Category Archives: tapas

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.

bacalao galore!

29 Wednesday Mar 2017

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

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bacalao galore
I usually cringe when someone refers to me as an “influencer”, but it this case the reference was in an invitation to El Bacalao, to try their new menu in their freshly renovated location in Plaza Ponce de León. So well, okay then. I decided that you can call me an influencer if it means attending a lovely event such as this, and off I went with Peter, where we joined a dozen or so other influencers for lunch.

The meal was served in a dining room in the back of the restaurant, and took the form of a tasting of thirteen menu items – four starters, seven main courses and two desserts, with either manzanilla sherry or white wine (even in small portions that’s a lot of food, but one has to be thorough).

As one might expect given the name of the restaurant, bacalao (salt cod) figured prominently in the menu, from the signature bacalao al ajo confitado, through pavias and croquetas to an excellent tartare. Other personal favourites included a lovely fresh spinach salad and the milhojas de cola de toro (oxtail). Many thanks to everyone at El Bacalao for making it such an enjoyable afternoon. I’ll be updating this on my Sevilla Tapas site asap so look for more pics there.

ania sevillana

22 Wednesday Mar 2017

Posted by in friends, sevilla, sherry, spain, tapas

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I met the lovely Ania @ania_marchlik a few years ago in Las Teresas, and so it seemed fitting that while we were out celebrating her 10th Anniversary of living in Sevilla that we would end up there. Though we started off the day’s celebrations revisiting another spot with fond memories for both of us – the Corral de Conde – a “patio de vecinos” where Ania and her friend María once hosted a Peirogy Party in the fabulous courtyeard there. Then we stopped off at another of Ania’s favourite places, Taberna Quitapenas, before heading for a sumptuous lunch across the street at La Quinta.

Before and After (no more wine… oh hey! cava!)

It was after lunch that we found ourselves at Las Teresas, sitting at the very spot where we first met. We had a nice chat with Rafael, enjoyed some of his perfectly sliced jamón and then, as so often happens, we ended up at The Office (AKA La Azotea) for a Penúltima.

TUG-O-JAMÓN – yep, kinda drunk at this point

Ania has gone from acquaintance to work colleague (she is also part of my fab We Love Tapas team) to cherished friend. I can always count on her honesty and discretion and, besides that, we always have so much fun together. So happy we met.

LA PENÚLTIMA!

eating out in sanlúcar…

15 Wednesday Mar 2017

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

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… was mostly disappointing this time round. The first day we just had a few very mediocre tapas here and there (the tortillitas de camarones at Casa Balbino – pictured above – being the exception). The second day we went to a new “gastrobar” that was quite nice, but you know… gastrobar. But third day lucky! Following a tip by José Caireles (whose bodega of the same name we weren’t able to visit this time) we ended up at the best hole-in-the-wall spot ever. The Peña Bética de Carlos serves up super fresh fried fish in a no-nonsense tiny space that also houses a local fan branch of the Sevilla’s Bétis football team.

Carlos cooks up perfectly fried fish and seafood in the small kitchen behind the bar, while brothers Manuel and Carmelo take care of the customers. There are about eight tables, all of which had reserved signs on them when we walked in around 1.30 pm on a Thursday. We managed to squeeze into a small spot at the bar and within minutes all tables and any standing space between them and the bar were full. It was organized chaos. I couldn’t believe this all ran so smoothly with just 3 people, but later Manuel told me it used to be just him and Carlos. Then when things started getting busy his brother Carmelo joined the team.

Not all of these dishes were ours. The couple standing next to us at the bar let me take photos of their prawns and salmoretes, even offering to share their dishes with us. All of it was delicious, but that big fat cuttlefish in the middle of the collage was definitely the star of the show. What a great experience, so much more fun than one of the expensive touristy beach restaurants in Bajo de Guía. Thanks again José!