Category Archives: restaurants

jane & john

08 Saturday Apr 2017

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

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A few weeks ago Jane & John got in touch with me, saying they were coming to Sevilla and that our mutual friend Simon Majumdar had recommended that they look me up. Well, it turned out that they were arriving in Sevilla the very day I was leaving for London, but happily they were going to still be here when I got back. Jane had already done some Serious Research on my Sevilla Tapas website, and I also gave them some extra tips to keep them going. And then we finally met up!

Peter also joined us on what ended up being one of our favourite things – an afternoon Tapeo Extremo with new friends – which of course properly began in Bar Las Teresas with a plate of jamón and some chilled manzanilla. A few bars and many glasses of wine later we walked J & J back to their apartment (turns out they were also neighbours!) with full bellies and lots of nice memories.

I think Jane put it best when she wrote on her Facebook page…

Love it when we travel and come home with the best souvenir of all: a new friend!

Yep, she’s even got me “slumming” on FB now  😉  since she refuses to use any other social media. Honestly, the things I do for my friends…

Good times! And although J & J say they seldom return to the same place, they are considering another Andalusian adventure. Fingers crossed.

london getaway 2017 | day 6

05 Wednesday Apr 2017

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

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Greek olives at Old Spitalfields Market

Our final full day in London started and finished at Old Spitalfields Market. We had plans to meet Julie & Steve for lunch at Quality Chop House, but as it was such a lovely day we wanted to get out early and get a walk in before meeting them. Which actually turned into quite a long walk through not very picturesque streets, but we enjoyed the market and I also got to see the Smithfield meat market, which is housed in a surprisingly beautiful building. Along the way I got a message from Julie saying that they were on the train and, if they got in early, they were going to stop for a “quick one” at The Eagle (London’s first gastrobar), across the street from Quality Chop. As it turned out we all arrived there about the same time, and half an hour early for our lunch reservastion, so The Eagle it was.

Then lunch at Quality Chop. I was introduced to QC by the FoodieHub people, when I was invited to the FH Awards back in 2015, and this was my third visit. It is one of my favourite places to eat in London – always amazing food and terrific service. You may even recall that when Julie & Steve came to Sevilla last Christmas I made – or attempted to make – chef Sean Searley’s iconic confit potatoes. And Sean even gave me some advice on Twitter, which I thought was very sweet of him.

Anyhow, this was a chance for Julie & Steve to try the real deal potatoes, along with THAT hereford mince and various other wonderful QC dishes. It was an outstanding lunch and by far the best meal of the trip (you can see details below). Many thanks to Sean and the QC team.

After lunch there was another treat in store for us as Julie & Steve decided we should have a penúltima at a hidden gem of a pub called Ye Olde Mitre. En route Julie told us stories of her time working in the area, and we passed the shop where Steven bought her engagement ring. Although they no longer live in the city, they spent many happy years there and are full of insider knowledge. We were joined at Ye Olde Mitre by my pal @CityJohn. Whenever people dis social media (and in particular Twitter) all I can say is that many of the people I hold dear in my life are people I met on Twitter. And John is one of the most special ones.

Finally it was time to say goodbye, and Peter and I decided to walk over to the Sky Garden bar atop the hideous “walkie talkie” building, to try and catch a glimpse of MY SHARD at sunset. It had suddenly occureed to me that I hardly had any photos of the Shard from this visit. And so over we walked, and up we went, only to find that we were too late to walk outside on the viewing platforms (which close at 6 pm). So close and yet so far! And so I had to make do with taking a shot of my beloved Shard from inside. I’ll know better next time.

By this time a few hours had past since lunch and we were thinking that a snack before going home would probably be a good idea, and so that’s how we ended up back at Old Spitalfields Market. But not before passing through Leadenhall Market, which kind of popped up out of nowhere. So by the time we got to Taberna do Mercado (almost 20,000 fitbit steps since leaving home in the morning) we were ready for a drink and a snack. We shared chef Nuno Mendez’s fabulous tempura green beans, and a couple of the Portuguese butties. And then it was time to find an Uber back to the apartment and start packing for home.

Smithfield Meat Market

The Eagle

cheers!

chef Shaun Searley and his famous confit potatoes

[click to enlarge pic]

Quality Chop House

  • Smoked cod’s roe, cured egg yolk
  • THOSE confit potatoes
  • THAT Hereford mince, dripping toast, watercress
  • Nettle gnocchi, walnut, Cornish Yarg cheese
  • Middle White pork, beetroot, seabeet
  • Chicken livers, prune, mustard, pear, hazelnut

Ye Olde Mitre

Peter, Steven, Julie and John at Ye Olde Mitre

obstructed view from the Sky Garden

Leadenhall Market

the Spitalfields goat

Taberna do Mercado:
prawn rissoís, presa pork bifana, rump steak prego
and THOSE tempura green beans

 

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

 

pilar & antonio

24 Tuesday Jan 2017

Posted by in andalucia, food & drink, friends, gastronomy, madrid, restaurants, spain, travel, trips, welcome

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pilar-antonio-1For years I’ve been bumping into Pilar and Juan Antonio at various food & wine events around Sevilla, and we always say we will meet up sometime in Cádiz. Pilar has a food blog called Túbal Aquaviva and is originally from Sevilla, but has been living in Cádiz since 1992, after she and Juan Antonio got married. Above is the only photo you’ll see of all of us… it turns out that Pilar is just as camera shy as I am.

Anyhow, when Peter and I first arrived in Cádiz for the final Birthday Getaway, after dropping off the luggage at our hotel, we made a beeline to the central market (really, my favourite food market in Spain) and Pilar met us there for Beer O’clock. I originally thought we were just going to have a nice beer and a chat, but Pilar had bigger and better plans for us. We were about to be taken on a Tapeo Extremo, with some cool cultural bits thrown in along the way. First stop was to visit the old salazones (fish salting plant), the remains of which are to be found in an obscure side street. Later we were shown where to find the also not-very-well-known Oratorio de las Cuevas, which have original Goya frescos in the upper chapel. And by then it was time for some refreshment, so we made our way over to Salicornia to properly start our tapeo.
pilar-antonio-4
Here are Peter and Juan Antonio at Salicornia – the latter arrived shortly after us bearing some fillets of fresh salmon he’d picked up at the market for lunch at home, having not been fully informed about our Tapeo. So after we’d tried some delicious dishes off the menu (butterfish ceviche, boletus and truffle rice, presa Ibérica carpaccio) chef Juan Höhr Herrera made us some amazing fresh tuna tartare with Asian spices and wasabe from Antonio’s “catch of the day”.
pilar-antonio-2

Another place on Pilar’s list for us to visit was La Curiosidad de Mauro, recently moved from the original location in Puerto Real. But before that we had to stop in at what turned out to be one of my favourite “discoveries” of the entire trip, a tiny hole-in-the-wall fish place called the Mini Bar. Here we met Paco, who’s been serving up super fresh no-nonsense fish dishes for 45 years. Seriously, you can’t spend money there. But as we had other other fish to fry (so to speak) we just shared a ración of fritos variados and were on our way. Mauro’s was also very good, but after the last two spots, which seemed much more relaxed and natural, we felt a bit like we were obliged to like the food… I dunno, it was a bit too “gastro-bar” for me.
pil-antWe finished up (as one always must when in Cádiz) at the fabulously OTT Café Royalty, for their famous picatostes, which go perfectly with either coffee, cava or cocktails. Just to be sure, we had all three. The picatostes are a bit like a very thick French toast, dusted with icing sugar. Delish.

At this point we were joined by Ania @ania_marchlik but that’s another story…  😉

It was a great day, and it was so lovely that Pilar and Antonio took such good care of us. Gracias amigos! xx

michelin star birthday lunch

09 Monday Jan 2017

Posted by in birthdays, restaurants, sevilla

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abantalAfter years of “meaning to go” to Abantal, Sevilla’s only Michelin star restaurant, I decided that my 60th birthday was a good excuse for a decadent splash out meal. I’ve known chef Julio for many years, and even worked with him on the Turismo Sevilla tapas app, so I was looking forward to finally trying out his place.

We did the tasting menu  – descriptions are below, and you can click on the photo above to enlarge the image…

  • razor clam with cauliflower cream on fried wonton
  • garlic soup with egg yolk and seta foam
  • quisquilla (prawn) carpaccio with seaweed and artichoke pilpil
  • red tuna galette, orange escabeche, cucumber granita and mint foam
  • seasonal mushrooms, sopa morisca purée, truffled egg yolk, onion bizcocho
  • confit cod with spinach and garbanzo purées
  • presa Ibérica with truffled pumpkin cream, grapefruit, lime
  • passionfruit creme with mint granita and chocolate
  • orange wine zabayon, torta de aceite, mandarin, cinnamon

This was my second Michelin experience. The first was pretty much a disaster at the JC García Restaurant in Málaga, also a 1-star like Abantal. This time the experience was actually quite pleasant, with excellent service. But the food was somehow lacking. Nothing was terrible (as at JCG) but nothing was exceptional either. Still, it was a lovely afternoon and a very nice birthday present – thank you Peter!