Category Archives: getaways

el puerto getaway 2017

14 Wednesday Jun 2017

Posted by in andalucia, food & drink, friends, gastronomy, getaways, hotels

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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!

tomato soup alley

27 Saturday May 2017

Posted by in andalucia, food & drink, getaways, spain, tapas

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Many years ago, on one of my first visits to Córdoba, Peter @SVQconcierge and I happened upon this tiny cul-de-sac alley (that just happened to have a little bar at the end – perfect for Beer O’clock!), which we seemed to only ever find again by chance on subsequent visits. Like this time. Only since we last stumbled upon it the name has been changed (a quick google tells me it was in fact changed in December 2014). What was previously Calleja de Arcos is now Calleja de Salmorejo Cordobés, or Tomato Soup Alley, and comes with a recipe for Córdoba’s famous cold soup. I actually prefer this to the more well-known gazpacho. Originally made with a mortar & pestle, these days using a blender or food processor is more common.  Here is the translation…

Salmorejo Cordobés

  • 1 kg tomatoes
  • 200 grams bread
  • 100 grams extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 10 grams salt

Wash and then mash the tomatoes. Strain to remove the skin and seeds, then mash the pulp again, adding the bread, oil, garlic and salt, and keep blending until smooth. Top with chopped hard boiled egg and bits of jamón Ibérico.

Salmorejo is a part of what I call the Córdobes Holy Trinity of tapas, which also includes flamenquín and berenjenas fritos. We ended up ordering all of these when we were at Taberna El Gallo the other day and – wow! – I have to say that all three were probably the best I’ve had anywhere. The salmorejo was delicious and had a lovely texture, not “over processed”, as if a mortar & pestle had been used. Also a nice touch – the hard boiled whole quail egg. The flamenquín was unlike any I’d had before, simply with pork loin and serrano ham rolled up, breaded and deep fried. Most places add cheese or other fillings, but the waiter at El Gallo told me this was the original version. Last but not least… amazing aubergine/eggplant frites! Crispy fried, tender (not mushy) inside, and – most importantly – no gacky sweet molasses (called miel de caña “cane honey” here) squirted all over them. I love this bar.

feria de córdoba 2017

25 Thursday May 2017

Posted by in andalucia, fiestas, flamenco, getaways, spain, travel, trips

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I hadn’t planned on going to the feria in Córdoba this year. But when I saw Roma @artsylife posting pics from Málaga on her Instagram, and when she said she wouldn’t make it to Sevilla this visit, we decided to meet up for a day in Córdoba. So Peter and I caught an early train and, after meeting up with Roma for a nice lunch at La Regadera (warning: never try to eat at any ferias) we got a taxi to the fairground. And well, it was HOT. But we managed to find a couple of nice air-conditioned casetas to enjoy a cold beer and watch people dancing. Like in Jerez (and unlike Sevilla) the casetas in Córdoba are all open to the public. But unlike any other feria I’ve been too, many also have A/C. Bliss. Click through to see more pics…
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tío pepe challenge 2017

19 Friday May 2017

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[click on image to enlarge]

As everyone knows, Tío Pepe is the flagship brand of Bodegas González Byass, probably the biggest of the Jerez sherry houses. The annual Tío Pepe Challenge is a competition for bartenders to mix and present sherry based cocktails, and this year’s Grand Final, featuring eight bartenders from the Americas and Europe, was held on May 17th at GB’s bodega in Jerez.

The setting, in one of the cathedral-like bodegas that has been converted for events and functions, was suitably magnificent, and many of the great and the good from the world of sherry were in attendance as the eight competitors (who all seemed remarkably young) were put through their paces in front of the esteemed panel of judges. The competition started with a blind tasting test of 4 sherries, followed by a test/demonstration of their skills with the venencia, before the main event – the mixing of the sherry cocktails.

Each contestant in turn had seven minutes to mix two cocktails – an Adonis (a mix of fino, vermouth and orange bitters invented in the 1880s in honour of the first Broadway musical to pass 500 performances), and a signature cocktail of their own, during which they demonstrated that cocktail mixing is, among other things, a form of theatre. This meant lots of tasting for the judges (with some samples of various other cocktails for the audience too), but they finally arrived at their verdict.

And the winner… Joao Vicente of the Alto Bar in Berlin for his Jerez Sin Fronteras (black tea infused Tío Pepe, Nectar PX, Nomad Whisky).

feria de jerez 2017

18 Thursday May 2017

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The plan had been to pop over to Jerez for the day, take in the feria during the afternoon, and then return to Sevilla in the evening. Then my friend Tomoko @TomokoTours told me about the Tío Pepe Challenge finals happening that evening and I scored an invitation for me and Peter. In theory we could have still come home on the last train while buying the tickets online I thought I’d just check to see if there were any hotels available at a reasonable rate – and there was!

An hour later, with a hastily packed bag and after last-minute “leaving cats overnight prep”, we were in a taxi to the train station. First stop (after checking into our hotel) was meeting up with Tomoko for a pre-feria lunch. Experience has taught me that it’s best not to try and eat at any ferias, so we had a bite at Tabanco Las Bandarillas before catching a bus up to the fair grounds. I was all ready to spend a happy hour or so taking photos of all the beautiful horses but… there weren’t any. I mean, there were the commercial horse carriages that you can hire for a ride around the grounds, but I didn’t see any individual riders other than a small group of them as we were leaving. I first noticed this dearth of horses a couple of years ago, and was told it was due to the heat wave that was going on at the time, and that the horse owners didn’t want to risk the health of their magnificent beasts. But this time, and also last year, were practically horseless, without the excuse of a heat wave. Has anyone else noticed this?

the feriamobile

17 Wednesday May 2017

Posted by in culture, dance, day trips, fiestas, flamenco, getaways, sevilla, spain

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One of these could come in handy for taking in all the nearby ferias in May. Unusually, Sevilla’s famous Feria de Abril mostly took place in May too this year as it traditionally begins two weeks after Easter Sunday. I tend to prefer the smaller ferias and will try to get to at least a couple of these ones. Maybe see you there?

  • Jerez de la Frontera  May 13 – 20
  • Dos Hermanas May 18 – 21
  • Córdoba May 20 – 27
  • Sanlúcar de Barrameda May 23 – 28
  • El Puerto de Santa María May 24 – 29

home again…

06 Thursday Apr 2017

Posted by in cats, friends, getaways, home

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This didn’t really count as a “last day in London” since we basically just got up, got dressed, had a quick coffee and then got an Uber at 9 am to the train station, which then got us to the airport in plenty of time. But you know… all I could think about was seeing (and snibbling) the cats again. And this is where I say thank you once again (because I told her lots before, during and after the trip) to my friend Ania who stayed at Casa Azahar while we were away, and looked after my darlings.

For Ania it was also a bit of a treat because she loves cats but can’t have any of her own as she travels so much. And it was also a bit of a “staycation” in that she got to live in the centre of town for almost a week. I knew she would take good care of the beasts, and she didn’t even mind the list of “stupid cat rules” on the fridge door. But what I appreciated most was Ania sending me daily pics of the cats, because she knew how much I would be missing them. Especially that little monkey, Morcilla.

Muchas gracias Ania!

london getaway 2017 | day 5

04 Tuesday Apr 2017

Posted by in food & drink, friends, gastronomy, getaways, london, restaurants, sherry, travel, trips, welcome

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So this was it! The day I’d been looking forward to and dreading in equal measure. Also it was the main reason for being in London for this particular London Getaway, to be one of the judges at the first World Sherry Awards. I say “dreading” because I had never judged anything at this level before, and wasn’t sure what would be expected. Happily my friend Owen @sherrymonster44 (another sherry educator and co-owner of four fabulous tapas bars in southern Wales) had also been invited as a judge, so I knew there would be at least one friendly face. As it turned out, I needn’t have worried. The people running the event were super friendly and I immediately felt right at home. Or as “at home” as possible at the elegant Caledonian Club, where the tasting was being held. You will have to wait until May to find out which wine was chosen as the winner, and I hope to be invited back again next year.

After the tasting Owen had to get back to Wales and I met up again with Peter, who had spent the afternoon visiting a couple of museums. As we were near Harrod’s – and as I had never been to Harrod’s – we went to Harrod’s! In fact, we decided to do a three-posh-store circuit and after Harrod’s we also stopped off at Harvey Nichols and Fortnum & Mason. I think a few years ago I would have found these places more interesting, especially the food courts. Anyhow, we stopped for a drink in the upstairs lounge at Harvey Nicks, as we still had a couple of hours to go before meeting up with John again. Then we found out John was going to be delayed, so we went off in search of a pre-pub snack in nearby Soho.

My first choice, Boca di Lupo, was already packed at 6.30 pm and we were told to come back in an hour or so to see if there was any space then. Uh… no. Then I remembered Zelman’s. This turned out to be an excellent choice. We were immediately shown to a comfy spot in front of the glass-walled “open” kitchen and our server couldn’t have been nicer. So different from the “fake-friendly” treatment elsewhere the previous day. Our snack was a massive smoked beef short rib, which we shared with a side of triple-fried chips. We honestly wished we were hungrier so we could try more dishes – Zelman is already at the top of the list for my next London visit.

By the time we met up with John I was pretty tired, so we just had a couple of drinks and a nice chat before I called an Uber to take us home.

Owen finds a secret passage behind fake bookshelf door at the Caledonian Club

cool Tudor style buildings just off Regent Street

the Egyptian escalator in Harrod’s

chillin’ and rechargin’ at Harvey Nicks

fall-off-the-bone smoked beef short rib at Zelman Meats

triple-fried chips with Holy Fuck mayo (their name, not mine)

pubbing with John and Peter

 

london getaway 2017 | day 4

03 Monday Apr 2017

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This was the only day I had actually planned both lunch and dinner meet-ups with friends. And I knew I’d be fine lunching light with Thane @thaneprince since we’ve done this before, and as it turned out she also had a dinner date that same evening. Last summer Thane and I thought we’d made a mistake by choosing newly-opened Calcutta Street over our original choice, Clipstone. So this time we thought we would make it right by going to Clipstone for lunch.

Needn’t have bothered. I really have no complaint about the food or service per se, other than it was way overpriced for what was an uninspired and totally forgettable meal. I mean, just look at it… 40€ each for that (mostly vegetables other than the 2 scallops)? With some wine, of course.

After lunch I met Peter to do some SHOPPING. I was hoping to find some cute sandals at the official Mephistos shop (nope) so we just ended up wandering around Soho until it was time to meet Sara & Steve for dinner at Kiln, the new sister restaurant of Smoking Goat. Thai fusiony fabulousness was promised. Sad to say, Kiln failed to deliver.

Peter and I got to Kiln a few minutes early, so we were ushered to an area next to the bar and drink orders were taken. When Sara & Steve arrived (who were also given drinks) we were then ushered to a small room downstairs and were shown to our table. When I booked I was told that we would only have the table for two hours. And well, okey-dokey, but it was a full half-hour before our food order was taken – wtf is that about? In fact, the service was lacking throughout the entire, uh, two hours. We ordered a bottle of white wine for the ladies (guys were on beer and soft drinks) and after serving two glasses the bottle was plunked down on the table with no option for keeping it chilled. When we asked the waitress she said she could stick in back in the fridge for us and bring it out again later. WHAT? Given that an easy 20 minutes would pass without seeing our server again this was not an option (nor would it be anywhere).

Then out came the food, which was fine. I mean, it wasn’t bad. It just wasn’t really good. In the end it was the poor service that stood out. Staff were not well-trained, and exuded the sort of OTT “fake friendliness” that I assume they think will cover for their ineptness. Well… nope. It didn’t.

But in spite of two seriously mediocre meals, the company couldn’t have been better, and I had a great time with my friends anyhow. But I am NEVER going back to either of these restaurants. xx

london getaway 2017 | day 3

02 Sunday Apr 2017

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They say you can never go home again, or step in the same river twice, or… WHATEVER. This time round it wasn’t me that had changed but the fabulous Maltby Street Market I had fallen in love with last August. That had been a day I was out on my own in London, and somehow the whole market seemed to welcome me, and I spent a few wonderful hours talking with everyone there and even making new friends. So I was eager to relive the experience and made a plan to meet up with my dear friend John @cityjohn.

As it was a very pretty morning Peter and I decided to walk there from Wapping, which takes about an hour, and is a very pleasant walk along the riverside and across Tower Bridge. On our way there another dear friend José @jose_pizarro called me and said that, although pressed for time (he was between trips to Spain), he wanted to at least pop over and say hola, so we also arranged to meet at the market. In the end we all met up at good ol’ Bar Tozino, where we stopped in for a quick manzanilla with John and his friends, and then José also stopped by. Considering José’s crazy schedule, it felt very special that he made the time to come over and we got to catch up a bit.

By this time it was feeling like we should try to get some lunch so, after José left us, we had a look around the market. Which was jammed in every direction. I managed to find my pal Mark @thegayfarmer and we had a nice chat (he also very generously gave me some of his newly harvested evoo). Then John had to leave because his friend was suddenly ill, so it was just me and Peter left, looking around this once charming but now super over-crowded street market and we decided – let’s get outta here!

I mean, by then it was 3 pm and breakfast had been quite awhile ago, and we’d been walking A LOT, so our first necessity was to eat SOMETHING before deciding on what to do next. Luckily José’s tiny and perfect tapas bar in Bermondsey was just around the corner, so we stopped in there for a drink and some of his sublime squid ink croquetas. Thus fortified we ventured out to find some non-Spanish food and I remembered the fabulous Arabica, just outside Borough Market, that had been recommended to me last summer by my friend Thane @thaneprince. And I knew I had to try the muhamarra (roasted red pepper, harissa, toasted walnuts) again. Well, imagine my surprise when we walked in and the barman Emanuel remembered me (!!!). Seriously? I mean, how many people have passed through those doors since last August? And so, feeling very welcome, we had a lovely late afternoon lunch.

After that we did something I had planned on doing last visit but time (and Panic Attacks) got in the way. We walked along the South Bank from London Bridge to Westminster Bridge, then crossed over, making our way past Big Ben, etc and ending up in Covent Garden. By then we seriously needed to sit down and so stopped in at Rules for a drink in their upstairs cocktail bar. Rules is London’s oldest restaurant (and was also featured in Downton Abbey – where the Crawley family dined while “in town”), so what the heck. Perhaps a bit too formal and with too much plush velvet for my taste, but it was an experience. After that we thought a small snack before going home was probably a good idea, so we stopped in at Polpo (across the street from Rules) for a small dish of their delicious pork meatballs. And then we caught the bus home… with front row seats on the upper deck.

the Bar Tozino team

Mark the Gay Farmer – makes fabulous olive oil and pesto too

José Pizarro’s famous squid ink croquetas

THIS. Turkish Muhamarra (roasted red pepper, harissa, toasted walnuts)
Arabica just outside Borough Market

hola Shard!

the Globe Theatre

the supports for the old Blackfriar’s rail bridge (new one on the right)

walking past the London Eye

Big Ben and Parliament buildings

wheel closeup with serpents

London Eye – no filter!

drinks at Rules – London’s oldest restaurant

quick snack before heading home – meatballs at Polpo, Covent Garden

upper deck, front seat view