the hang of it. Anyhow, here are links to both our publications so go have a look and, if you like what you see, please consider subscribing for free, and if you REALLY like what you see you can opt to become a paid subscriber.

Substack – Bitesize Sevilla
Substack – Xtreme Foodies

175 years

30 Thursday Jan 2025

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

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chef Óscar with Reyes

Today I spent the afternoon with my friend Reyes Morales. Nothing unusual there as some of my most pleasant afternoons are spent with Reyes. But this time was different in that I was there to interview her (!) for an upcoming Substack post on the 175th anniversary of Casa Morales. I mean, I already knew a lot about the bar and its history, and also a fair bit about Reyes, but I discovered there was so much more that I didn’t know. It was fascinating listening to her story as we sat at the bar with me scribbling notes while we enjoyed tapas and wine together. Hoping to get it published over the weekend. Stay tuned…

paul & marj

21 Tuesday Jan 2025

Posted by in bluesky, friends, sevilla, substack

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Over the years I’ve met many lovely people via Twitter and several I’ve even had the pleasure of meeting in person. Well this is my first Bluesky connection! I came across Paul @macrambles.bsky.social there a few weeks ago noticed his interest in local live music. So after I started up Bitesize Sevilla I got in touch to see if he wanted to write a guest post on the jazz scene in Sevilla and he was happy to contribute. Then on Sunday we met up for lunch with his wife Marj and Peter at ConTenedor (one of venues in his article) and we all had a lovely time.

It’s a great article, please go have a look and give it a “like”. Also sign up for a free subscription if you haven’t already, it all helps me with getting more visibility on the site. Look for other guest articles soon talking about travel, hotels, art, lifestyle and more.

Sevilla Jazz

beirutina birthday

10 Friday Jan 2025

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

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birthday beirutina

My third (and final) birthday lunch. Well, you never know, but at least this is the last one during Birthday Week. I need to take some time off celebrating to get some work done on Bitesize Sevilla, which has turned into quite a time-consuming project (with a steep learning curve!). But I love doing it and of course the hope is that it will eventually start becoming a new source of income (I actually have three paid subscribers now!!!).

Anyhow, I had mentioned Beirutina as one of my top new openings for 2024 (both here and on the Bitesize Substack) and so Fourat got in touch to thank me and said she’d love me to come over and try some of their new dishes. Great! I’ve known Fourat for about fifteen years and we are neighbours as well as good friends. I was thrilled when she opened her little Lebanese brunch-lunch spot just three months ago, literally a stones throw from my house (I can see it from my balcony).

We got there early to find a little window table reserved for us and, well, it was fabulous. Although I’ve been here several times now this was the first time I got to try both Lebanese beer and wine and I loved them both. Fourat knows I’m not keen on sweets so for a birthday treat at the end of our meal she brought us a couple of her nutty Lebanese biscuits (also new on the menu) one with pistachio and orange, the other with peanuts, with a small bag of them to take home as well.

We had…

  • Almaza pilsener 🍺
  • Muhammara
  • Ksara Blanc de Blancs 🥂
  • Fatté Berenjena (aubergine)
  • Shawerma (marinated beef)
  • Lebanese cookies: pistachio and peanut