Tag Archives: restaurants

a dantastic afternoon

28 Thursday Nov 2024

Posted by in christmas, food & drink, friends, restaurants, sevilla, spain

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deb graceDeb & Grace

Deb is back! This time with her friend Nina. And so we met up at Manolo Cateca, along with Grace (who is soon to be neighbour) for a pre-lunch sherry and to also delivery their Sevilla L’Armanaques. Peter also joined us as I wasn’t actually able to carry the two almanacs on my own (they’re quite heavy this year!). He then took home all the lovely loot Deb brought for me from London: mince pies, the latest Decanter mag (with my article in it!), a lovely card to add to my collection and a mystery gift which I am trying not to open until Christmas Day. Afterwards Deb, Nina and I went on to have lunch at the fabulous Lalola Restaurante. And oh my, what a lunch it was.

This is becoming a lovely tradition that I hope continues, with Deb returning to Sevilla every year to revisit the places she and her late husband Dan (aka Dan Jamón) used to go to in their favourite city. Today, as in the past three December visits, we met for what inevitably ends up being a very long, very boozy and very emotional lunch, and this was no exception. The restaurant choice was perfect because Dan loved his jamón, really anything Ibérico, and so going to Lalola, and having chef Javi Abascal, El Rey de la Casquería (the Offal King, sounds better in Spanish) prepare a special Ibérico tasting menu just for us was… well, Dantastic.

lalola (1)🐷 starters: buñuelo de bacalao, jamón croqueta, chicharrón de cádiz topped with scallop tartare

🐷 sautéed boletus topped with seared foie

🐷 arroz Ibérico with jamón, presa, asparagus, topped with papada

🐷 grilled abanico Ibérico with potatoes

🐷 jamón baklava with pistachio ice cream and white chocolate crumble

🥂🍷 Sumarroca, Ossian Wines, Cortijo Los Aguilares, Bodegas Baron

lalola (2)chef Javi Abascal

fish plates!

25 Wednesday Sep 2024

Posted by in restaurants, sevilla, tapas bars

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fish plates

After Monday’s GP visit we decided to stop for a quick Beer O’clock at Los Claveles, a very popular traditional bar that just happened to be half-way between the health centre and the bus stop home. After scoring a table in front of the large open windows we decided to stay for lunch, since it was actually lunchtime by then and I hadn’t updated their review on Sevilla Tapas since 2015 (!).

Anyhow, the tables were all set up with these pretty fish plates and when I asked our waiter where they came from he said he had bought them at a little shop in Marbella. Dang. But later on, after paying I went up to the bar and cheekily asked if I could buy a couple of the plates… then was totally surprised when the owner told his son “just give them to her!”. Score! I mean I was happy to pay for them, but it was a lovely gesture on their part.

This reminded me of many bar owners I know who “lose” their glasses, plates, cutlery on a daily basis because of assholes who want a “souvenir”. One bar I know lost two dozen monogrammed sherry glasses on one night when a bunch of drunken tourists decided to take them home and got away before the staff noticed. I also know a michelin starred place that had to change their fabulous cutlery because clients were making off with sets of them. Wtf guys… JUST ASK. Often the bar is happy to let you have the item(s) at cost price, and sometimes, yes, as a free souvenir. But just taking them… well, that’s stealing isn’t it. Show a bit of respect.

the very BEST

12 Thursday Sep 2024

Posted by in gastronomy, restaurants, sevilla

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hake

Well this could also describe my lovely friend Reyes but in this case it also describes the VERY BEST hake I have ever tasted in my life. No kidding. Reyes and I were out having an early celebration lunch for my Sevilla 31st Anniversary (coming up this Monday but I’ll be stuck in an MRI machine, hence the early celebration). Anyhow… we went to try our pal Iván’s original Ivantxu Espacio Bistronómico (having previously gone to his new restaurant La Carmela) and we weren’t disappointed. We were also smart enough to let Iván choose our dishes and when he said – you MUST try the hake – we did. And I mean, I like hake but I did not expect this. Pan-grilled line-caught hake served with a gazillion slivers of sweet garlic and “pan potatoes”. None of these words actually describe this dish. The hake was lightly seared, tender yet still firm, the garlic caramalised and melty and those fucking potatoes. One of the most simple dishes – santurce style, look it up – but in the deft hands of Iván turned into something magical. Later Reyes said that she was going to think about this hake for the rest of her life, and well, me too.

Ivantxu review coming soon on Sevilla Tapas

hake (1)

hake (3)

hake (2)

 

michele

25 Tuesday Jun 2024

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

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michele (1)

Got to meet another Twitter pal in person over the weekend. Michele @mneylon is a world-travelling food-loving guy from Ireland and we’ve known each other virtually for YEARS. And then all of a sudden he was in Sevilla! So we met up for lunch. When Michele mentioned he’d like some seafood I knew we had to go to Salmedina. I mean, I go there a lot both on my own and on my tapas tours, but it’s always fun to go with someone who really knows and appreciates good food.

Our waiter recommended the “pez tambor” in tempura and… he was so right! I’d never heard of this fish before, which is found on the Cádiz coast. Toothy little guy, also very toothsome, with firm sweet flesh in light crispy batter. Michele also made sure to get all the goodness out of the head (cheeks etc) but before taking it away our waiter pointed out that there was still some good eating from behind the eyes, and Michele happily followed instructions.

That evening I suggested that Michele go to another of my favourite spots, Augurio, and so he went with two friends and, well, raved about it. There are other excellent new restaurants in town but to me Augurio is THE opening of 2024 (even though we’re still in June I feel safe saying this). Anyhow, great to meet Michele and I hope he’ll be back again before too long.

michele (2)

on service

13 Tuesday Feb 2024

Posted by in sevilla, tapas bars

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service

So you know me, always on the lookout for some new tapas bar or restaurant to visit. And by “new” it could either be recently opened or just new to me. And so today I found myself checking out a new place that had actually opened in December (so no excuses). Excuses for what? Read on…

We walked in and saw a cluster of men seated at the bar and, behind the bar itself, three waiters huddled together. We were the first to arrive. Did anyone greet us? Did they fuck. Finally I waived at the waiters and said “okay if I take photos?” and after receiving permission I took a few interior shots. And then… nothing. Nobody asked us if we wanted to see the menu or sit at a table. Once again I waived at the waiters and said “okay if we sit here?” and got the go ahead.

Meanwhile the owner(s) – I recognised one of them from an article – kept on drinking and yakking with their friends. Not one of them even glanced at us. I mean… call me crazy but if I owned a tapas bar and saw two people walk in when nobody else was there, I would greet them and call over a waiter to make sure they were being taken care of. You know, make them feel welcome. This did not happen.

Instead, after finding a table for ourselves a very reserved waiter came over and took our drinks order. When I asked about a couple of items on the menu they didn’t seem to know anything about them, and our wine was poured without any kind of engagement. I commented to Peter that this person looked very uncomfortable, aside from not knowing much about the food. So then I got chatty. Asked a bit about the bar, etc and then our waiter confessed it was their first day. OMG.

I saw no support happening, the other two waiters were pretty much ignoring the newbie, as were THE OWNERS… I mean srsly wtf. In the end we ordered about 4 okay but nothing special tapas, left a big tip, and vowed not to go back. I honestly hope this waiter gets a new job soon at a place that actually cares about their staff, trains them properly, helps them to do the best job possible.