Tag Archives: tapas bars

san lorenzo 2018

10 Friday Aug 2018

Posted by in culture, sevilla, sherry, spain, tapas, tapas bars, weird, wine

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Every year Ramón and Mari Carmen of the Antigua Abacería de San Lorenzo host their San Lorenzo day celebration on August 10th, in honour of the patron saint of cooks and chefs, and namesake of both their barrio and bar. The first time I attended this event was five years ago and I’ve gone every year since then.

The martyr San Lorenzo was put to a slow and painful death on top of a large gridiron with live coals beneath it and, the legend concludes that, after enduring the pain for a very long time he made his famous cheerful remark, “I’m well done. Turn me over!”. And so, as always, different varieties of grilled flesh were on offer during the day at the Abacería, along with a typical white wine punch from Huelva called ponche alosnero. We also got to try cured pork tongue and tiny nécora crabs. Good times.

brand new wlt ott

23 Wednesday May 2018

Posted by in sevilla, tapas bars, tapas tours, we love tapas

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One of the great pleasures of running my “little sister” food tour company We Love Tapas is that I can create and develop different tapas tours. One of my favourites is the Oldest Taverns Tour. The first version of this tour included 4 bars that were all over 100 years old, but then sadly one of the bar owners passed away. The next version included 4 bars 75 – 165 years old, but it didn’t feel quite right. So this week I met with Team WLT and introduced a revamped OTT tour, which now includes visiting 5 bars, all of them over 100 years old, all family run, all fabulous. The first one is tomorrow with the amazing Delia and I’m really excited to see how it goes.  🙂

a surprise visit!

19 Saturday May 2018

Posted by in food & drink, friends, sevilla, sherry, tapas, tapas bars

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A delightful surprise visit from my friend José Pizarro @jose_pizarro yesterday. He is on a research trip around Andalucía and had one day (not enough!) in Sevilla. He asked me to take him and his team to a few traditional tapas bars “con solera” and I was more than happy to oblige. It was a fun and slightly crazy afternoon, and sadly I had to opt out of going to the Cathedral with them (after which they were heading to Jerez) because I had a tapas tour in the evening and needed to rest up a bit. Still, it’s always lovely to see my lovely friend.

rosario

08 Tuesday May 2018

Posted by in sevilla, spain, tapas, tapas bars

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When I first met Rosario last week I thought it would be nice to bring her the photos I took, because the bar doesn’t have a website or use social media, and when I tried showing them to her on my phone she the images were too small for her to see. Anyhow I did this today, and she loved them! And there’s that beautiful smile again. Then we got to talking about her late husband, how they met in their home village near Santander, and she also spoke about her mother (Rosario is one of 12 children), and coming to live in Sevilla over 60 years ago. Turns out Rosario is 88 and still works in Bodega San José with her children every day. An amazing woman. I’m so happy to have met her.

girl crush

30 Monday Apr 2018

Posted by in sevilla, tapas, tapas bars

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Lately I’ve been going to some very old-school tapas bars (some for the first time!). The other day I went to Bodega San José, a place I hadn’t been to for at least 15 years (!!!). As usual I got to talking with the barman and found out that the bar is 135 years and still in the same family. This is a photo of the present owners, Nicolás and his mother Rosario. It was Rosario’s father’s cousins, Rodrigo and Pablo, who founded the bar.

By the time we left I was completely in love with Rosario. Not only was she up for some photos (her son less so, but he went along), she told me about her upcoming cataract operation, saying how much she was looking forward to seeing clearly out of her left eye again, though by the way she filleted those anchovies I reckoned she could do it blindfolded. While she chatted with me she held my hands in hers and smiled that beautiful smile. Swoon…

Not surprisingly they are not on any social media, so I am going to put their Sevilla Tapas review on a PDF, print it out, and bring it to them at the bar. I think Rosario would like that.