Category Archives: tapas

brunch power meeting!

15 Wednesday May 2024

Posted by in sevilla, tapas, tapas bars, tapas tours

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brunch meeting

Well okay, not so much a “power” thing really. And yeah it wasn’t even real brunch (which I hate). But it was a meeting! With me and three friends who share a similar philosophy when it comes to food & wine tours, which sadly most others here in the biz don’t share. For example, we only want to do proper small groups (2-6 people, not 10-12) and leave options open for special requests. Yes, this means we will never be rich, but I knew that 15 years ago when I embarked on this whole crazy tapas tour ride. I mean, it’s not like I wouldn’t like to be rich, but at what price, you know what I mean? And so this was a great meeting, connecting with these guys and setting up what I hope will be a nice network of like-minded friends who want to offer people a… fabulous gastronomy experience!

I have the platform and I get so many requests all the time. In fact I’ve been turning away clients like crazy lately and feel terrible about it, but I’m just one person and there’s only so much I can do.  Now suddenly I am four people! We’re all independent, so the other three pals are their own bosses, but it’s such a relief that I now have these wonderful people to recommend when I’m not available. This meeting really boosted my spirits this week. Thanks guys. x

brunch meeting 2

augurio

07 Tuesday May 2024

Posted by in friends, gastronomy, restaurants, sevilla, tapas

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augurio (1)Lorena & Carmen

Last week I heard about this brand new restaurant that had just opened in my ‘hood so I asked my friend Reyes (tapas bar royalty and owner of Casa Morales) if she wanted to try it out with me. And well of course she did! This place is run by a young couple, Lorena (chef) and Carmen (front of house) who spent two summers running a beach restaurant in Punta Umbría before moving to Sevilla. This new location has seating for just 24, it’s cosy and minimalist, and omg the food is amazing.

augurio (2)Lorena, Carmen, Iván, Reyes & Jesús

While Reyes and I were eating my pal (and fellow Sevilla Academia member) Chencho showed up as he was also about to write something about Augurio for his long-running food blog. After he left Iván (chef and owner of Michelin-recommended Ivantxu) came in with a friend to eat, and later Jesús (co-owner of La Cayetana around the corner) stopped in for a coffee after his lunch service finished. And well, I mean… I had to take a photo. It was just so lovely to see see friends, colleagues and neighbours supporting each other and once again I was reminded how lucky I am to be a part of this fabulous, creative (and delicious!) local community.

fred & susan

29 Monday Apr 2024

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

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fred susan

Another fabulous Twitter Pal meet up, this time with Fred & Susan. I’ve known Fred on Twitter for ages (Susan is more of an Instagram lurker) and we have a lot of the same London Twitter friends in common, so it was great to finally get together for an afternoon of tapas, wine and chat. And omg what a wonderful day it was. We started off at Zurbarán and finished at Salmedina with a seafood feast, though of course not properly finishing without a cava penúltima at nearby Catalina La Barra. Thanks for a delicious day guys, come back soon!

fritura friday

05 Friday Apr 2024

Posted by in gastronomy, restaurants, sevilla, tapas

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fritura friday (1)

The other evening at the Academia 5th Anniversary celebration one of the waiters who was serving canapés (in the photo collage) said to me “hey I remember you!”. I told him he’d have to remind me and he said he used to work at Casa Modesto. Talk about a blast from the past. It got me thinking about Modesto again because it used to be one of my favourite places when I lived in Barrio Santa Cruz and I realised I hadn’t been back in ages. Turned out my last update on Sevilla Tapas was back in 2013 (!!!) so when I was walking home after my sherry tour on Wednesday I stopped by to check out the menu, the bar, etc and was greeted by this guy, who also remembered me.

fritura friday (3)

I told him about the waiter I’d met and showed him the photo I’d taken and that started off a whole conversation about the bar and the people there, past and present. So I decided I had to go back asap and do a proper update. Honestly I don’t remember why I had stopped going but I think it was because they had expanded across the street (that place is now gone) and it felt like they were becoming too touristy. Anyhow, the Big Test would be whether their famous Fritura Modesto was as good as ever. This is a mountain of crispy “calamares de campo” (onions, red and green peppers) topped with plump breaded prawns and was one of my favourite things to eat in the whole city. And well guess what? It’s STILL AMAZING. I also got to meet the owner Manuel who is now running the bar with his daughter Mariola and his niece Inma. In all those years of visiting Modesto I don’t remember meeting Manuel but he said he remembered seeing me there.

fritura friday (2)

As you can imagine (and this was always the case) after eating that glorious fritura it’s hard to eat anything more. We did manage one other dish and a sea bass snack that Manuel brought out for us to try but that was IT. Obviously not nearly enough to replace 15 years of photos so we’ve made a date with our friend (and auxiliary stomach) Paul, who is back in town next week (yes AGAIN) to have lunch at Modesto and do our best to eat as many different dishes as possible.

I can’t wait! The really fun part about going back was that I showed them the old pics on Sevilla Tapas (now removed – they really are poor quality and mostly not relevant anymore) and omg they all got so excited. Manuel said “she’s got more photos of us than we do!”. Later they thanked me and said that I had really made their day and brought them a lot of joy. More joy next week!