Jesse and Luisa – Hardcore!

This was without a doubt the most spontaneous and “extreme” Gourmet Tapas Tour I’ve done so far. Just over a week ago, in fact on the night before my 20 years in Spain party, I picked up Jesse & Luisa at their hotel not expecting too much out of the ordinary, though in fact, as the gourmet tours are more flexible than the all-inclusive ones in terms of locations and food, they tend to be quite individual. We started off with some great seafood and then at our second stop, while having some gorgeous jamón Ibérico, Jesse expressed a passion for chorizo and I knew we’d have to hit an extra bar along the way so he could try their venison chorizo speciality. This led to a quick pringá pit stop afterwards and, as Jesse & Luisa were still hungry, we then headed over to our next (fifth!) stop. Up until then we’d been sticking to pretty traditional places and so it was time to go somewhere modern and upmarket to try a bit of innovative cooking, where J & L got to enjoy some fabulous squid and grilled Iberian pork. By this time I realised that we had set a record for the number of tapas bars visited during one tour and so – of course – I suggested we go for one more.

At the sixth and final tapas bar we ordered some beautifully grilled fish (urta), and also desserts. But we weren’t done yet as the gourmet tour includes a round of cocktails. By this time Peter had joined us because it was getting pretty late and so he came to walk me home.  Looking back it probably wasn’t the most sensible thing to do on the eve of my party day, but it just “kind of happened” and so we went with the flow and we all had a great time. The Gourmet Tapas Tour usually lasts about four hours and we visit three different bars and then go for cocktails. On this record breaking occasion we went to six tapas bars and then a special members-only cocktail bar and I didn’t get to bed until well after 2 am. I blame the Harvest Moon…