Tag: tapas

Dinosaur Toes (aka Percebes)

azahar2 Comments


They really do look like dinosaur toes, don’t they? They are actually goose barnacles, called percebes in Spanish, and I have been dying to try them ever since I first heard about them. Why? Well, why the hell not? Recently I heard that one of my favourite seafood tapas bars – La Moneda – has been serving percebes and I asked them if they could let me know the next time they got some in. Turned out that was today! Not the best timing as Peter and I had just stopped off for a couple of tapitas with my familia at Bodeguita Romero – celebrating my shiny new laptop purchase (more on that later!) – and after our second tapa I got a Twitter message from Isidro that the percebes had landed.

So we high-tailed it out of the Bodeguita and headed over to La Moneda, with new laptop slung over shoulder – luckily it was only about a five-minute walk away – and upon arrival a plate of steaming percebes were placed in front of us. My first reaction was “eep! now what?” but Isidro quickly instructed us on how to eat them. You grab them at each end and then give them a sharp twist and a yank, after which the “claw” of the toe pulls away with a delectible morsel of deliciousness dangling off the end of it. What Isidro failed to mention was how squirty they are! At the first twist water shot out everywhere (usually all over me!) and I never did manage to get as clean a severing between claw and toe as Isidro did. But man! These guys are very tasty – not to mention prohibitively expensive! – but Isidro gave me a deal since it was my first time.

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?

Sevilla’s Gastrobar Glut

azahar12 Comments

About eight years ago when Sevilla tapas bars like Vineria San Telmo and Eslava started giving us their innovative takes on traditional tapas it was a refreshing change being able to find something a bit different and, in the case of the Vineria, a decent selection of wines by the glass at reasonable prices. At the time paying slightly more for a special dish felt well worth it and it was always a treat going back to see what else new they’d come up with.

Fast forward to 2012 and everywhere you look these days in Sevilla there are hip new “gastrobars”, trendy mini-burger joints and gourmet food & wine shops opening up almost weekly, all trying to out-coolio each other in an attempt to be noticed. Unfortunately the majority of these new places are not only more style than substance, but they are often either just copycat versions of each other, or pale imitations of better, more established gourmet-style tapas bars. Yet they act (and charge!) as if they are the next Ferran Adrià, just for whipping up a bit of foamed something-or-other. Snore.

Which brings me to my next question. How and when did the 5€ tapa become acceptable and, dare I say, almost the norm? It’s not that I’m against change – quite the contrary – but this hopping on the gourmet tapas bandwagon to make a quick buck is eroding the whole concept of tapas and how they came to be in the first place. If things keep going this way I’m afraid we’ll end up with a false new version of tapas that both locals and visitors will tire of very quickly. It will especially disillusion visitors who have so far not had any experience of Spain and Spanish food. Of course even the most expensive gastrobar here will still be cheaper than almost anywhere in London, but that’s not really saying much. And anyhow, who wants to come to Sevilla and eat tapas that have been created to taste like, well, a poor relation of international haute cuisine, in bars with lamps made out of coathangers and where your cutlery is brought to you in Hello Kitty pencil cases? And worse yet, with staff who often don’t know a damn thing about the food or wine and have presumably been hired for their cool or cute factor.

Happily there are still plenty of fabulous “de siempre” places that continue to do very well by doing what they do best, which is serving up top notch traditional tapas in charming surroundings with staff who know absolutely everything about the food and wine – and who also know how to smile! And I especially appreciate newly-opened places that offer new and delicious takes on Spanish cuisine without adding Gastrobar Prices, do not charge for bread (wtf? factor it in guys) and don’t have the heinous 1-2€ per person “cover charge” (for what??).

If you want to sample the best of gourmet tapas and don’t mind paying gourmet prices then try La Azotea or Albarama. I especially love the personal attention you get at La Azotea and the price/value ratio is right on par. In both of these places every penny spent is well worth it.

If you want to try a new up-and-comer then you will love La Brunilda. Amazing value for excellent tapas. Lovely twists on the traditional in a gorgeous setting and with very personal and friendly service.

Or you can re-visit those “granddaddies” of the whole new tapas scene here in Sevilla – Vineria San Telmo and Eslava. Both have quite different styles, and both work so well. You will eat and drink to your heart’s content without breaking the budget and will taste some very unexpected delights.

For me personally the most important thing about a great tapas experience is that I feel welcome, that the staff are well-informed and pleasant, and that the food is fabulous. But the most important thing of all is that the place has a heart. I return again and again to the places that I know are well-loved by their owners, where you can feel their personality and their affection, where you know that they honestly care about what they do and about their customers. That’s not something you can fake.

The Flavour of Seville

azahar2 Comments

It was not long after I’d started my Sevilla Tapas Tours that I met travel and food writer Shaney Hudson. On Twitter, natch. Shaney had said she was going to be in town doing some research and we met up to spend a very pleasant evening visiting a few tapas bars and ending up having late night cocktails on a rooftop bar somewhere… who, us?

So when Shaney came back to Sevilla this past April to do a feature for Virgin Australia’s Voyeur magazine it was great to get together once again and “do tapas”. We went to three of my favourite places (Vineria San Telmo, La Azotea and Bodeguita Romero) and we had a great time. We tasted the best pringá in Sevilla, totally melt-in-your mouth slow-cooked pig’s cheeks in red wine, and beautiful langoustine carpaccio. I know, it’s a tough job but…

Because this article was about feasts for the eyes as well as for the tummy, my lovely friend Fourat (aka Lebanicious) very generously arranged an interview with Seville’s most prominent living architect, Rafael Manzano, so Shaney could get a unique insight into the city’s history and culture.

As always, Shaney writes with heart and with a style that really captures the essence of a place, and what couldn’t be said with words was brilliantly captured by photographer Helen Cathcart. Read all about it…

The Flavour of Seville

words by Shaney Hudson
photos by Helen Cathcart


Queen of Tapas

azahar2 Comments

It’s official! I am the Tapas Queen of Sevilla!

Now all I need is a crown of azahar…

I was recently asked by online lifestyle magazine Con Eñe, which writes about – and with! – La Pasión Española, if I would like to be interviewed and have my tapas tours featured. And well, of course I did!

I’ve known writer/editor María Basia on Twitter for quite some time now but although she lives in Sevilla we have yet to meet in person (though we do have a date pending so I can try the pringá at Bar Gonzalo). As we both share a love of Sevilla and cats I’m sure we’ll get along great.

Click on the link below to read the interview.
Thanks for thinking of me, María, and also for such a fun intro!

Tapas – Sevilla Style

No Free Lunch

azahar11 Comments

As the saying goes “there’s no such thing as a free lunch”, or another way of putting it would be “you get what you pay for”. Both these phrases were running through my mind during my recent visit to Granada. I’d been there a few times before but this time it was a work trip and I was paying more attention to detail, especially as some of the research I was doing was on good places to eat in the city.

Pretty much everyone has heard of the “free tapas” system in Granada, in which you are given a tapa with each drink you purchase. Sometimes you can choose the tapa but more often the bar sets up a range of 1st, 2nd, 3rd tapas to be served with each drink you order. Of course you can also order other food on the side, and this is where things get a bit muddy.

The first thing you should bear in mind is that even though the bars in Granada don’t charge you outright (honestly?) for a tapa, my experience there was that most places gave you something much smaller than a typical tapa in Sevilla would be and also charged far more for drinks. You may end up paying the same at the end of the night, but you also end up with much less food, and usually food that is nothing to write home about. A bit of tortilla, a dollop of salmorejo, a smattering of tinned sausages… the most extreme example was at Puerta del Carmen where I paid 3.50€ (!!!) for a small glass of white wine and my “free tapa” was a mini burger about the size of my thumbnail. And that eensy bit of tortilla onna stick was my “free tapa” after ordering a glass of wine for 3.10€ at Tragalios. Like, why bother?

On average a small beer (caña) in Granada will cost from 1.20 – 2.20€ (.80 – 1.40€ in Sevilla) and a glass of house wine will set you back anywhere from 2.50 – 3.50€ (2.00 – 2.75€ in Sevilla). One may argue that the food makes up for the difference in price, but even if you order other tapas and raciones separately you continue to pay the premium drink prices and, as happened more than once to me, you are no longer given “free” tapas. When I finally asked about this at Taberna Gambao the waiter looked (feigned?) surprise that we hadn’t been brought more “free” tapas after ordering a 12€ dish of gambas and another glass of wine and said we should have asked for it. Huh?

In fairness I *only* got to about 15 bars in 3 days, and so of course many of those were just a quick drink and 1st tapa experience. But when out with friends a couple of times at first I thought that we hadn’t paid much until I got home and did the math. Turned out that although we’d been mostly eating “free” tapas we were still paying on average close to 3€ a drink. I was told by my friends that there are plenty of places where you can eat and drink well and cheaply and I guess I’ll have to take their word for it (and wonder why I wasn’t taken there). The thing is I didn’t just stumble upon any of the places I went to – they had all been recommended to me by locals and foodies. So what chance does a typical short-term visitor have of finding a decent dining experience in Granada?

[click to enlarge]

Personally, I prefer to eat more than I drink when I go out for tapas, and I also prefer to choose my own food. Perhaps because Granada is a university town the emphasis is placed on drinking? In any case, I was not impressed by the tapas there in general, though of course there were some pleasant exceptions: El Mentidero, Taberna Gamboa, and La Moraga. And I still have fond memories of my first visit to the original Los Diamantes in calle Nava a couple of years ago, though a visit this time to their new place on the Plaza Nueva was disappointing. Worst experience was some dried up pork with a bit of nondescript sauce slopped over it and rudely served to us at Casa Torcuatro in the Albaicín. Best experience was sitting in the sun-dappled garden terrace at Senzone in the Palacio de los Patos hotel. The rest was largely forgettable, food-wise, though I was in very pleasant company and also enjoyed getting to know the neighbourhoods a bit better.

[bars and restaurants visited: Bar Ávila, Posada del Duende, Puerta del Carmen, Los Diamantes, Taberna Gamboa, Tragalios, Bar Aliatar, Casa Torcuato, Om Kalsum, Bodega Castañeda, La Trastienda, El Mentidero, Senzone, La Moraga, La Tana]