Tag Archives: tapas

radish fever

11 Tuesday Feb 2025

Posted by in food & drink, friends, sevilla, substack

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Jeffrey was in town over the weekend and on Saturday he invited me out for THIS AMAZING LUNCH at La Carmela. But before that we had to stop in at Las Golondrinas so Jeffrey could get his radish fix. This is a guy who regularly eats out at Michelin starred restaurants, as well as having his own place in Marbella called Andala, so it’s kind of cute how giddy he gets about these radishes. But they really are simply spectacular.

Somehow we both ended up starting on Substack at the same time last month and it’s actually been quite fun and helpful having a Substack buddy. We give each other encouragement and – really important at the beginning – helped each other figure out how the damn site worked (many whatsapp chats and calls). It’s quite a steep learning curve but works great once you get the hang of it. Anyhow, here are links to both our publications so go have a look and, if you like what you see, please consider subscribing for free, and if you REALLY like what you see you can opt to become a paid subscriber.

Substack – Bitesize Sevilla
Substack – Xtreme Foodies

175 years

30 Thursday Jan 2025

Posted by in anniversary, friends, sevilla, spain, substack, tapas, tapas bars

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chef Óscar with Reyes

Today I spent the afternoon with my friend Reyes Morales. Nothing unusual there as some of my most pleasant afternoons are spent with Reyes. But this time was different in that I was there to interview her (!) for an upcoming Substack post on the 175th anniversary of Casa Morales. I mean, I already knew a lot about the bar and its history, and also a fair bit about Reyes, but I discovered there was so much more that I didn’t know. It was fascinating listening to her story as we sat at the bar with me scribbling notes while we enjoyed tapas and wine together. Hoping to get it published over the weekend. Stay tuned…

christmas 2024

25 Wednesday Dec 2024

Posted by in christmas, sevilla, spain, tapas

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christmas day 24

After a cosy evening in yesterday, today it was time for a long standing Christmas Day tradition of stopping in at a couple of my favourite old tapas bars for jamón and cava. Am still sniffling a little with my Christmas Cold (first one since 2019, after 4 negative covid tests I am assuming this is actually “just a cold”) but I really wanted to get out and move a bit. Got off to a late-ish start because I wanted to fit in a chair workout first, so by the time we got to Las Teresas it was jam packed. All tourists. So we popped around the corner to Casa Román and totally lucked out! There were a few large tables filled with Spanish families but “my” little table for two in front of the windows was free, so down we sat. And – bonus! – we had the option of having the window open.

It was lovely. I was so happy to be there after so long and everyone was so happy to see me again. Used to be I’d go there with my tapas tours a few times a week, and also stop in on “days off”. But since I had to stop working last summer I think I’ve only been once. Anyhow, realising it was going to be a “one stop” tapeo today, we settled in for a nice lunch. Afterwards it was a long slow hobble home, but worth it.

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.

filming session

13 Thursday Jun 2024

Posted by in food & drink, friends, gastronomy, sevilla, tapas, tapas bars, television

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filming

I was asked a while ago to help a television production company with an upcoming travel and gastronomy feature in Sevilla and I was happy to do so even though they later mentioned that they also wanted me to be in the programme too (!!!). And well… eep. I had set them up with the perfect bar and chefs for filming the cooking sessions, but later they also wanted to film a “tapeo”. Again, I organised this with two of my favourite bars and got their permission and when Jaime, one of the chefs, said he’d also be going along on the tapeo I thought “great! I’m off the hook!”. Except no. They still wanted me to come along and join the small group going out.

And well, it was fun and I was happy to help my friends get some nice exposure but I seriously hope any shots with me in it end up on the cutting room floor. Also, I didn’t make it to our final bar because everything was running late, my knee was killing me, and I had a lunchtime tapas tour in Triana the next day. So I bailed and hoped they would get some good stuff at the last place. Will let you know when it comes out, sometime early 2025 is the plan. Until then I can’t say much more about it.