Sevilla Blog

The Amazing Alexandra del Bene

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alex mural project

I was so excited when Alex pinged me with a link to this video about her latest project. I had no idea that she was doing this and it’s absolutely amazing. She will be creating 15 gigantic murals themed around the 500th anniversary of the first round the world voyage, the Magellan-El Cano circumnavigation (1519 – 1522). See those buildings up there? Those will be her canvases. Located in Calle Tarfia, facing the river it is expected to set a Guinness world record.

Below you can see virtual depictions of how they will look when finished. Impressive, right?

I first met Alexandra by chance ten years ago when she was starting out here working as a “graffiti artist for hire” painting shop and bar shutters so that they wouldn’t get vandalised by taggers. One day I saw her painting a bar shutter while out for a walk on a Sunday afternoon and stopped to chat and we’ve been friends ever since. She once even joined one of my tapas tours in progress while “on the job” painting the shutters at Bodeguita Romero. While Alexandra still does the occasional shutter art, she is now also an award-winning artist recognised both here and abroad. An amazing accomplishment for someone who arrived here from Rome in 2010 with a young daughter to start a new life. I am quite in awe of not only her talent but also her energy and spirit. You can check out her website here…

Alexandra del Bene

alex murals

alex virtual murals

Adiós Bodega San José

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I wish this would stop. I mean, I know nothing lasts forever but there are just too many wonderful tapas bars shutting down. The latest tragic loss is the amazing Bodega San José, which I really only got to know a few years ago. This time it’s a combination of landlord greed and Covid that made the Bueno family decide to shut its doors after almost 80 years, though the bar itself is much older. When the family first came to Sevilla from Santander they opened a few locations, the first one being El Punto in Puerto Osario, which closed in 2007. Bodega San José was the last one standing.

Anyhow, I just found out about this today after that lovely photo of Nicolás Bueno and his mother Rosario (who worked in the bar until the final day, making her amazing boquerones en vinagre) popped up this morning in my Instagram memories and so I put it up in my Stories. Then I got a message from someone telling me the bar was about to close. In fact, the final day of the lease is April 30th but then I found out the bar stopped functioning on the 18th. I had just been there a couple of days before and was happy to see Rosario there, but nobody mentioned anything about closing. So this has come as quite a shock today. I went over to see for myself and saw the doors shuttered and everything gone from the outside, the signs, everything. So much loss this past year.

Introducing Raya Cortada

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raya

Is it an Oloroso? Is it an Amontillado? Usually you hear these questions asked about Palo Cortado wines, but now they are equally valid for this new wine from Bodegas Yuste in Sanlúcar de Barrameda. So move over Palo Cortado, there’s a new Mystery Wine in town.

Introducing Conde de Aldama Raya Cortada, created by Gabriel Raya and winemaker Miguel Villa. An oxidatively aged oloroso that is magically transformed after four years so that it finishes ageing biologically, a feat only possible thanks to the unique microclimate of Sanlúcar and a special super yeast that can withstand higher levels of alcohol.

I was lucky enough to taste it yesterday at Bodeguita Romero with my friend Reyes Morales (Casa Morales). Very smooth and caramelly… oloroso nose and amontillado in the mouth? Not sure… I’ll need to try it again. And again.

For now only 600 bottles of this mysterious miracle have been produced. There is still no date for the next bottling but Gabriel says it won’t be soon, so try and get hold of some now, if you can.

The photo below is courtesy of Bodegas Yuste. A new chalk mark design for this new groundbreaking wine. They are using the typical diagonal line (raya) that is used for oloroso (which then has an O in the middle of it). Here they have crossed (or cut) the raya with another line, similar to the palo cortado (cut stick) symbol, except it only cuts far enough to show it’s no longer an oloroso and also creating a Y (for Yuste?). Not sure if that last bit was intentional. And of course Gabriel’s surname is Raya, so it all fits. There are 36 casks set aside in a separate solera for producing raya cortada. Exciting times.
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Calçots 2021

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calcots 2021 (1)

It’s that time of year again. From December to March calçots are in season and La Quinta Brasserie brings the Catalan tradition to Sevilla during this time. Basically the calçots (similar to a large spring onion) are roasted over coals, then wrapped up in newspaper and served with a wonderfully nutty romesco sauce. Delicious and also messy as hell. The trick is in getting the non-charred delicate centre out. First you peel away a bit of the charred bit at the end until you see the green part of the onion. Hold onto that! Then tightly grip the tip of the calçot with your other hand and pull.

After that you dip the calçot into romesco sauce, another Catalan dish made with tomatoes and roasted red peppers, puréed and thickened with toasted crushed almonds and bread. Heaven. You can see that La Quinta provided us with a paper bib and also latex gloves for this procedure, as after dipping the calçot into the romesco you are meant to hold it high over your mouth and slowly lower it in. My friend Peter shows us how it’s done (more or less, it was his first time).

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This dish is usually served with the traditional porrón, local Catalan wine served in a peculiar wine carafe, which you also hold well above your upturned face as you pour wine directly (or otherwise) into your mouth.
la quinta (1)

It was great fun doing this again. La Quinta offers the calçots either a la carte or as part of a set menu that includes the calçots, grilled butifarra with creamy butter beans and alioli, a selection of char-grilled meats, desserts and wine. We opted for a la carte and frankly after the calçots and sharing the butifarra dish we were practically dead. Though we did see a couple the next table over polish of the entire menu. RESPECT.

calcots

Sherry & Tapas at T

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sherry at t

So this is exciting! This past weekend I got together with brothers Ricardo & Javi, who run the fabulous Restaurante ConTenedor in Sevilla, to try a new venue for my Sherry & Tapas Tastings. You may recall they also opened a very unique space just over a year ago, simply called T, and this is where we held the event. There were six lovely people from the UK attending, all friends travelling together, who had initially asked me for a tapas tour. But as this is just not possible at the moment I suggested a sherry tasting and they went for it. And they were so lovely! I can’t tell you how good it felt to get “back in the saddle” again, after not having worked in almost 7 months. Well, if you can call it work. For me it’s always so much fun doing this (same with my tapas tours) that I can’t believe how lucky I am to have work I love so much.

Anyhow, this group was amazing, so inquisitive and open to anything, and the tasting went so well that I was keen on working out a way we could do more. Like me, Ricardo & Javi have been feeling the loss of tourism in the city, especially as a lot of their regular clientele tend to be visitors. So we have come up with this new offer and I couldn’t be more delighted. Luckily International Sherry Week is just around the corner and this gives us another platform to let the world know about us.

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And so we now have Sherry & Tapas at T, which really is a unique sherry tasting experience. I first met Ricardo many years ago at ConTenedor, and later Javi when T first opened. But somehow if feels like we were meant for each other, kindred spirits. So wish us luck! 🙂