Category Archives: gastronomy

tribeca-cañabota dream team

27 Friday Jul 2018

Posted by in gastronomy, restaurants, sevilla, wine

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I came back a day early from my Málaga Getaway this week because I had been invited to a gastronomy event on Tuesday that I simply couldn’t miss, featuring the dream team of Tribeca and Cañabota cooking together. It was to be one of the most unforgettable meals of my life … but I am getting ahead of myself. I’ve known Cañabota since its inception two years ago, when Juanlu Fernández joined forces with Pablo Giménez and Eduardo Guardiola from Tribeca. The latter I finally got to know in person when friends invited me to join them there for dinner earlier this year. So I was very keen to see – and taste – what they would come up with together.

The event was held at Tribeca and when I arrived with the other lucky guests, we were taken downstairs to see the various fish and seafood that were to become our lunch, and were given a lecture on the sustainability of fishing by Eduardo. Then it was back upstairs for a masterclass in the breaking down of a fish, in this case a 15.2 kilo grouper, showing how every piece is used and nothing is wasted. And then it was time to eat!

The menu was a bit like a “showdown” with both teams creating different dishes using the same main ingredient (prawns, sea anemone, squid, grouper, skate…) along with a couple of joint efforts. Each dish was paired with well-chosen wines, including two manzanilla sherries to start off with, then two white wines (Albariño & Priorat), and moving on to two reds, dry (Mallorca) and sweet (Alicante).

The food was spectacular, and my only complaint was that there was just too much of it to comfortably finish all the dishes (luckily a friend sitting next to me was happy to help out). And while I appreciated the more clever and complex dishes, my personal favourites were the ones that were the most simply prepared, either lightly steamed or chargrilled. But it was all wonderful. Of course the service was  impeccable and the overall experience was one I will always remember.

Many thanks to Fernando Huidrobo for the invitation, and to the fabulous Tribeca and Cañabota teams. Photos below…

Tribeca
Chaves Nogales 3
Tel 954 42 60 00

Cañabota
Orfila 3
Tel 954 870 298 / 690 876 523

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turísmo & gastronomía

13 Friday Jul 2018

Posted by in food & drink, gastronomy, restaurants, sevilla, sherry, tapas, tapas bars

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On Thursday (July 12) I was fortunate enough to be one of the invitees to the Hi Southern Tourism Meeting session on Tourism and Gastronomy (quite an honour, as I was, as far as I know, the only non-Spanish person present), a recognition of the growing importance of food tourism to both these sectors.

The venue was in what is now the Carriage Museum (since 1999), which was built during the 16-17th centuries as a Carmelite convent, and later served as the seat of the Spanish-Cuban Institute of History. Once a landmark, it was overshadowed by the apartment blocks of Los Remedios in the 1940s.

The event was hosted by local newspaper, the ABC, and introductions were made by editor Javier Rubio. The first presentation was given by Marcos Tarancón, of the Fundación Cruzcampo, showing their project to convert the old Cruzcampo factory in Nervión into a new tourist attraction for the city with cafés, restaurants and a large open garden space. The second was by Irene de Castro for Gonzalez Byass and the V Tio Pepe Festival, coming up in August at their bodega in Jerez.

This was followed by two round table discussions chaired by Isabel Aguilar of GURME.es, the first featuring local restauranteurs Juanlu Dorado (Cañabota), Juan Gómez (La Azotea), and Gonzalo Jurado (Tradevo) on the challenges of operating in a city with large numbers of tourists, and the second with Benjamin Lana of Madrid Fusión and Iñigo Iribarnegaray of San Sebastián Gastronómika, two cities that have become well known for food tourism.

Afterwards there was an opportunity to meet some of the participants, and other friends in the hospitality industry, over snacks and coffee.

Thanks as always to ABC Sevilla and sponsors of the event (CaixaBank, City Expert, CitySightseeing, Fundación Cruzcampo, MA Abogados) for a useful and interesting morning.

Also posted on Azahar Sevilla

a weekend in seville

04 Wednesday Jul 2018

Posted by in food & drink, friends, gastronomy, getaways, sevilla, shopping, spain, tapas, tapas bars, tapas tours

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Remember when Mr & Mrs O (Ana & Simon) were here in March? Well Ana has just written this lovely blog post about our time together in Sevilla along with her other adventures in Jerez and Jabugo. Have a look…

A Weekend In Seville with days out
to Jerez for Sherry and Jabugo for Jamón Ibérico

código de barra at vinoble

06 Wednesday Jun 2018

Posted by in food & drink, gastronomy, getaways, sherry

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During Vinoble there were several tastings and cooking demos. The tastings were immediately sold out as soon as they became available online, which was frustrating because the site was down most of that morning. Tickets for the demos became available an hour before the presentation, which seemed more reasonable, though in the case of the jamón demo all the tickets were gone well before the appointed time.

Anyhow… we did manage to get into this “show cooking” by a restaurant in Cádiz called Código de Barra (which has been on my “to do” list for awhile now). Chef Leon Griffioen prepared some exceptional dishes which were paired with spectaclar wines from Bodegas Piñero, Urium and Las Botas. Next time I am in Cádiz this will be my first stop. Well, after Casa Manteca. This was the menu…

  • “surprise” olives (won’t spoil the suprise)
  • yoghurt with seaweed, black pepper, evoo
  • watermelon tartare with pickled veg and manzanilla vinegar
  • Manzanilla Pasada Maruja – Bodegas Piñero
  • tortillita de camarone sticks with kimchee mayo
  • Fino En Rama – Bodegas Urium
  • langostinos al ajillo with Urium oloroso
  • Amontillado Las Botas – Bodegas Las Botas
  • tuna cheek with green beans

laura & erik

02 Saturday Jun 2018

Posted by in food & drink, friends, gastronomy, sevilla, sherry, spain, tapas, tapas bars, tapas tours, twitter friends

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I first met Laura @laurawburgess and Erik @thewhiskykiwi at Bodegas Urium in Jerez in September 2016, and would have met them a few months earlier in Sevilla, but I was hit with a random 24-hour bug and ended up giving them a “remote” tapas tour from bed via my iPhone.

Happily they were in town again yesterday and we were able to meet up for a fabulous lunch at Bodeguita Romero. They also joined me on last night’s Sevilla Tapas Tour with two other couples, and well, the chemistry couldn’t have been better. Right from the start everyone started talking and joking with each other. It was a great evening.

I will be seeing more of Laura & Eric at Vinoble, which starts tomorrow and is actually the reason they are here now. Can’t wait!