Whitebait and Beer for Breakfast, Fogon de Galicia, Grenada Spain

The tapas start early in Grenada. Well, early enough when you wake up at 10:30am ;) It's our first morning, and we initially venture out with a coffee and pastry in mind to start the day. We didn't have much luck finding anything of the sort .... We did notice a bunch of people drinking beer and eating a range of fried seafood delights at Fogon de Galacia while we were wandering around though. We end up tracing back down the little alley way, very pleased to start our day with 2 little Caña, or small sized beer and a plate of crispy fried whitebait with fresh lemon.

Bodega Santa Cruz, Sevilla

Ah, Sevilla ... Wandering the streets the scent of orange blossom fills the air. We spot hordes of people moving around the streets with these little striped cushions wandering where they are going, or where they have been. A little investigation reveals the annual Bull Fighting festivities have just begun. As I am sure the streets of Sevilla are generally buzzing year round, there is just something magical about being there at this time ....

It's mid morning and after starting the day with a coffee and pastry, we are certainly ready for our next snack. We turn a corner and see people spilling out into the street, a drink in one hand, a small plate in the other. We find an entrance, the place is packed ... just as we make our way up to the counter, a small space clears allowing us to perch there.



We point at a few things on the bar which are handed to us along with our beer. Green olives, the marinade showing it's Moorish influence as we've moved south, full of paprika, cumin and even a little preserved lemon. Fried squid sitting on a little shredded lettuce with some baby bread sticks and a tortilla sandwich - 2 wedges of potato tortilla are sandwiching a tuna and mayonnaise mix again with the little bread sticks on the side.



Bocadillo's, or little sandwiches, are making their way under the grill as fast as they can be toasted and then handed out to an eager customer. We signal our interest, and within moments have one of these little round sandwiches in front of us. We're not even to sure what was inside, but there was meat, smoked paprika and lots of butter.



After wandering through the city for a few hours we have again built up an appetite. Nothing tickles our fancy enough that we have stumbled across, so we make our way back across town to Las Columnas. (Despite Bodega Santa Cruz being painted on the walls, It's known by the locals as Las Coumnas. I figure 2 visits in one day we are entitled to call it by the latter). We are lucky enough to perch ourselves at the bar this time, our server recognizing us straight away. 2 damn lemon are placed in front of us along with some boquerones fritos. Fired baby anchovies, eaten whole, in a light crumb crust with the little bread sticks.



Potatoes aioli are simply boiled potatoes coated in a pungent garlic aioli. A little chopped fresh parsley adds some life.



Champignon con jamon arrive in a little terra cotta dish. The smell is intoxicating, the combination of the earthy mushrooms, the smokey jamon, good olive oil and a touch of garlic. Crusty baguette is perfect for mopping up all of the flavored olive oil.



The last, slightly sweet, dish of the day was fired aubergine with honey. Crispy discs of eggplant are coated in a light crumb and fried to a golden crisp. A light drizzle of honey and a sprinkling of salt is a harmonious balance of sweet and salty.



Now, back into the crowds to enjoy this beautiful city ....



Bodega Santa Cruz
(aka Las Columnas)
c/ Rodrigo Caro 1
Sevilla, Andalucia, Spain

La Cueva en Aragon and the single tapa ...

I've started to write and deleted this post a dozen times. Each time I couldn't express how amazed with La Cueva en Aragon. So here it is simple and to the point just like La Cueva. Tiny bar, one chef, one tapa. A hot plate full of grilled champigons, splashed with a garlicky herb oil. One order gets you four mushrooms and a single baby shrimp skewered a top slice of fresh baguette to catch the juices and oil. If you want something else you can have a beer with your order. The freshest products cooked simply are always a winner with us. We weren't the only one's who thought so, understandably La Cueva was packed to the doors every night and after the first night we were there every night as well.







The aftermath of a busy night.


La Cueva en Aragon
Calle Libertad, 16
Zaragoza, Spain 50003

Tapac 24, part 2; the lost hours

You can't visit Barcelona without running into some of Gaudi's prolific works somewhere. The most famous being the still epic Sangria Familia church, but having skipped that (epic church = epic ques) and kinda feeling like we should see something more of Barcelona than it's restaurants .. well that and after yet another fine Boqueria breakfast we had hours to fill before we could admire another eatery. We headed up into the hills that border the city to the fantasy garden Park Guell. Originally built by Gaudi as a playground for the rich we wandered round the winding paths all morning, listing to buskers and taking in the views back over Barcelona, it was amazing! To think that he had envisioned all of this in his head is astounding, I guess that's where the genius part comes into it.



After all this walking and artistic appreciation we were soon feeling the need for a little snack or two. Tapac 24 was close (well nothings really close to the garden so it was a cab ride) and we had only had a wee breakfast there before, so a sample of there lunch menu seemed to be in order.

We arrived grabbed a table and looked for the menu, hmmmm seems to be the same as the breakfast menu we had the other day .. we look around, a quick question, ahhh lunch menus come out at 12 - seems we had arrived a tad early, oh well we'll just grab a few things off the breakfast menu to tide us over. I'm just going to interrupt myself at this point to say y'know what I like about Spain? It was becoming apparent to me that you could eat whatever you like at whatever time you like and no one would say boo. You can put Rabo de toro (braised oxtail) on the breakfast menu and someone (us) will order it and it's all good. Amazingly good actually, fall off the bone in sticky finger lickin braising stock, and served in a tre cute little cast iron pan, icing on the cake people.



Our other tider overers were a can of sardines - Spain's canned seafood is not even playing the same game as the stuff you usually see lining supermarket shelves the product is often hand picked and canned only at the prime of it's season. Once you taste the difference you can understand how some Spanish canned seafood can cost hundreds of euros.



Eggs with potatoes and foie - a plate of hand-cut fries, sauteed foie gras and a fried egg smashed over the top, be still my congealing heart. It's a dish that arrives and you know how horrifically bad for you eating something like this will be yet your fork moves with surprising speed to scoop up mouthful after mouthful of pure deliciousness.



We had now lingered our way in to the lunching time zone. Menus were swapped and special boards were being bought out, so was a jug of some sangria like concoction on the table next to us. We'll have one of those please. One of those turned out to be a jug of agua de Valencia, Spanish sparkling wine (cava) with orange juice vodka and gin. Delicious & super easy to drink, maybe even a little too easy.



With the lunch menu in our hands we quickly browsed and in no time at all we had two of the most delectable anchovy fillets I had ever had the pleasure to meet sitting in front of us as well as a plate of grated tomato with sherry vinegar, sea salt and olive oil and some generous chunks of crusty bread for mopping it all up. A long time ago I used to think anchovies were horrible salty fishy things that had no reason for existing. Foolish me. To some extent a lot are that way, but to eat one of the anchovies at Tapac is to treat yourself to a just the right amount salty, just the right amount fishy, whole lot of umami experience.





The McFoie is something we had read about so of course one of those had to be ordered. Start with a small burger bun, fill with beef and foie gras patty, grill in a flat sandwich press till toasty, serve with truffle aoli. Need I say more?







At this point having just ordered another jug of agua de Valencia and feeling like we could still have a smackeral more we eyed up the specials board, proudly written in Catalan. Having even less of a grasp of Catalan than Spanish we randomly picked a few things.



We knew what chimichurri was so whatever's with that we'll have. Grilled beef it turned out to be. Smokey and doused with a herbacious chilli salsa. Heaven.



A plate of crumbed fried thingys were rabbit ribs. Moreish morsels of rabbit meat with a rich aoli for dipping. Once you popped you just couldn't stop.



Calcots are a traditional springtime treat. Grown from an onion bulb, the shoots have soil piled around them as they grow similar to white asparagus. the result is a leek like mild onion that is then charred grilled and usually served with romesco sauce. There is no tidy way to eat them just scoop a little romesco and slurp it down, you may even get a few appreciative glance for embracing the tradition wholeheartedly.



We both knew we were done but we couldn't leave with out one more Tapac specialty. Chocolate with olive oil and salt is not just a Tapac specialty but a Catalan one. In this case the chocolate is quenelles of rich ganache drizzled with olive oil speckled with great Spanish flake salt and topped with a wafer of toasted bread. Chocolaty, salty, crunchy, just delicious.



Sated we made our way out onto the street surprised to find we had lost quite a few hours and that it was now time for siesta. Oh well when in Rome, or Spain in this case.

Tapac 24
Diputacio 269
Barcelona
8am - midinght

Barcelona Aquarium & Cerveceria el Vaso de oro

We headed down to Barcelona's Port Vell and had our day planned. First stop, the aquarium. We wandered in and gazed at some tropical fish, cuttlefish, live shrimp and a few small sharks ... but that was it. It was actually quite disappointing, and only took up a small fraction of the morning.



The problem there in lying that our lunch booking was for 1pm (which is when they opened), and it was now only 11:30am. So we set out to find a little Cerveceria to fill in the time. We wandered around the port and this paticular one caught our eye .... Not much from the outside, just some big gold letters, but glancing through the glass doors we could see the place was filled with a mixture of young and old Spanish men, who were enjoying their midday beers, a lot of them looked like construction workers or the like.



This littler cerveceria has 2 beers on tap, both of which they brew themselves. We start with the lighter pilsner type and a plate of boquerones, the delicious pickled white anchovies. The beer is crisp and the anchovies are doused in good olive oil and lots of fresh chopped parsley which balances perfectly with the vinegar.



Still with nearly an hour to go until lunch, this has only wet our appetite. Next up, a plate of Jamon croquettes and we select a few little sticks that are taken away and grilled / fried before being placed on a slice of breed. One was pork & green pepper brochette and the other sausage wrapped in bacon. Mmm, so much porky goodness.



Now we are ready for lunch ...

Cerveceria el Vaso de oro
Carrer de Balboa 6, Barceloneta
Barcelona, Spain
T: (93) 319-3098

The dawn raid.

Suffering the plague of globe crossers everywhere, we were still wired to Japan time and were springing wide awake with the birds each morning.



Still at times like this you know there's one place that always has a seat, a coffee and a smile for you. Bar Pinotxo (pinocho-pinocchio) in La Boqueria is open as the providors arrive to start setting up for the day, which is very early am.



Run by the very friendly Juanito (a fantastic character), it's the best place to pull up a stool, grab a coffee and see the markets blooming into life, as well as the chefs at Pinotxo preparing the days food.



We enjoyed this morning show so much that even after we had time adjusted we still made the morning walk up the empty Ramblas to sit, drink, snack on a tasty crossiant, and watch life.



Maybe once or twice we sat for so long that breakfast became lunch and we were able to enjoy the delicios tapas offered at Pinotxos, such as braised garbanzos or rich unctious pork cheek. It's easy to see why Pinotxos is a favourite of many of Spains top chefs.

Maybe after coffee we'd swing by the bakery in the center of the market and pick up a couple of euros worth of Bunyols, a small sugary Spanish doughnut. The freshly cooked bunyols seem to round off the early morning coffee so perfectly.



Bar Pinotxos
La Boqueria markets
Barcelona

Bar Espana, Suskino, Sapporo

We’d spent the day wandering around Odori Park for the Yuki Matsuri (Snow festival) in Sapporo, and golly me it was cold.



After a shower and a freshen up it’s over to the Suskino end of town where we’re told the Ice Festival takes place. And indeed it does. Upon reaching the Route 36 / Suskino intersection as far as we can see it lit up with lights and there are some amazing ice carvings. We have a little wander around, we’re trying to find Blanc, which is a little wine bar over this side of town. We wander around for a while and don’t manage to find it (we later find out its upstairs in one of those vertical buildings housing a whole range of things, duh). It starts snowing quite heavily, which is very picturesque, but we’re now in desperate need of 3 things; shelter, drink and food.



Right on Suskino we see a very welcoming sign “Bar Espana”. And as we look in its bustling with Japanese couples and groups sitting and drinking but there’s a little spot at the bar for the 2 of us, perfect.



That’s the first thing sorted, now we both need that drink. There’s a fair sized wine list with about 12 by the glass. Kim starts with a glass of ’05 Motersierra Rosato. I decide on a fresh fruits sangria. (yes I know I said fruits, but it on the menu like that, and it’s cute.) A single ice cube is placed in the glass then topped with the red wine sangria mix. A generous spoonful of macerated berries is then added, which are sitting in a nice rich syrup. A splash of soda is added and then it’s checked for seasoning. All good! Then a little tray of fruit emerges from the fridge and artfully crafted and displayed on the top of the drink. A single orange segment, 3 perfect slices of apple and slice of kiwi fruit, a plump strawberry and 2 blueberries are threaded onto a tiny toothpick. As I pick up the glass I’m already impressed, its paper thin Japanese glassware and a fair size. I take the tip of the little toothpick and stir through the fruit then take a sip. It’s sweet, a little tart but still a nice robust wine flavour and is oh so soothing with the snow falling just beyond the door.



And lastly, food. We love these sorts of places, we just order a few things with no idea about where the night is heading. First up, we can’t resist the Spanish Anchovies with Bucket. We were both curious about this one …. A plate arrives with 8 plump little fillets that are doused in olive oil with a little chopped herbs and cracked pepper. Then there’s a little basket with 2 thick slices of crusty baguette, ahhh, bucket. It’s a case of JapEnglish translation and not some bucket filled with something exciting.



Mmm, pig. We’re already drooling over the leg of Jamon, sitting on the bar top that waiters are just slicing chunks from, filling little plates and delivering them all over the little tiny room.



But firstly, fried pig’s ears with garlic. They are deliciously chewy on the inside but a crisp crackly outside is coated in fried garlic. Mmm.



While we’re savouring each moment the delicious pigs ears are in our mouth, a plate of Iberico chorizo arrives. 12 paper thin slices are laid out on a little wooden tray. There’s a few caperberries, cornichons, parsley, dill and chervil to one corner and it’s spiked with a few toothpicks for easy eating.



Ah, rather than ordering a plate of sliced Jamon there was something else that caught our stomach. Jamon sandwich. We had seen this little beauty crafted in front of our eyes, the anticipation almost becoming too much ….. As one waiter is slicing chunks of Jamon from the bone someone else is grilling a nice chunk of baguette. The baguette is then rubbed with a garlic clove and a sliced tomato. The smell on the hot bread is amazing. It’s then drizzled with virgin olive oil and the sliced Jamon piled between the 2 slices. Wow! The hot, crusty, garlicy tomato baguette is such a nice contrast with the room temperature, chewy and smooth Jamon. Amazing.



We order some more drinks and some olives. There’s a jar of them sitting on the counter, a scoop of olives is placed in a boat and topped with some fried shallots. There were 3 different Spanish olives all marinated in a strong garlic oil and they were all delicious.



We see a paella being served behind us. They have about 5 different ones on the menu. It looks and smells incredible. We will be back some other time just for this ….



But for now, back to the drinking and tapa’s. Slices of barely cooked octopus are sprinkled with good Spanish paprika. They are resting a cute little terracotta pot. The octopus is so fresh and tender! And underneath we discover some boiled potatoes and garlic dressing.



We get talking to the bartender, who’s really nice and asking all about what we do / where we’re from. We then get to asking him about all the stuff that written around the walls in Japanese. Ah, of course, today’s specials. We manage to get a fair idea of what’s on offer with our little Japanese and his little English. Wagyu carpaccio. Eh? We need one of those now! The meat is so tender, I just love the way with each chew a good wagyu gives you the flavour from the fat, the texture from the meat and an all over body excitement … There’s a little squeeze of lemon, salt flakes, cracked pepper, a few mini tomatoes and more garlic oil (we won’t have to worry about vampires tonight!).



Well, we sure are glad we asked about the specials. The next up, some local Hokkaido deer that is seared to a golden crisp with a deep red gamey flesh. There’s a nice pink peppercorn sauce, roast garlic and purple potato.



While we’re sitting there enjoying our last drink, we ran into some customers I had served at Sekka. It was so funny as I was telling them they had to go to the Suskino end of town to see the ice carvings…. And there they were! They snapped a nice happy pic of us, we shared some stories over our extremely cold adventurous day we’d both had and then we confirmed directions to Blanc from our bar tender.



We did make it to Blanc and wished to continue the night with drinking and eating. The menu was all in Japanese and we tried to get some help. They blantantly said, No help, Omakase. We reluctantly agreed. Then we tried to order a bottle of wine. The first one, no stock. Second one, no stock. Third one, no stock. Finally we’re in luck, the ’96 Vin D’Alsace Pinot Blanc was in stock. But then the waiter tried to tell us we not like this wine, very very sweet. What the?? And the food was about the same…