Category Archives: tapas

a safe place

22 Thursday Oct 2020

Posted by in coronavirus, covid, restaurants, sevilla, tapas, tapas bars

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safe place

Sevilla, along with Córdoba and Jaén, is getting hit with the same new restrictions that Madrid and Granada had imposed on them a couple of weeks ago. The measures will come into effect this Sunday, once they are published in the Official Gazette of the Junta de Andalucía. This rant post is mostly about how it’s going to affect the hospitality industry here.

Among the new measures announced by the Minister of Health…

  • the closing of bars and restaurants in the aforementioned capitals at 10 p.m. and the limitation of the capacity to 50 percent both on the terraces and indoors.
  • In restaurants and bars of the use of masks it will be mandatory both inside and on the terraces, masks can only be removed while eating or drinking.
  • people who do sports outdoors must always wear their ask if they are near other people.
  • possible curfew from 11.00 pm to 6.00 am.

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lola por dios

02 Friday Oct 2020

Posted by in 2020, friends, sevilla, tapas

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I am amazed at the number of new tapas bars and restaurants that have opened in Sevilla since we began our lockdown “de-escalation” at the end of June. This is optimism in the extreme, and of course I support it, but there is also a bit of trepidation there, hoping they will succeed in spite of the odds. I know that in some cases the restaurants had already invested in opening in the spring, so it’s now either make or break time. Others, like these crazy guys, looked for new ways to expand on what they already had going here, and make it even more fun and interesting.

I give you (L-R) Jota, Juan, Miguel and Esteban standing in front of their newly opened Lola Por Dios. I took this photo the day before the opening and, as usual in these cases, it looked like they would never be finished in time. But of course they were, and were immediately supported by friends and other happy locals looking for a nice place to enjoy amazing wines and Esteban’s singular sherry-based vermouths, along with delicious traditional tapas. Lola por Dios has been going for years, but this past year or so has also been going through some changes. It was a bold move to change locations and to also create this quirky “taberna vertical” with the bar distributed over four floors, with a small terrace outside on the pedestrian street.

Good luck my darlings! xx

not for sale

18 Friday Sep 2020

Posted by in sevilla, tapas, tapas bars

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You may have noticed over the past few weeks that I have been putting up a lot of posts and stories on Instagram and FB about bars and restaurants that have reopened in Sevilla, as well as (since lockdown) posting archive pics of places that I hoped would be returning soon.

I just want to make it clear that I am doing this because I love these bars, I respect the people running them, and I want to help out in any way I can. Some places have asked if I could put something up, others I’ve just done on my own. And I am happy to do so, either way. But to be clear… I am not being paid to do this. My opinion is not for hire.

People often have the idea that I am always eating out for free and this isn’t true at all. I guess that makes me a lousy “influencer” 😉 . Sure, I sometimes get invited but I’d say that 99.9% of the time I am paying my way (and tipping well).

This has been a huge struggle for all of us. My life has also been turned upside down. But l think the best way forward is to work together and lend a hand whenever possible. ❤️

my 27th sevilla anniversary

16 Wednesday Sep 2020

Posted by in casa azahar, friends, sevilla, tapas, tapas bars

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Twenty-seven years ago today I drove down from Salamanca with a friend and with all my worldly belongings in the back of his car, along with some precious cargo – my two cats Lua and her son Sunny. We arrived in Sevilla at 8 pm, as previously arranged (to meet landlord and pick up keys), and miraculously found parking almost in front of my new home in calle Mateos Gago. But there was no landlord. And as this was 1993 there were no cell phones, so we just waited. And waited. Finally we asked the bar we were parked in front of if we could get something to eat and drink, but we didn’t really want to leave the car because of the cats and all. And bless them, the people at Bar Campanario actually brought food and drink out to our car, like we were at a drive in, and it was lovely. The landlord finally showed up at 11pm full of apologies, but we were fine (though the cats were happy to see a litter box!). Bar Campanario ended up becoming my local, heck even my living room (my studio apt across the street was tiny), and the owners became fast friends.

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