08 Thursday May 2025
New on Bitesize Sevilla🍊 … a handy guide for Sherry & Tapas Pairings. Have a look and give it a “like” (if you like it) and if you really like it maybe consider becoming a free or paid subscriber… Thx!
27 Thursday Feb 2025
Posted in gastronomy, sevilla, sherry, tapas tours
You may remember Katie & Paul, who visited here back in the fall of 2023. We’d met through social media and then also got to meet in person and we’ve stayed in touch ever since. Katie runs food adventure company Bowland & Bay in Lancashire UK and this week she hosted her first “trial run” Sevilla Getaway with six close friends, and of course Paul (aka Sherry Boy) came along too.
At first Katie had wanted a Triana Tour and a Sherry Tour but of course I CAN’T WALK, which I didn’t think was still going to be an issue when we first started organising things last October. Well okay, I can’t walk much. So since there were going to be eight of them requiring a slightly modified itinerary anyhow, I basically came up with two new “experiences” for them which would require less walking (and taxis home) for me. And both of them went so well I may start offering a version of these shorter tours on my website. Because, other than still being able to do my Sherry Tastings, the tours have been on hold since last summer. We shall see.
Meanwhile, Katie is already organising her next Sevilla Getaway for next October and I’m already looking forward to it.
21 Friday Feb 2025
Posted in art, gastronomy, hotels, sevilla, spain
Tags
My friend Eva @flamencakitchen has helped organise this very special event for the past two years, which brings together Gastronomy and Art in the city. Fourteen hotels are showcasing Maridarte 2025, along with their chefs and ten local artists. Today Eva invited me to attend the presentation of chef Antonio GarcĂa and artist Daniel Franca at the Radisson Hotel Magdalena which, quite handily, is just around the corner from my house.
The premise is simple but also quite unique. At each hotel an artist displays certain pieces of their work and then the chef “pairs” dishes with them. Which at first I thought was a bit “yeah okay…” but today listening to Antonio and Daniel talk about how they influenced each other and what each painting and dish meant to them was actually quite moving. And then we got to taste the dishes. If you’re in Sevilla, Maridarte is on until March 2nd. You can find their programme below for meeting the artists, but you can also just show up any time to view the art and taste the dishes.
19 Wednesday Feb 2025
Posted in andalucia, films, gastronomy
Last June I was contacted by French Arte.TV and asked if I could help them organise an upcoming shoot they had planned for a short film on Tapas Culture in Sevilla. They were specifically looking for a chef to feature, but one that made traditional tapas, and they were also interested in me taking the presenter and some local foodies on a tapeo.
For me the best guys for the job were Jaime Guardiola and Pedro Ruiz-Ocejo as they are both actually chefs (most tapas bars tend to have cooks, albeit excellent ones at times, but this was not what Arte-TV was looking for). They also run two bars that are dedicated to traditional food – Salmedina and Taberna Zurbarán. Also, Jaime’s family has their own fish market in Rota, Cádiz, so that also got included.
For my part I took them out on a tapeo and, well, OKAY. I mean, they could have really done it without me since by then it was all organised (by me) but in the end, after having contributed so much, I wanted to be there. My main stipulation was that they wouldn’t film me too much, so you may catch glimpses of me here but it was up to the others to stuff food into their mouths and talk about how great it was.
Anyhow, here it is, in French (subtitled in Spanish and German if that helps!) Gotta admit I got a bit teary eyed when I saw myself walking down the street using only a cane. Those were the days!
07 Friday Feb 2025
Posted in gastronomy, restaurants, seasons, sevilla
It’s been a few years since I last went to the calçotada at La Quinta and so today while out making an appointment at the Social Security office (more on that next week) we decided to stop in as it was in the neighbourhood and scored a table out on the patio. Rather than go with the whole calçotada menu (which is way too much food) we opted for a rooftile of calçots and a couple of other dishes. This year they didn’t offer any gloves so our hands were a total black mess in no time.
This is a Catalán tradition where the calçots (similar to a large spring onion) are roasted over charcoal, then wrapped up in newspaper and served with a nutty romesco sauce. Delicious and also messy as hell. The trick is in getting the non-charred delicate centre out. First you peel away a bit of the charred bit at the end until you see the green part of the onion. Hold onto that! Then tightly grip the tip of the calçot with your other hand and pull. After that you dip the calçot into the romesco sauce and pop it into your mouth. One day I hope to attend a real calçotada out in the countryside in Catalunya but for now this is just fine.
casa azahar 