18 Monday Sep 2017
Posted in friends, gastronomy, tapas
The last time Sara & Steve were in Sevilla was five years ago, though I have met up with them in London twice since then. Much has changed since their last visit, including lots of new tapas bars for them to try out. Here they are after our fab lunch at Palo Santo… I’m really looking forward to spending time with them over the next week or so, possibly even taking a day trip to Jerez.
30 Wednesday Aug 2017
Posted in food & drink, friends, gastronomy, restaurants, sevilla, tapas, twitter, twitter friends
Another meeting with a Twitter pal. This one was a bit unusual as I have known Francisco (the guy with the beard) online for over five years. We have almost met up a couple of times, but somehow it never worked out. This time he invited me to a new restaurant/bar run by his friend & chef Marcos (left) called La Grulla, and we finally got to meet in person. The unusual thing about this is that Francisco lives in Sevilla, so meeting up shouldn’t have taken so long. Anyhow, I also got to meet two other foodie friends of his, Eduardo and Miguel, and we spent a pleasant afternoon “talking shop” and comparing notes about various bars and restaurants in town, while chef Marcos kept bringing us wonderful dishes to try and keeping our glasses full. Good times!
28 Monday Aug 2017
Posted in andalucia, food & drink, gastronomy, getaways, Malaga, malaga getaway, spain
I had planned to do sea walks every morning while I was here… ha. Finally ended up doing ONE yesterday, out to Pedregalejo to have lunch at Andrés Maricuchi. It was like going home. As soon as Andrés saw me he came rushing out to give me a big kiss and Julián set up a nice table for us that caught a refreshing sea breeze. As the afternoon began to cloud over we walked back to the centre of Málaga for rooftop cocktails. An excellent final full day in Málaga.
Today is rainy – actually the forecast is for thunderstorms all day – so it will be a morning of museums before a final lunch and then HOME to the gatitos. I can’t wait to see them again.
beach boat barbecue
sardines, breaded rosada, tomato salad, boquerones al limón
sundowners at the rooftop bar of Roommate Valeria
18 Tuesday Jul 2017
Posted in events, food & drink, gastronomy, sevilla
I’ve been to several fabulous events at La Cochera del Abuelo since it opened, but this was the first time I’ve taken part in one. The owner of La Cochera, my friend and colleague Cinta, called me up the other day asking if I would do a short sherry presentation for a team-building event. And of course I said yes. The event was a cooking competition between three teams, each making their own version of salmorejo and tortilla de patatas. Then came the sherry tasting, followed by the judging of the dishes, and finally the competitors sat down to eat. That sneaky Cinta surprised me after the tasting by saying I was going to be the judge (!!!) which basically meant that everyone who didn’t “win” would hate me and not her. But that’s okay as they have all left town now. 😉
Really hoping to do more events together with Cinta. And of course my (postponed) 25th Spain Anniversary Party will be held at La Cochera. Stay tuned…
07 Friday Jul 2017
Posted in food & drink, gastronomy, sevilla
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Hops & Dreams, Sevilla’s newest craft beer bar, held a special event last night to promote a group initiative called the Sevilla Craft Beer Guide, which is a handy map showing nine of the city’s top spots that specialize in craft beers. More info coming soon on the Azahar Sevilla blog.
06 Thursday Jul 2017
Posted in andalucia, gastronomy, sevilla, wine
[click on image to enlarge]
It’s been a crazy week (in mostly a good way) that got off to a great start when I was invited to a cata on Monday for this year’s edition of Bodegas Delgado Zuleta’s D.O Cádiz white wine Viña Galvana. Delgado Zuleta is of course best known for its sherries (it’s said to be the oldest bodega in the marco de Jerez), especially Manzanilla La Goya, but also produces local white wines.
The 2017 Viña Galvana (85% Palomino Fino and 15% Moscatel) is a fresh, light wine with a bright pale gold colour and a touch of fruitiness, and pairs well with fish and seafood. Really a perfect summer wine. The label pays tribute to one of Sanlucar’s most popular events, the annual horse races on the beach which take place every August. The cata was presented by Jorge Pascual, the Director-General of Delgado Zuleta and enologist José Antonio Sánchez Pazo, with promotion by @ProbandoGastro.
The event was hosted by my friend (and colleague!) Cinta Romero at her gorgeous La Cochera del Abuelo, which is fast becoming one of THE places to hold small personal events in Sevilla.
05 Wednesday Jul 2017
Posted in food & drink, gastronomy, restaurants, sevilla, spain
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Yeah, I know I should know better, but sometimes hopeful optimism takes over. Like yesterday. I was out having lunch with Peter and saw Caesar Salad on the menu, saying it was made with the restaurant’s own char-grilled chicken. Now I know that chicken isn’t a traditional ingredient in this salad, but I also know that this restaurant has a nice char-grill, so what the heck. And well, as I say, I should have known better.
I had even joked with the waiter that I wasn’t actually expecting a proper Caesar salad, saying that in all my years in Sevilla I’d never had a decent one (other than at home). But I was at least hoping for a nice crisp green salad with freshly grilled chicken and a “caesar-ish” dressing. Nope. What arrived was a plate of bagged mixed greens, some tiny hard croutons, parmesan, and chunks of tired chicken tasting of fridge. So as usually happens in these cases, Peter ate it. 😉
Later on I jokingly put a post up on Instagram saying I should give a master class to chefs in Sevilla who offer Caesar salad on their menu, and apparently ruffled some feathers. Suddenly I was “insulting” chefs, blah blah… who did I think I was, etc.
My point is… if you want to offer a mixed green salad with chicken and parmesan on your menu, go right ahead. Just don’t call it a Caesar salad.
23 Friday Jun 2017
Posted in gastronomy, sevilla
Ania & Delia
We did it! A very special night out with 45 guests who were here all week for conference meetings, and who asked me to arrange something nice for their final evening in Sevilla. And it was fabulous. But I couldn’t have done it without these two… nor without this guy…
Juan Tarquini
And special thanks to the always fabulous Vineria San Telmo team. They are the best! And the best compliment ever? That we turned a corporate event into something that felt very personal. 🙂
17 Saturday Jun 2017
Posted in food & drink, friends, gastronomy, sevilla
Remember when I met Tim @clinchpics earlier this month? Well, turns out his friend Elaine also runs workshops at the same fabulous place – Finca Buenvino – in the beautiful Aracena mountains. So while she was in Sevilla this week we met up a couple of times. First was taking in the whole Corpus Christi thang, as usual before the actual procession starts. We walked the route, then went for brekkie, and afterwards watched some of the procession before heading home.
Later that same evening Elaine joined me on a tapas tour, with two other couples, and it was great fun. She has such great energy and is smart, sassy and well-travelled. We really had a great time together. The good news is that Elaine has fallen in love with Sevilla and is working on a plan to live here at least a few months a year… so we may end up being neighbours!
14 Wednesday Jun 2017
Posted in andalucia, food & drink, friends, gastronomy, getaways, hotels
While I was making my plans to go to Copa Jerez I thought – hey! – why not do another quick overnight getaway to El Puerto de Santa María too? I was last there briefly a year ago for an afternoon sherry event, and before that I had spent a November morning visiting bodegas with Julie & Steve – that was in 2014 (!). But I hadn’t spent more than a few hours in town since an overnight stay in November 2013, and there were a couple of new restaurants I wanted to check out, so I booked a room at quirky and charming Casa de Huéspedes, where I had stayed before. Then it turned out that Tomoko wanted to join us, so another room was booked, and we arrived early evening, after having spent the day at Copa Jerez.
Casa de Huespedes was just as charming as I remembered, and so were our lovely hosts Carlos and Myriam. After settling in and having a bit of rest we went out for dinner at La Bodeguilla del Bar Jamón, a place I’d been dreaming about since my first visit there in 2013 (and which had also been the venue for the sherry event last summer). We sat outside on the terrace with a welcome breeze and ate very well. Afterwards we popped over to Bespoke to pick up my It’s Sherry Time pin and also have a couple of sherry cocktails. By the time we got back to Casa Huéspedes, Tomoko and I had clocked over 16,000 fitbit steps and were more than ready for our (comfy) beds.
La Bodeguilla del Bar Jamón:
• signature jamón tosta with garlicky olive oil and tomato
• salt cod and pepper scrambled eggs
• breaded prawns, peppers and onions with jamón
• presa Ibérica with jamón and chips
Next morning, after a light brekkie at Casa Huéspedes, we made plans for the day. Unfortunately it was already too late to make it for the bodega tour at Gutiérrez Colosía, and the owner of Bodegas Grant was out of town, so we decided to just go out and see what happened. We had booked El Faro for lunch, but there were still a couple of hours until then, so we walked over to the market, and then to Bodegas Obregon, finally stopping at Ángel León’s new Taberna del Chef del Mar, housed in the site of his original michelin star Poniente (which is now located in larger digs across town). We’d all heard mixed things about the Taberna but decided to find out for ourselves, with a couple of pre-lunch dishes. Verdict? Very tasty, excellent execution, great service… but?… just not worth the prices. We’ve had better ceviche in Sevilla for half the price (that small bowl was 15€) and 2€ per croqueta? Seriously? It’s a shame because the place is very pleasant and the rest of the menu looked good too.
La Taberna del Chef del Mar:
• cuttlefish croquetas
• ceviche
Tomoko getting a shot of THAT tempura urta.
Then we got a taxi over to El Faro for our “main course”. We were happy to discover that there is now a tapas menu other than at the bar – one of the formerly unused patios has been transformed into a bright and cheerful tapas area. All I knew was that I wanted to try THAT tempura fish we’d seen prepared during the Tempura vs Fritura competition the day before at Copa Jerez. We started off ordering a few dishes to share, but it turned out that the tempura fish version offered on the tapas menu didn’t include the wonderful “whole fish” presentation you see here. But then it turned out that we could also order restaurant menu items in the tapas area! So we quickly revised our order to include only the Almadraba tuna tartare and then THAT fish. In this case it was urta and it was perfect. Weirdly served with salmorejo as a “dipping sauce”… we chose to drink the soup and just have the tempura urta on its own. The tuna tartare looked like rubies and was served with wasabi, ginger and horseradish. Heaven.
El Faro:
• tuna almadraba tartare
• tempura urta with salmorejo
Peter, Fernando and Tomoko, in the El Faro bodega
By then we were stuffed! But we didn’t want to leave without thanking chef Fernando Córdoba, and when he found out that Tomoko and I are sherry educators he took us to see his bodega. A very generous and caring person – we felt honoured that he spent so much time with us.
There was a bit of a Death March back to the centre of town after that, in the blazing late afternoon HEAT, but we managed to take a look inside Toro Tapas, the new bar inside Bodegas Osborne, before collecting our bags at the Casa Huéspedes and heading to the train station.
Foolishly or otherwise, we decided to stop for a last quick COLD ONE at Bar Apolo on the way, thinking we had plenty of time. And we may have had it not been 40º and we hadn’t had luggage… we arrived at the station with about two minutes to spare and then found out the escalators were out of service (!!). One final sprint up the stairs got us onto the train and literally 30 seconds later it pulled out of the station. Phew!
