Category Archives: restaurants

casa montalván

29 Friday Jun 2018

Posted by in hotels, restaurants, sevilla, sevilla staycation, spain, tapas, tapas bars

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A Friday afternoon stroll to Triana to look for a new food dish for Morcilla (don’t ask) turned into a delightful surprise visit to brand new tapas bar and restaurant Alfarería 21. This is part of a larger project by Paco Arcas, who owns the nearby Las Golondrinas bars, which will include a boutique hotel. The entire project comprises 3-4 buildings and I was first shown around the site a few years ago, before construction had begun. Then in March Paco took me on another tour of the site and the transformation was stunning.

Anyhow, it turned out that the Alfarería 21, housed in the old Casa Montalván ceramics factory, had just opened the previous day and so of course I couldn’t resist stopping for a couple of tapas and a chat with Paco. The menu is still provisional and so changes will be made, most likely to include separate menus for the bar area downstairs and the first floor restaurant. And the hotel is due to open soon. The rooms I saw in March were gorgeous – can’t wait to go on an overnight “staycation”. More photos below…
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sevilla tapas in the washington post!

08 Friday Jun 2018

Posted by in media, restaurants, sevilla, spain, tapas, tapas bars, tapas tours

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photo by Sylvie Bigar

The last time my friend Sylvie was in town we talked about her coming back to do an article about the evolution of tapas in Sevilla. For awhile it looked like it wasn’t going to happen, then suddenly it was all systems go and before long we were meeting at her hotel for what would become a fun and delicious three-day Tapeo Extremo.

As you can imagine, I was very excited to be a part of this project, but was sworn to secrecy about it until the article was published – which was yesterday! Aside from obviously being pleased at having my tapas tours mentioned in the Washington Post (!!), I was also very excited to see friends and colleagues that I admire getting some well-deserved international attention. You can read the article here…

In Seville, Spain, young chefs are creating the next generation of tapas

 

singular wines

06 Friday Apr 2018

Posted by in andalucia, restaurants, sevilla, sherry, wine

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As soon as I saw the line up for this sherry tasting I knew I’d have to attend. I was already familiar with Velo Flor by Bodegas Alonso, one of the most unique (and delicious) manzanillas I’ve ever tasted, but the Pedro’s Almacenista Selection range by Singular Wines were new to me.

The tasting was at BaQvs in the Hotel Casas de la Juderia, and was led by fellow sherry educator Luis Gutiérrez, who is also the owner of the restaurant. Along with the five fabulous wines – fino, manzanilla, amontillado, palo cortado, oloroso – we were given a  history lesson on the origins of wine making in the Sherry Triangle region, and also taken through the sherry making process. It’s clear that Luis really knows his stuff, though I would have liked a bit more tasting note info and discussion on what actually makes these wines “singular”. But it was a pleasant evening, and thanks are due to BaQvs restaurant for the organising and hosting of the event.

francisco

30 Wednesday Aug 2017

Posted by in food & drink, friends, gastronomy, restaurants, sevilla, tapas, twitter, twitter friends

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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!