08 Tuesday Apr 2025
Posted in culture, restaurants, sevilla, spain, substack, tapas, tapas bars
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The latest on Bitesize Sevilla… A guide to (good) bars and restaurants that are open in Sevilla on Sunday and Monday. Go check it out and give it a “like” (if you like it). And if you really like it consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Thanks!
24 Monday Feb 2025
Posted in food & drink, restaurants, sevilla
I just can’t brunch. Sorry. Yesterday my friends at La Azotea invited me and Peter to try their brand new Sunday brunch menu and I had to check to see what was the latest time we could arrive. Which was shortly after noon. Still a bit early but what the heck. And it really was lovely, just a lot of food to consider so early in the day.
It’s a set menu with a choice of three egg dishes (we tried two of the three – benedict and Ibérico). All of it was delicious. And one bonus with having the midday meal finish earlier than usual was that I actually got a lot of extra work done after getting home. Also went to bed earlier. Don’t think it will become a habit though.
Sunday Brunch at La Azotea
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.
17 Friday Jan 2025
Posted in homecooking, restaurants, sevilla, spain, substack
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The other day I was invited to try out a new restaurant here by María, who I’ve known forever. She has a new job as front of house at brand new Luz y Brasa and she told the owners about me. And so, I went with Peter and it really was a great experience. BUT… there were only two of us and, aside from a few small starters, most of the dishes were mahoosive. So we on purpose over ordered because we didn’t want to have to decide between the sea bass or the Ibérico pork, and so we had both and then half of this baby came home with us.
People visiting Sevilla are never sure whether it’s okay to ask for a “doggie bag”. But I say hell yeah. It’s not really so much a Spanish custom but during Covid lockdown and with many places doing takeaway it became more usual, and then in 2023 there was a law passed (La Ley de Prevención de Pérdidas y Desperdicio Alimentario) requiring restaurants to offer a takeaway/leftover service.
And so Thursday’s takeaway leftovers have ended up being a delicious Friday lunch. Wild sea bass in a quick garlicky amontillado sauce, buttery mash and peas. Win-win.
10 Friday Jan 2025
Posted in birthdays, bitesize sevilla, friends, gastronomy, restaurants, sevilla, spain
My third (and final) birthday lunch. Well, you never know, but at least this is the last one during Birthday Week. I need to take some time off celebrating to get some work done on Bitesize Sevilla, which has turned into quite a time-consuming project (with a steep learning curve!). But I love doing it and of course the hope is that it will eventually start becoming a new source of income (I actually have three paid subscribers now!!!).
Anyhow, I had mentioned Beirutina as one of my top new openings for 2024 (both here and on the Bitesize Substack) and so Fourat got in touch to thank me and said she’d love me to come over and try some of their new dishes. Great! I’ve known Fourat for about fifteen years and we are neighbours as well as good friends. I was thrilled when she opened her little Lebanese brunch-lunch spot just three months ago, literally a stones throw from my house (I can see it from my balcony).
We got there early to find a little window table reserved for us and, well, it was fabulous. Although I’ve been here several times now this was the first time I got to try both Lebanese beer and wine and I loved them both. Fourat knows I’m not keen on sweets so for a birthday treat at the end of our meal she brought us a couple of her nutty Lebanese biscuits (also new on the menu) one with pistachio and orange, the other with peanuts, with a small bag of them to take home as well.
We had…
casa azahar 