Category Archives: tapas

yo soy tu padre

09 Monday Apr 2018

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The other day someone got in touch with me by email. I didn’t know this person, but it turns out they come to Sevilla every spring and spend a month in Triana… and they often check my tapas bar info against their perceptions. Fair enough! This time they wanted to tell me about a new discovery of theirs, a new vermutería that just happens to be in my barrio. So of course I had to check it out.

It’s called Yo Soy Tu Padre (I Am Your Father) and the name stems from what Venezuela born owner Esteban’s grandfather always liked to say to his father, and also is in no small part a reflection of Esteban’s obsession with Star Wars. Below you can see a photo of Esteban’s grandfather, who also became the image for his logo. This is the third location and the newest. I am thrilled! Because not only does Esteban create all his vermouths from sherry wines, but they also do breakfast at this bar … with bagels! Did I mention it’s just down the street from my house? Will be breakfasting there soon, I think.

Meanwhile, how cool that someone I have never met went out of their way to put me in touch with this wonderful place. Thanks Sally!

van gogh alive

04 Wednesday Apr 2018

Posted by in art, friends, sevilla, tapas, tapas bars

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It’s not every day we get to have Beer O’clock in Van Gogh’s bedroom. Thanks to Pilar – who went ahead and booked tickets to Van Gogh Alive – we (Pilar, her mother, Peter and I) met up at the Pabillón de Navigación to take in the multi-media exhibit. Then it was off for a fab lunch at La Azotea Zaragoza. What a lovely day! 🙂

Pilar & Pilar

mr & mrs o

02 Friday Mar 2018

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

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Back in November 2015 I had the pleasure of finally meeting Ana & Simon (aka Mr & Mrs O), and we have stayed in touch since then via Instagram & Twitter, where we first met. So I was really excited to find out they were coming back to Sevilla for a quick weekend getaway, and yesterday I was once again there to meet them when they arrived at their hotel.

The weather was not in our favour, but luckily the RAIN let up for the entire evening. We began our tapeo with starter tapas at the fabulous Becerrita, near the hotel, before making our way to La Sal in barrio Santa Cruz for Almadraba red tuna. Then somehow it was suddenly a good idea to have more jamón for “dessert” at Las Teresas along with crisp, dry manzanilla sherry, and we finished with a sweet sherry nightcap at Vineria San Telmo.

Aside from the great food and wine we shared, we also shared plenty of stories and laughed a lot… the time just flew by. Can’t wait to do it all again. xx

tapas at Becerrita

almadraba tuna at La Sal

carnaval chiquito

28 Wednesday Feb 2018

Posted by in andalucia, food & drink, gastronomy, getaways, tapas, tapas bars, trips

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To be honest, you couldn’t pay me to go to Cádiz during Carnaval, so when Peter and I made a last minute decision to ditch El Puerto for a Sunday afternoon in Cádiz I was relieved that the celebrations had finished the previous weekend. Or so I thought! When we got to Hostel Casa Caracol to drop off the suitcase (a great service, and just a short walk from the train station) the guy at reception informed us that we had arrived just in time for Carnaval Chiquito, a kind of “last hurrah” until next year. Oh boy…

Our plan had been to do a three-stop tapeo at some of our favourite bars, as well as take a walk along the beach, and then stop in at the splendid Cafe Royalty before catching the train home. And well, we did manage all that, but both the streets and the bars were absolutely heaving (though to be honest, the bars are probably that busy on a Sunday anyhow). We totally lucked out with the weather, with the predicted rain holding off until after we got home, and warm enough to walk around in shirtsleeves. So it turned out to be a great afternoon and made me realize that I really have to visit Cádiz more often.

one perfect lacy tortillita de camarones at El Faro

three-bar tapeo: chicharrones de Cádiz at Casa Manteca
chocos & prawns at El Faro
grilled presa and stewed abanico at Cumbres Mayores

fabulous picatostes at Café Royalty

La Caleta beach and the Cádiz Balneario

vinos ricos aquí

27 Tuesday Feb 2018

Posted by in food & drink, friends, getaways, sherry, tapas, tapas bars, twitter friends, wine

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Like the sign says… vinos ricos aguí! And indeed there were. The third Cuatro Gatos Wine Fest took place last Saturday (February 24th) under the big top behind the Hotel Duques de Medinaceli in El Puerto de Santa María. Peter and I arrived by train around noon and made our way to the hotel-apt we had booked for the night.

The courtyard of the Palacio de Luja is much more impressive than the rather tired and slightly sad apartments they offer, so I’m not even going to show photos of the apartment. It was clean, though with an overpowering “air freshener” smell, but everything just looked old and unloved, if you know what I mean. Luckily we were out and about most of the time.

Somehow I didn’t take many photos at the wine tasting, probably because it’s not easy to hold the iphone one-handed. It was great running into Paula and Andrew – two of my favourite sherry gurus – and seeing lots of other people I know, both producers and fellow wine lovers. We mostly hung out around the sherries, and got to taste some pretty spectacular wines. It was also a learning experience for me, tasting the groundbreaking wines by Ramiro Ibáñez and Willy Pérez, and also a new release of three 2014 single pago manzanillas by Viñas Callejuela, clearly showing the importance of terroir. Looking forward to visiting the Pérez and Callejuela bodegas soon.

Around 3 o’clock we took a lunch break and headed over to one of my favourite spots in El Puerto – La Bodeguilla del Bar Jamón. They were offering a stand-up buffet at the event, but sitting down for awhile at this point was a very attractive idea. Paula joined us and, as you can see, we had a delicious time. After lunch Paula had to drive back home to Mijas, and we went back to try a few more wines before calling it a day.

After stopping by the hotel to change shoes we headed out again for a walk around town and ran into another person we know who has recently moved to Cádiz. Jane and her son were looking for somewhere for dinner and so later that evening we once again found ourselves at Bodeguilla, this time with them, for a tapas snack at the bar. Then it was back to the hotel to sleep.

Next morning over breakfast we were trying to work out what to do for the rest of the day (our train home was for 6pm) and we decided there probably wasn’t much doing in El Puerto on a Sunday. So after a quick look at the train schedule, and also a quick google for a place to leave the suitcase, we popped over to Cádiz, which turned out to be an excellent idea. More on that tomorrow!

food photo class & wine tasting

23 Friday Feb 2018

Posted by in food & drink, gastronomy, photos, sevilla, tapas, wine

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[click on image to enlarge]

A rather unusual event this week, being a combined cata by Bodegas Izadi, and a photography class given by Vicugofoto, which took place at the Restaurante Maria Trifulca, at the Triana end of the Isabella II bridge.

The building is an obvious landmark, with a history interesting enough to be worth a short digression. It was originally built in the early 1920s as the offices and boarding point for the steam river boats to Sanlúcar de Barrameda at the mouth of the river, but after some 50 years of operation it could no longer compete with cars, buses and trains. In the 80s it was converted into use as a restaurant (El Faro), and a few years ago passed into new hands as the Maria Trifulca. The name comes from the river beach near Heliopolis which was hugely popular during the 20s and 30s, until an explosion in the nearby gunpowder factory resulted in a great tragedy and the beach was closed down.

The photo class was quite basic, more a demonstration of various tools for lighting and other technical aids than about technique and framing. There were ten of us participating and we each took turns trying to get the “money shot” of the various dishes that were brought to us.

This was followed by the wine tasting organized by Bodegas Izadi, a relatively small Rioja winery founded in 1987, with food pairings prepared by the restaurant.

We started with Larrosa, a very nice fresh rosada which was probably my favourite, paired with two types of nigiri. Next up was Blanco FB, a fruity white that nicely paired with salmon tartare. Then onto the Reds. A 2015 Criaza with char-grilled octopus (probably the best food of the evening), followed by Selección with the main course of grilled presa Ibérica, and finally El Regalo, another red, with the cheesecake dessert.

Thanks to everyone who helped organize the event, and the staff at Maria Trifulca.

we love markets

22 Thursday Feb 2018

Posted by in culture, gastronomy, markets, sevilla, tapas, tapas bars, tapas tours

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José, Delia, Cinta & Ana

About a year or so ago I started also offering my Market & Tapas Tour on We Love Tapas. Since then Cinta, and now José, have joined the WLT team and so yesterday we did a “walk through” training session so that they could also start doing this tour. There have been a couple of changes since I first started doing these, including a lovely collaboration with Ana, the owner of Lama La Uva, one of the most unique wine shops in Sevilla. Delia has been doing the market tours for awhile now, but it was great that she could stop by the shop for a glass of sherry with us. It’s a total pleasure – and honour – working with these guys.

anna & hijos

20 Tuesday Feb 2018

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The last time Anna @annalibera was in town we weren’t able to meet up, so when I found out she was coming back for a few days I was happy that we could find a time to get together. We did a short lunchtime tapeo in Porvenir, starting off at a new abacería and later going to a neighbourhood gastrobar, where we were joined by Anna’s sons Linus and León. Great company and good times. xx

gayle

17 Saturday Feb 2018

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After knowing each other “virtually” for years I was very excited to finally meet fellow tapas tour pioneer Gayle @GranadaTapasTours in person. She was in town visiting with family but took time out to meet up for a lunchtime tapeo. Like me, Gayle began her tapas tours in Granada back when food tours were still a novelty, so we have a lot in common in that sense and spent a fair bit of time “talking shop”. And of course we also have a lot of mutual acquaintances. But we also just chatted about this and that and I think I’ve met my match when it comes to someone who loves talking as much as I do. 🙂 Hoping to meet up again soon in Granada.

 

cata hedonia

16 Friday Feb 2018

Posted by in events, food & drink, gastronomy, sevilla, tapas, tapas bars, wine

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[click on image to enlarge]

Last night I was invited to a wine tasting and tapas pairing at newly opened Hedonia Tapas & Brasas. The tasting was led by my friend, wine expert, journalist and author Javier Compás. It was a real treat to watch Javier in action, and as the wines were all new to me, I also learned a lot from his casual and informative presentation. The food pairings were all very good, and it was a nice introduction to a new tapas bar. Great to see some of the local foodie gang too. Thanks for a lovely evening Hedonia and Javier!