Tag Archives: birthday

lunch with lucy

15 Thursday Jan 2026

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

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Lucy and I have birthdays a day apart (me Jan 7, Lucy Jan 8) and so we always try to get together during January to for a birthday lunch. This time we went to La Casa del Tigre and it couldn’t have been better. Some fizz to start then a wonderful starter (mini brioche filled with manteca colorá), a gorgeous seasonal mushroom dish (chanterelles, níscolas, lengua de buey) with egg yolk and shaved truffles, THOSE confit patatas bravas and a super tender (monster) angus beef rib. We had a great time catching up. Wonderful wine, fab food, lovely company… a good day.

my birthday! wtf I’m 69?

07 Wednesday Jan 2026

Posted by in birthdays, casa azahar, home

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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… 

beirutina birthday

10 Friday Jan 2025

Posted by in birthdays, bitesize sevilla, friends, gastronomy, restaurants, sevilla, spain

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birthday beirutina

My third (and final) birthday lunch. Well, you never know, but at least this is the last one during Birthday Week. I need to take some time off celebrating to get some work done on Bitesize Sevilla, which has turned into quite a time-consuming project (with a steep learning curve!). But I love doing it and of course the hope is that it will eventually start becoming a new source of income (I actually have three paid subscribers now!!!).

Anyhow, I had mentioned Beirutina as one of my top new openings for 2024 (both here and on the Bitesize Substack) and so Fourat got in touch to thank me and said she’d love me to come over and try some of their new dishes. Great! I’ve known Fourat for about fifteen years and we are neighbours as well as good friends. I was thrilled when she opened her little Lebanese brunch-lunch spot just three months ago, literally a stones throw from my house (I can see it from my balcony).

We got there early to find a little window table reserved for us and, well, it was fabulous. Although I’ve been here several times now this was the first time I got to try both Lebanese beer and wine and I loved them both. Fourat knows I’m not keen on sweets so for a birthday treat at the end of our meal she brought us a couple of her nutty Lebanese biscuits (also new on the menu) one with pistachio and orange, the other with peanuts, with a small bag of them to take home as well.

We had…

  • Almaza pilsener 🍺
  • Muhammara
  • Ksara Blanc de Blancs 🥂
  • Fatté Berenjena (aubergine)
  • Shawerma (marinated beef)
  • Lebanese cookies: pistachio and peanut