Sevilla Blog

Sevilla Tapas Week

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seville tapas week

Today I was at the press conference announcing this year’s Sevilla Tapas Week, which will take place 6-16th November.

More than 160 bars and restaurants are participating (40 more than last year) and there will be three tapas categories: traditional, gourmet and “sabores de provincia” (not quite sure what that last one means).  People can try the special tapas on offer and then vote on line for their favourites using the SWT free app.

sevilla tapas week press conferencepress conference at El Rinconcillo, Sevilla’s oldest tapas bar

On Thursday and Friday (November 6-7th) you can check out the first Gastronomy & Networking event, being held at the Convento de San Agustín. Also make sure to download and follow the Sevilla Gastronomy Heritage Tapas Guide free app, which is a near and dear project that I helped create.

Sevilla Tapas Week
6 – 16th November

Cata de la Vaca at Milongas

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cata vaca milongas

Last week I was invited to a rather unusual tasting event at Milongas Restaurant in Calle Campo de los Martires. It’s been a while since I was last there, so I was happy to accept, and duly arrived around 9.30 pm.

Milongas is one of Seville’s best Argentinian restaurants, which basically means it specialises in beef, so no prizes for guessing that this was a Cata de la Vaca (literally a cow tasting), supplemented with a wine pairing/tasting organised by Fran León featuring wines from Bodegas Salado in Umbrete, a small town in the Aljarafe to the west of Seville. The invited guests were from the worlds of journalism and social media, and it was nice to spend an evening of wine and food with a few old friends (and put faces to a few names, too) in convivial surroundings.

cata vaca 2The tasting was of five different cuts of beef, ranging from the well-known to the obscure. These were paired with the local Salado wines. I was impressed by the Fina Paloma Blanca, a sherry style wine made from Pedro Ximenez grapes and aged under flor but my favourite of the night was an oak-aged white wine called Astarte.

cata vaca entraña, punta de picaña,
entrecôte, tenderloin, lomo alto

Many thanks to the organisers for a terrific evening. It was great fun and I learned a lot too.

Andalucía Brut

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andalucia brut (1)David de Castro and Faustino Muñoz Soria

Andalucía Brut, the first “salón del cava, champagne y otras perlas”, organized by sommelier and “foodhunter” David de Castro, was held in Sevilla on October 16-17 to promote Spanish sparkling wines as part of the gastronomy of Andalucía.

andalucia brut (4)

The open air venue was Puerto de Cuba, on the bank of the Guadalquivir, with a great view across the river to the Torre del Oro. After the rain of the previous couple of weeks the weather was pleasantly warm and sunny, just perfect for wandering around the exhibitors’ stands which had been set up ready for tastings of the products on offer. These included some of the best known names of the cava world, such as Freixenet, Juvé y Camps and Codorníu, and some that I was unfamiliar with, such as Mestres and Llopart, but which proved to be of top quality. As with other wines, Spain has a great variety of excellent cava, at really very reasonable prices.

andalucia brut (3)

To complement the cava we had some of the accessories of a good tasting to sample. There was a special selection of bottled mineral waters chosen by another sommelier, Faustino Muñoz Soria (find them in his new book Aguas del Mundo), and Castro’s own Don Pelayo regaña flatbread and picos, which were developed especially for wine tastings. We also got to try some Spanish Riofrio caviar and Iberico pork products – a killer caña de lomo and a cooked Iberico ham infused with truffle.

andalucia brut (2)

andalucia brut

Noche en Blanco

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noche en blanca 2014

Sevilla’s third Noche en Blanca is TONIGHT.  Organised by @SevillaSeMueve, the 2014 edition of this all-night cultural event is the most amibitious to date with more than 100 spaces participating, including theatre, music, boutiques, galleries, cinema, gastronomy, walking tours and much more.

Have a great White Night everyone!

Noche en Blanco Programme
Twitter hashtag: #nocheenblancoSEV