22 Thursday Nov 2018
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Two years ago I went to the opening party at Lama La Uva and have been friends with owner Ana Linares ever since. We also work together as her fabulous wine shop is one of the stops on my Market & Tapas Tour. So I was very excited to hear that Ana is going to be opening a second location in December, which will also include a small tapas bar. Stay tuned…
31 Wednesday Oct 2018
Tags
bars, friends, sevilla, tapas, vermouth, vermuteria, wine, yo soy tu padre
Last week my friend and neighbour Esteban’s fabulous bar Vermutería Yo Soy Tu Padre was broken into in the middle of the night. The bastards made off with thousands of euros worth of wines, computers and other equipment. But Esteban and his family rallied and were up and running again in very short order.
So if you live in, or are visiting, Sevilla, stop by to show your support- and also to have some amazing house made vermouths and delicious tapas.
Esteban
13 Saturday Oct 2018
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Today I am heading to Jerez to attend the 3rd Sherry Túnel, organised by sommelier and fellow sherry educator Maria Carmen Martinez (aka Miss Catas). It’s my first time going to this event, and it seemed like a great way to finish off Sherry Week (which ends tomorrow). Will report back later.
How’s your Saturday going?
10 Friday Aug 2018
Every year Ramón and Mari Carmen of the Antigua Abacería de San Lorenzo host their San Lorenzo day celebration on August 10th, in honour of the patron saint of cooks and chefs, and namesake of both their barrio and bar. The first time I attended this event was five years ago and I’ve gone every year since then.
The martyr San Lorenzo was put to a slow and painful death on top of a large gridiron with live coals beneath it and, the legend concludes that, after enduring the pain for a very long time he made his famous cheerful remark, “I’m well done. Turn me over!”. And so, as always, different varieties of grilled flesh were on offer during the day at the Abacería, along with a typical white wine punch from Huelva called ponche alosnero. We also got to try cured pork tongue and tiny nécora crabs. Good times.
27 Friday Jul 2018
Posted in gastronomy, restaurants, sevilla, wine
I came back a day early from my Málaga Getaway this week because I had been invited to a gastronomy event on Tuesday that I simply couldn’t miss, featuring the dream team of Tribeca and Cañabota cooking together. It was to be one of the most unforgettable meals of my life … but I am getting ahead of myself. I’ve known Cañabota since its inception two years ago, when Juanlu Fernández joined forces with Pablo Giménez and Eduardo Guardiola from Tribeca. The latter I finally got to know in person when friends invited me to join them there for dinner earlier this year. So I was very keen to see – and taste – what they would come up with together.
The event was held at Tribeca and when I arrived with the other lucky guests, we were taken downstairs to see the various fish and seafood that were to become our lunch, and were given a lecture on the sustainability of fishing by Eduardo. Then it was back upstairs for a masterclass in the breaking down of a fish, in this case a 15.2 kilo grouper, showing how every piece is used and nothing is wasted. And then it was time to eat!
The menu was a bit like a “showdown” with both teams creating different dishes using the same main ingredient (prawns, sea anemone, squid, grouper, skate…) along with a couple of joint efforts. Each dish was paired with well-chosen wines, including two manzanilla sherries to start off with, then two white wines (Albariño & Priorat), and moving on to two reds, dry (Mallorca) and sweet (Alicante).
The food was spectacular, and my only complaint was that there was just too much of it to comfortably finish all the dishes (luckily a friend sitting next to me was happy to help out). And while I appreciated the more clever and complex dishes, my personal favourites were the ones that were the most simply prepared, either lightly steamed or chargrilled. But it was all wonderful. Of course the service was impeccable and the overall experience was one I will always remember.
Many thanks to Fernando Huidrobo for the invitation, and to the fabulous Tribeca and Cañabota teams. Photos below…
Tribeca
Chaves Nogales 3
Tel 954 42 60 00
Cañabota
Orfila 3
Tel 954 870 298 / 690 876 523
