ZAZPI GASTROBAR SAN TELMO MUSEOA Plaza Zuloaga, 1, 20003 Donostia, Gipuzkoa, Spain +34 943 50 67 67 www.zazpistm.com UPDATED JULY 2024 On our last visit to Zazpi, we found it had a new home. Not all great cooking happens in a hushed room with linen tablecloths and servers in waistcoats. Zazpi is proof. This restaurant sits in the avant-garde wing of the Museo San Telmo, and the food by new-generation chef Paul Arrillaga is stunning. Zazpi started by serving upscale pintxos

FORMENTERA CAN FORN The Sant Ferran de Ses Roques (San Fernando) village is on the Island of Formentera, in the Mediterranean, north of North Africa and east of Spain. I wanted to take my friend Bernadette Mundy out for a pre-birthday dinner, so I followed my nose to Restaurante Can Forn in the village of Sant Ferran de Ses Roques (San Fernando). As a young hippie, I met Bernadette in the Fonda Pepe bar in 1973. Tonight, though, I was hungry, and I managed to score a table

I had been looking for a reason to drink this special wine for some time. It came a few months ago, when I was looking through some of my old wines with my friend Mark Walsh, and he said 1942 was the year my dad, John, was born. So that was it...... You can find Mark here, on Instagram @walshjewellery , and at www.walshjewellery.com John was born in 1942, so this wine was still a grape then. The day we arranged to drink the wine, 23rd July, just happened to be my late Mother'

RESTAURANTE CAN BERRI VELL When you arrive in the lovely little village of  Sant Agustí des Vedrà , opposite the village church, You will find an excellent traditional restaurant. This was once a 17th-century home and is now a lovely, romantic, candle-lit spot with a delightful terrace area overrun with greenery. The restaurant has been open for 30 years, and once you get inside, you will be in an authentic rural Ibicencan home. There are different rooms, small & large, with

BLOSSOM - RESTAURANTE EN MÁLAGA One Michelin Star If you're looking for a restaurant in the centre of Málaga, just a few meters from the Cathedral, this restaurant could be the perfect option. Argentina-born chef Emi Schobert draws inspiration from the sea, the mountains, and local ingredients. The inside of the restaurant is tiny, most of the tables are on the pedestrian street it fronts. On arrival, we settled in with a small beer and an Aperol spritzer. We started with

KALEJA One Michelin Star The name of this Restaurant by Chef Dani Carnero is particularly apt (Kaleja is the Sephardic word for alley), given its location in Málaga's Jewish quarter, just a few steps from the city's Picasso Museum. It is a gastronomic restaurant based on interpretations of the traditional Málaga recipe book and on enhancing humble ingredients that have sometimes disappeared from large restaurants, such as beans, lentils, etc. There are two dining areas in

We visited the newly opened Bar Rioja in the Regent Quarter in Kings Cross, London. It is part of the Camino group, which has a significant presence in this area. This bar is dedicated to some of our favourite Spanish wines from the Rioja region of northern Spain. La Rioja, Spain's largest and most popular wine region, was the first to become internationally famous. It is also one of the 17 provinces of Spain, and the smallest. It lies in the country's north, approximately 12

A FEW DAYS SPENT IN AND AROUND HARO IN LA RIOJA We arrived from Bilbao airport and checked into our hotel in Haro, the splendid HOTEL LOS AGUSTINOS Calle San Agustín 2, 26200 Haro, La Rioja +34 941 31 13 08 Founded as a convent in 1373, the building has been through various guises, including a Guarnición Military (Military Garrison) in 1809 Hospital Military (Military hospital) in 1811 Carcel (Prison) in 1839 and Hotel 1989. It is a beautiful building steeped in history.

LA RIOJA - LOGROÑO PINCHO BAR CRAWL On our recent trip to La Rioja, we decided to take a pinchos bar crawl down the famous Calle Laurel in Logroño. These were our favourite bars and bites on this hectic but pleasant November evening. BAR CID Travesía de Laurel, 1, 26001 Logroño, La Rioja It is quite literally a hole in the wall and easy to walk past. The traditional Bar Cid has vines and grapes dangling from the wooden beam ceiling above the same pair of men hanging out at th

LA COCHERA DEL ABUELO We visited this fantastic and intimate little gem twice in a week. It is nicely decorated and laid out. Cinta Romero has run the restaurant, which was once a tiny bar called El Abuelo, since 2016. The owner has extensive experience working in Restaurants in London, including The Ledbury and Michelin-starred Indian restaurants. The main seating is on the ground floor by the bar, plus a few tables up on a small mezzanine. They serve a tasting menu, includ