22 Tuesday Sep 2020
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Gotta say that people are getting quite inventive when it comes to working with (in and around) Covid-19. This year not only is International Sherry Week going virtual, but for the first time people organising events at home can also register online and be put on the Global Sherry Map. I’m going to have to think of a few things to do. 🙂
26 Wednesday Feb 2020
What a lovely (it’s never too late! 😉 ) birthday present from Anne. A book with recipes by several top UK chefs that include their choices for sherry pairings. I think this is now out of print – it was first published in 2007, coincidentally the same year I started Sevilla Tapas – but Anne found it on her last visit to the UK and thought I’d like it. Thanks so much sweetie! ❤
11 Tuesday Feb 2020
Spotted on my WALK… renovations for a new gastrobar in the Alameda area reveal tiles from Marqués del Mérito, an important sherry producer in Jerez that was founded in the mid 1800s. In 1979 Díez Hermanos bought Marqués de Mérito and formed the Díez Mérito group, taking over the emblematic bodegas Bertemati, where it still resides today. I guess this was either a bar or a wine shop (or possibly an abacería – a combination of both).
06 Monday Jan 2020
Posted in food & drink, friends, gastronomy, sevilla, sherry, tapas, tapas bars, tapas tours
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I can’t remember the last time I did two tapas tours in one day, but it’s been a few years. In fact, these days I won’t even go out for lunch if I have a tour in the evening… getting too old! But then the other day my friend Tomoko got in touch and asked if I could take out a visiting Japanese chef on Saturday. I already had a private tour booked for the evening but decided to take Yoshi out at lunchtime. I just couldn’t turn down the opportunity of taking out a Japanese chef who runs a tapas bar in Tokyo. And it was great fun. Yoshi’s English is a bit better than his Spanish and so we got by speaking Spanglish and using lots of gestures. Also the wine helped. We managed five tapas bars and god knows how much food (for the record, he was eating most of it!) and we finished off having vermouth at Esteban’s fabulous Vermutería. Then I had to go home and sober up for my evening tour!
I had provided Yoshi with a couple of other tapas bar options for Sunday afternoon (he was leaving town at 5 pm for Madrid) and as it happened I was passing by one of the bars after my midday WALK, so I stopped in and we got to visit a bit more. Finally I dropped him off at the bus stop to get back to his hotel. Honestly, he was lovely and everybody who met him was charmed. He’s in Madrid now with my MADRID LIST so I hope he fares well. When he first arrived in Sevilla he told Tomoko he wasn’t impressed and probably wouldn’t be back, but after his time out with me he says he LOVES Sevilla and is already planning to come back next year. Yay!
04 Wednesday Dec 2019
Posted in food & drink, friends, sevilla, tapas, tapas bars
What a great day! FINALLY found a date in the calendar that worked out for both me and Pilar to “jamonear”. This time we met up in the centre and went to Bodeguita Romero for lunch. Afterwards I took the Pilars (mother & daughter) over to meet Esteban at Vermutería Yo Soy Tu Padre and we had a lovely visit there. I even got an invitation to Christmas dinner from another mutual friend, Jota (bonus!).
Then it was time to go home and sober rest up because I had made a date with Lucy to go and visit another brand new bar in the evening – Tapas Research! La Casa del Tigre is a joint venture between four friends, one of whom (Emilio) I’ve known since he was a little boy and his mother ran Bar Campanario across the street from my first home in Sevilla. So it was a long but very happy day. Oh, and La Casa del Tigre is fabulous, so if you are in Sevilla be sure to go.
