lovely lovely jaylu

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I had booked our spot at the bar with Ana on Whatsapp. Her grandfather was of the founder of Jaylu and she works at the restaurant now with her father Enrique. We were the first to arrive and once seated they didn’t give me a menu, instead waiters Manuel and José just kept suggesting things to try. They know I prefer tapas to main courses, so that I get to taste more things. But first a glass of fizz (Torelló corpinnat)! Then I ordered a bottle of my favourite verdejo by Ossian. Heaven. And during the next two hours we enjoyed dish after dish, finishing with a superb marantona cheese that I’d never had before and a chupito of orujo blanco from Galicia. These were the dishes…

✨Cantabrian anchovies on tomato with evoo and balsamic
✨Confit tuna belly
✨Confit corvina morillo
✨Yellow cherry tom salmorejo
✨Breaded prawns
✨Marantona cheese
✨Warm olive oil bread

I got the team to pose for a family photo and struck up a conversation with two women who were also sitting at the bar. It was clear they were good friends with Enrique and Ana. And one of them said to me, hey I know you, we met at Bodega Góngora a while ago. It’s a small world. Turns out she was there with her husband that day and they thought we were tourists, so I informed her that I was the Queen of Tapas and gave her my card. Do I remember that? Of course not. But it was a fun coincidence. And I guess that’s it until next year. I love this place so much. Now I have to go and update Jaylu’s page on Sevilla Tapas…

my birthday! wtf I’m 69?

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It was a fun day, though of course I tend to do Birthday Week. In fact, I started off Birthday Eve yesterday with a lovely bottle of cava at home and my two final birthday lunches have been booked for January 20th and 21st, so that’ll make it two weeks long this year. 

Since my friend Fourat opened her fabulous Beirutina around the corner from my house I’ve been able to revive the Birthday Baclava Breakfast tradition, which began years ago on a birthday trip to Granada. I’m not actually a fan of sweet things, or even breakfast, but these crispy nut-and-honey-filled pastries are somehow perfection with a cup of hot coffee. Once a year.

Lunch was at Jaylu, a more recent birthday tradition. It’s spendy AF but Peter treats me to lunch to make up for being a Christman grinch and this is how I exact my revenge 😇.  My favourite spot there is sitting at the bar having amazing (and amazingly expensive) tapas, rather than do the full-on meal in the dining room. I get to chat to the staff and even other people at the bar. Always fun. Lunch pics mañana… 

my latest decanter article!

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This was actually published in November (in print) and later was also published online, but Decanter has changed its policy for online viewing and now everything is being paywalled, so I didn’t actually get a chance to see the finished article until now. My editor Ines sent me a surprise package this week and I finally got to hold it in my hot little hands.

I researched most of The Alternative Costa del Sol last May when I went to Málaga & Marbella, and my friend Jeffrey helped me out with a lot of tips, as he lives in the area. I hope that Decanter reconsiders this policy, at least for “lighter” articles like mine. Meanwhile, you can see my previous ones below.

Decanter Articles by me