19 Saturday Jan 2019
Posted in friends, gastronomy, sevilla, tapas, tapas bars
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Laura @laurawburgess and Erik @thewhiskykiwi were back in town this weekend, after having spent a few days in Córdoba, and we met up for what ended up being a very long lunch (I finally got home at 9.30 pm!). As always, we had a great time together, starting off at La Azotea for their fabulous fried rabbit ribs. Then off to the Main Event which was a special “matanza” menu at the Antigua Abacería de San Lorenzo. Looking forward to next time. 🙂
15 Saturday Dec 2018
Posted in food & drink, gastronomy, instagram, sevilla, social media, tapas, tapas bars
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Running three Instagram accounts is a bit challenging at times, especially as I like to put SOMETHING up there every day. Lately I’ve been having fun with the disappearing stories, and will soon put some of them up permanently.
Here are some I did today (what you can’t see is that the little Winnie the Pooh in the middle pic is animated and doing a happy dance along the bar shelf). Click on the image to make it bigger… or you could pop over to the accounts and see the stories while they’re still there…
04 Thursday Oct 2018
Posted in food & drink, gastronomy, restaurants, sevilla, spain
This week (on October 4) I was invited, along with other journalists, bloggers and regular commentators, to the presentation of this season’s tasting menu at Restaurante Ispal. Ispal has been the dream of Pedro Sánchez-Cuerda Rodríguez (director of Grupo La Raza) for the past 15 years, and together with Antonio Bort (his executive chef), and Ispal’s new head chef Rubén García Chacón, Pedro’s dream has now been realised.
The objective of Ispal, which opened a year ago, is to showcase the traditional cooking of Sevilla, using indigenous products and providing support for local family businesses, and then reinterpreting these popular dishes by elevating them to haute cuisine. This, by definition, involves the use of the highest quality ingredients, meticulously prepared and presented.
The local ingredients include salt from the salt flats of Utrera, cheeses from Castilblanco de los Arroyos, the famous tomatoes of Los Palacios, goat kid from Los Corrales, fish from La Puebla del Río, wines from Sierra Norte de Sevilla, Ronda, and sherry wines from Jerez.
The tasting menu, which you can see below, was spectacular. Many thanks to Fernando Huibrodo for the invitation, and to the entire Ispal team, including maître Alonso Reche and sommelier Cisco Nuñez.
Pedro Sanchez-Cuerda Rodriguez – director of Grupo La Raza
Antonio Bort – executive chef of Grupo La Raza
Rubén Chacón – head chef at Ispal
Fernando Huidobro – president of Andalucía Academy of Gastronomy & Tourism
03 Wednesday Oct 2018
Posted in food & drink, pintxos, restaurants, sevilla
The new Restaurant Orio has been open for a few weeks, but the official inauguration for a select group of press and hospitality professionals was held this week (October 3), and I was fortunate enough to be invited.
The Sagardi group also has Orio locations in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia, which are aimed at a more day to day market, incorporating a Basque style pintxo bar (Sagardi was founded in the Basque country) as well as a restaurant featuring traditional Basque cuisine.
The front of the premises is a spacious pintxo bar opening onto Calle Santo Tomas, with a terrace facing the Archivos de India, and the bar itself on one side, with a very appetising array of Basque style pinxos so typical in Bilbao and San Sebastián, but something of a novelty in Sevilla. We got to try a few as an appetiser, my favourite being the chistorras (small spicy sausages).
Beyond the bar are two dining rooms leading out to a second terrace on Calle Miguel Mañara, with space for around thirty diners. Decoration is minimalist, but with lots of wood, and a big mural of a fisherman.
Lunch was a nine course tasting menu (including dessert), starting with oysters and working through a prawn carpaccio, salad, monkfish, and roasted piquillo peppers to the grilled beef finale. The quality was excellent throughout, and it looks like Orio will be a welcome addition to dining out in Sevilla. Check out the photos below (but only if you’re not hungry!)
15 Saturday Sep 2018
Posted in food & drink, gastronomy, restaurants, sevilla
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WARNING: Look away now vegetarians!
Some people think that meat-eaters should have to either hunt their own food or watch animals being slaughtered in order to pass some sort of “carnivore test”. I am not one of these people. But while I am normally not squeamish about eating meat, I have to admit that I wouldn’t really enjoy tucking into this guy’s crispy roasted face, even though I am sure it is delicious. How about you?
