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Here it is! The annual summer list of my favourite fabulous non-touristy bars & restaurants in Sevilla that will be open during August. Enjoy!
open in august 2021
26 Monday Jul 2021
Category Archives: tapas bars
identity theft
15 Thursday Jul 2021
Posted in history, rants, sevilla, spain, tapas bars
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photo courtesy of Gurmé Sevilla
You may recall when a few months ago I wrote about Bodega San José closing its doors after more than 80 years (the Bueno family took over the location around 1935). This was because the present owners of the building refused to renew the lease this year, presumably because they got a more lucrative offer. And here is the result.
Surely this is identity theft? Taking over a cherished family-run bar, doing a big reno, and then not only keeping the same name but putting “desde 1893” in your logo. This new bar (actually “desde 2021”) has nothing to do with the old one and is nothing like it. I’ve seen photos on their (new) FB page and it looks like your typical gastro bar inside. It’s irksome that they are staking claim to a history that was never theirs, obviously trying to profit from it. Not the first time I’ve seen this happen here, but perhaps the saddest one for me.
you lose some, you win some
05 Monday Jul 2021
Posted in coronavirus, covid, gastronomy, instagram, patreon, sevilla, tapas, tapas bars, tapas tours
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beautiful food and wonderful service at La Atrayana
I think most of you know about my labour of love Sevilla Tapas, that I started back in 2007, which then evolved into me doing food and wine tours after recovering from cancer. Which was going great until, well you know, 2020. But the main point of the website is to feature and help promote tapas bars and restaurants in Sevilla, and also to serve as a guide for food-loving people visiting the city.
During lockdown I did my best to support tapas bars here by keeping them in the public eye on my Twitter and Instagram accounts. As I have something like 30,000 food pics in my phone archives this wasn’t a problem. So I’d be sure to post something daily. Then once places started reopening I got back to doing what I do, which is visiting bars and updating their pages on my site. Very sadly some had closed for good during 2020, but others were born. And so keeping within my “safety parameters” of only going out twice a week and either sitting outside or near an open door/window, I got back to work.
accidental tapas tour
01 Thursday Jul 2021
Posted in sevilla, tapas, tapas bars
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This is Steven and Beatrice. We met via Kirby, a lovely young woman I’d met here a few years ago, and who now manages Steven’s organic food shop in Salt Lake City. They had come to Sevilla for a few days and I set them up with the fabulous José for a cultural walking tour (they said they didn’t want a food tour!) and so that was fine. Then on their last evening they asked if I wanted to meet them for a quick drink. A quick drink. Three hours later…
Yep, one drink at Casa Morales led to eating a plate of jamón, and more drinks, and then they told me that, although they had followed my tapas bar recommendations and had gone to Bodeguita Romero THEY DIDN’T HAVE A PRINGÁ! And so of course we had to remedy that situation and they were happy I did so. A fun and totally unexpected night out.
virtual tapas tour
15 Tuesday Jun 2021
Posted in sevilla, spain, tapas bars, tapas tours
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Got an email around 6 o’clock from a guy called Blake asking if he and his wife could join a tapas tour this evening. And well, aside from the fact that I am not giving tours yet, it was very last minute, even too late for José to get into Sevilla on time (he lives just outside town). So I had to apologise and say no… twice, because he wrote back saying they were vaccinated, etc. But I explained it was too late to organise anything and once again had to say no. Then he wrote AGAIN saying that if I changed my mind to just let them know. And then inspiration struck! I remembered when, a few years ago, friends were visiting and I was hit with a random 24-hour bug. I suddenly had to take to my bed and wasn’t able to meet up with them. Instead we stayed in touch by phone and I told them where to go and what to order. And so I decided to suggest this to Blake (especially as he clearly wasn’t taking no for an answer! 😉 ).
Well, he loved the idea and I set it up like a bit of a mystery tour, sending them map locations of the bars by WhatsApp one at a time, with a list of tapas to order at each one. Meanwhile they sent me photos (and bad jokes courtesy of Blake) throughout the evening. Later he sent me this message. 🙂
One of the best travel experiences I have had, thank you so much again and I can’t wait to write my review tomorrow. Cheers.
I was joking that I could maybe do this full-time, doing 3-4 tours a night sending people to different bars while I stay home and netflix with the cats, but the truth is I can’t wait to get out and about again. This was fun though!
