Spanish

I started my sister blog to avoid writing about beer to much over here. But every now and again I attend an event and can’t decide where best to put it. That happened recently when I was invited to a ‘Food Pairing Dinner’ at Ibérica, Spinningfields. Since it was hosted by Spanish brewery Casimiro I decided it was better suited over …

Summer is my absolute favourite season. Mainly because I love the sun; eating and drinking outdoors just makes me happy and everywhere looks and feels better in sunshine. I can’t help getting grumpy when the days start getting colder and going dark earlier. The only thing stopping me coming down with a dose of S.A.D before January is autumn and winter food, game in particular. …

It’s not everyday you get the chance to eat dishes from several of the world’s best chefs in the same place at the same time. But a few weeks ago I did exactly that after being invited to the press launch of ‘Great Chefs, Great Causes’ at Ibérica in Spinningfields. Of course, Albert Adrià and Joan Roca of El Celler de …

Despite being a lover of Spanish food it’s not a cuisine I often eat outside of Spain. Mainly because most of our restaurants are usually full of the same old clichéd dishes that are inevitably never as good as the real thing. Also, so much traditional Spanish cooking is fairly simple but relies on the quality of ingredients and I don’t think …

So far my experiences of the ‘Drunken Butcher‘ have mostly involved vast quantities of meat; huge pies, large roasting joints, steaks and burgers. Not that he’s a one trick pony, there was recently a ‘Healthy Eating’ supper club and there’s a Vegan one coming up too. I seem to have somehow missed them though. I attended his latest event last …

These days, us bloggers are often criticised for accepting ‘freebies’, personally I turn down far more than I accept but when I do it’s with a completely clear conscience. Partly because they’re not actually ‘free’ at all, we provide publicity to the restaurants which otherwise would have cost them far more than a bit of free food. More importantly, good blog posts take a …

We wanted to eat somewhere special for our last day in Spain, we were prepared to travel to a bigger town or city but had heard great things about the hotel in the village near our remote riverside lodge. It looked like a nice place from the outside but it was the offer of an 8 course tasting menu that …

Whilst lay on a beach sunbathing it suddenly occurred to me that I’d been in Spain for 6 days and not eaten a paella yet! With no idea how or why i’d let it happen I immediately set to rectify the situation. I was in the quiet, fishermans village of L’Ametlla de Mar and thankfully didn’t have to venture far. …

I think eating at Casa de Tapas Cañota was my most fun restaurant experience ever. Not the best overall but probably the most ‘fun’. Run by the Iglesias brothers who also own well loved restaurant ‘Rías de Galicia’ and ‘Tickets’ with Ferran Adrià my expectations were set pretty high. You can tell it’s a fun place immediately from the bright …

Chef Carles Abellán had revolutionised the tapas scene with his restaurant Comerç 24. After working with culinary legend Ferran Adrià at elBulli and other restaurants for 15 years he opened Comerç 24 in 2001. The food there is elaborate ‘designer tapas’ with influences from Mexican, Italian and Asian cuisines. I recently visited his second restaurant Tapas 24. Certainly more traditional …

Miravet is a medieval village centred around an ancient castle, Arab in origin it was later rebuilt by the Order of the Knights Templar. The village is situated on the river Ebro, to reach it I cautiously drove onto a rickety old boat not much bigger than my car to cross. It was worth the risk, Miravet is a beautiful …

Staying in a remote riverside lodge by the Ebro River in the Tarragona mountains we were surrounded by stunning views but few options when it came to eating out. The nearest village ‘Benifallet’ was a 10 minute drive and contained just 3 or 4 restaurants with a few bars and a hotel also serving food.   We chose ‘Braseria Rosa …

I grew up in Horwich, a small town, part of Bolton in Greater Manchester which has a disproportionate amount of restaurants in the town centre for some reason. Most of them are situated on either Lea Lane or Winter Hey Lane just a few streets away from my childhood home. I have fond memories of early Italian & Cantonese dining experiences there …

I’ve been longing for some Spanish tapas ever since visiting Dos de Mayo in Seville last month. We don’t have anything even close in the U.K, never mind in Bolton but we do have a nice, simple and very decent little tapas restaurant ‘La Salsa’. It’s been a few years since my last visit but I was a regular in the past …

As soon as I noticed how close we were to Spain I just had to pay a visit. I love Ibiza and Barcelona is one of my favourite places in the world but I haven’t been to southern Spain since a package holiday many years ago as a small child. Looking at a map I picked out Seville as the …