25 Monday Feb 2019
Posted in gastronomy, wine
Tags
cheese, extremadura, jamon, sevilla, taberna del alabaldero, wine
Another day, another tasting… this time a “visit” to Extremadura thanks to Taberna del Alabardero and the various food and wine producers from this neighbouring region, on the north-west border of Andalucía. As always at these events, there were simply too many wines to try them all, but I did find a couple of new ones that were exceptional. More soon on Azahar Sevilla.
16 Saturday Feb 2019
Tags
andalucia de santa maria, cuatro gatos wine fest, el puerto de santa maria, el puerto getaway, wines
The fourth edition of the CuatroGatos Wine Festival was quite different from last year’s event. This time it was held inside a lovely hacienda on the outskirts of El Puerto de Santa María and there was also the promise of a special dish prepared by Michelin star chef Ángel León. I met my friend Tomoko @Fu_yan at the train station and, having just missed the Wine Bus, got a taxi over.
[click to enlarge]
It was a great afternoon revisiting old friends and making new ones. And thanks to Tomoko I tried several wines I may not have otherwise (brand new love is La Choza by Bodega Callejuela). I was also happy to discover that several of the wines I liked are available in Sevilla, and almost all of them at Ana Linares’s fabulous wine shop Lama La Uva (will be visiting her soon!)
Tomoko and CuatroGatos founder Federico Ferrer
Although there were a lot more food options this year, with several stands set up on the patio, Tomoko and I decided to walk over to Restaurante El Faro so we could sit down for awhile and, frankly, have a nicer lunch. 😉 Which you can see, we did indeed have. The only thing was that by the time we got back to the event, several of the producers were already packing up (!!). Since they were offering another Wine Bus back to the train station around 8 pm we assumed that the producers were going to stay around longer. Oh well. It was still a fabulous day and great to hang out with Tomoko again.
spectacular lunch at Restaurante El Faro
13 Wednesday Feb 2019
Posted in restaurants, sevilla, wine
Tags
Remember when I found out that my first ever article in Decanter Magazine had been published? Well, I finally got my own copy when Julie brought one for me. I know it sounds silly, but holding the actual magazine in my hands is somehow even more exciting than seeing it posted online. Super thrilled about this.
09 Saturday Feb 2019
Posted in sevilla, tapas, tapas bars, wine
The wonderful Julie & Steven (AKA Julia & Esteban) are back in Sevilla to celebrate Steven’s 75th birthday, which is next Tuesday. We got Birthday Week off to a rip-roaring start with an (ahem) 8 hour lunch (!!), which may or may not be a personal record. Started off at Manolo Cateca for a cheeky sherry before having a super delicious lunch at Palo Cortao, along with Julie’s friend Susan, who just happened to be in town for a weekend getaway.
Of course after our leisurely lunch we had to go for a Penúltima and we chose the rooftop of the Gourmet Experience as Susan was really wanting to sit in the sun. Unfortunately, by the time we got there the sun was too low to reach us, but we enjoyed a lovely bottle of cava, and then Susan had to leave us to meet friends for a Flamenco show. By that time we were starting to feel a bit peckish again and Julie remembered how much she loved the pavía de bacalao at Palo Santo, so we strolled over there only to find out that the kitchen still wasn’t open. Undeterred, we decided to have a little pulpo ensaladilla along with yet another penúlitma, but then Eslava’s honey ribs started to sound like a good idea, so we popped over there for a snack while we waited. An hour or so later we were back at Palo Santo for our final snack of the day.
Then it was back home to Netflix with the cats. Looks like it’s going to be a crazy week. The actual birthday dinner will be at Eslava Restaurante on Tuesday, with a few other Sevilla activities between now and then. And then on Thursday I’ll head off to Cádiz with Julie and Steve to spend a couple of days there before they head back to Málaga on Saturday to catch their flight home. Phew!
06 Wednesday Feb 2019
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I am often asked about the difference between sherry and port on my tapas tours and I’ve always had to confess that I really don’t know much about port, other than it is also a fortified wine. So when I was invited to a Sherry vs Port tasting it seemed like an ideal opportunity to learn something about port!
The event took place at the splendid Portuguese Consulate, and the wines were from Bodegas Sandeman, which produces both sherry and port wines. It was an interesting event, finishing with port and sherry cocktails. And now I want to go to Oporto! 🙂
casa azahar 