After a busy weekend its time to take stock again and count how many chickens are missing.

Going to be a big weekend with it all picking up since Thursday and nearly full now for Monday also. Where would we be without love?

New dessert menu on Monday, white chocolate mousse, tangerine sorbet, and chocolate covered almond cake

It's certainly picked up this week with plenty in on Monday and Tuesday. Thanks to all.

busy day today with outside catering to keep us going. Full house tonight.

full house tonight in spite of the awful weather. Hopefully they all make it.

Good night with slow start didn't fill up until eight then it was a case of not enough space - tapas and wine for all - cheers!

The early bird (5 tapas for price of 4) between 4.30 and 6.30 (Mon-Thurs) went well yesterday with a flock of people in.

Rain, rain, go away, let's go to Spain for the day (or cava will have to do).

We'll be trying some wines with our staff from wine menu with Colm from Honest2Goodnees from 4-6. Why not come down at 5.30 to sample some?

And Paolo Tullio was in last Thursday, I forgot to say. Had four tapas and some sherry. Left happy. Well done Alex and Pawel.

Look out for the Food and Wine Magazine review - they were in last Sunday! Hopefully all was to there impeccable standard.

It certainly did pick up a bit last night, not too much, but enough to let us know we are leaving winter behind.

Lovely start to the week with the Irish plaice wrapped in Serrano ham and served with lemon mayo selling well

Hurrrah, its nearly Spring!

Well, January will not be missed. A slow start to the year and some difficult customers to take care of!

G is for Gazpacho

Gazpacho is a cold Spanish tomato-based raw vegetable soup, originating in the southern region of Andalusia. Gazpacho is widely consumed throughout Spain, neighboring Portugal (where it is known as gaspacho) and parts of Latin America. Gazpacho is mostly consumed during the summer months, due to its cold temperature and acidic bite.

Gazpacho has ancient roots. There are a number of theories of its origin, including as an Arab soup of bread, olive oil, water and garlic that arrived in Spain with the Moors, or via the Romans with the addition of vinegar.

Once in Spain it became a part of Andalusian cuisine, particularly Seville, using stale bread, garlic, olive oil, salt, and vinegar, similar to ajoblanco.

Gazpacho remained popular with field hands as a way to cool off during the summer and to use available ingredients such as fresh vegetables and stale bread.

There are many modern variations of gazpacho, often in different colors and omitting the tomatoes and bread in favor of avocados, cucumbers, parsley, watermelon, grapes, meat stock, seafood, and other ingredients, such as strawberries or beetroot.

Gazpacho has become an almost generic term for chilled vegetable soup.

In Andalusia, most gazpacho recipes typically include stale bread, tomato, cucumber, bell pepper, garlic, olive oil, wine vinegar, and salt. Some may also include onion.

The following is Cava's method of preparing gazpacho:

1. Wash 10 vine tomatoes, 1 cucumber, 1 red and 1 green pepper.
2. Peel 2 cloves of garlic and 1 onion, and take half the skin of the cucumber.
3. Put all the vegetables into food processor.
4. Soak 200g of stale bread with 100ml olive oil and 50ml of sherry vinegar.
5. Add chilled water until you get a smooth soup-like consistency.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste.
7. Chill soup overnight and serve cold the next day.

Traditionally, gazpacho is made by pounding the vegetables using a mortar and pestle and although this method is still sometimes favoured as it helps keep the gazpacho cool and avoids the completely smooth consistency and foam, most professionals now use food processors.

Gazpacho, along with tortilla and Serrano ham are three of the most traditional tapas available in Cava.

F is for Flamenco

Flamenco is the traditional song and dance of the Gypsies (flamencos) of Andalusia.  
Its history can be traced over several centuries from Gypsy, Moorish, Andalucian, and other roots.
Its evolution is a source of great debate with no accepted explanation of how flamenco resulted from the cultural influences of such diverse regions as North Africa, Southern Europe and the Near and Far East.

Flamenco music and dance became popular in the early 19th century as café entertainment. Also, in the 19th century, guitar accompaniment became common for many genres, and guitar solos also developed. In the 20th century, commercial pressure distorted much traditional flamenco dance.

Canto (“song”) is the core of flamenco, and like baile (“dance”), it has three forms: grande or hondo duende, the transformation of the musician by the depth of the emotion; intermedio (“intermediate”), moderately serious, the music sometimes Oriental-sounding; and pequeño (“small”), light songs of exuberance, love, and nature. (“grand” or “deep”), intense, profound songs, tragic in tone, and imbued with

Individual genres include the light bulerías; the more serious soleares and its lighter descendant, the alegrías; the fandangos grandes, a serious adaptation of a lighter non-Gypsy genre; the malagueñas, an offshoot of the fandangos; and cantos grandes such as the siguiriyas gitanas and saetas. 

Both text and melody of these songs, like the flamenco dance, are improvised within traditional structures such as characteristic rhythms and chords. Zapateado, intricate toe- and heel-clicking steps, characterizes the men's dance; the traditional women's dance is based more on grace of body and hand movement.

The baile grande, especially, is believed to retain elements of the dance of India, where the Gypsies originated. Castanets, found in Andalusian dance, are not traditional to flamenco. Song and dance may be accompanied by jaleo, rhythmic finger snapping, hand clapping, and shouting.

Flamenco has never been more popular in Spain and abroad than it is today with a new generation of new flamenco performers in the post-Franco era who have broadened flamenco's appeal to an international audience.

Flamenco guitar music is on in Cava, every Saturday night, 7pm to 9pm.

E is for Extremadura

Extremadura  is an autonomous community of western Spain whose capital city is Mérida. It borders Portugal to the west, and it is an important area for wildlife, particularity the Iberian Pig.

Extremadura is built upon the foundations of roman settlements. Mérida became the capital of the Roman Lusitania province, and one of the most important cities in the Roman Empire.

To the north, Extremadura  borders Castile and León (provinces of Salamanca); to the south, it borders Andalusia (provinces such as Seville); and to the east, it borders Castile-La Mancha (provinces of Toledo).

The climate of Extremadura is Mediterranean, except to the north, where it is continentalized, and to the west, where the influence of the Atlantic makes the climate milder. In general, it is characterized by its very hot and dry summers, with great droughts, and its long and mild winters due to the oceanic influence because of its proximity to the Atlantic coast of Portugal.

The only language that is officially recognized is Spanish, but other languages are also spoken, such as Portuguese.

Wild Black Iberian pigs roam in the area and consume acorns from oak groves. These pigs are caught and used for the cured ham dish jamón ibérico. (We have this in the restaurant) The higher the percentage of acorns eaten by the pigs, the more valuable (and expensive) the ham. Iberian Ham that can boast an acorn-fed average of 90%+ (of the pigs' diet) can be sold for more than twice as much as ham whose pigs ate on average less than 70% of acorns, for example.

Extremadura is known for the different ways of preparing the Iberian pork. The main characteristics of the traditional Extremaduran cuisine were its simplicity, its lack of clutter and its low cost. It is also a cuisine reflecting a generous spirit, for many of its preparations used to be cooked in large pots to share with visitors, friends and neighbours. The resulting dishes are eaten with local bread. The preferred spices in Extremaduran cuisine are garlic, bay leaves and anise. Olive oil is used for frying and as an ingredient in many dishes.

The most famous dishes of Extremadura are the cocido extremeño, the potaje de garbanzos y judías blancas (chick pea and bean soup), the sopa blanca de ajos (white garlic soup), the potaje de castañas secas (chestnut soup), the olla con "asaura" (a stew with offal and blood), the Ajoblanco extremeño and the gazpacho extremeño (a variant of gazpacho with ham).

Key Grape Varieties: 

Red: Bobal, Monastrell, Tempranillo, Garnacha,  Merlot, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon

White: Chardonnay, Viura, Verdejo and Pedro Ximénez.

D is for Denominación de Origen

Denominación de Origen (Designation of Origin - DO) is part of a regulatory classification system primarily for Spanish wines (similar to the French appellations). In wines it parallels the hierarchical system of France (1935) and Italy (1963), although Rioja (1925) and Sherry (1933) preceded the full system. For wines, it performs a role regulating the quality and geographical origin of the wine, ensuring that the that its method of production adn the final product are of a good standard. 

As of 2009, Spain has over 120 identifiable wine regions under some form of geographical classification.The Spanish appellation hierarchy for wines takes the following form (highest quality first).

Denominación de Pago (DO de Pago): Individual single-estates with an international reputation.
Denominación de Origen Calificada (DOCa/DOQ): Top-quality wine regions.
Denominación de Origen (DO): mainstream quality-wine regions.
Vino de Calidad Producido en Región Determinada (VCPRD): Less stringent regulation with specific geographical origin.
Vinos de la Tierra (VdlT): "country wine" areas which may use a regional name.
Vino de Mesa - Table wine, production of which has been in decline in recent years.
 
Most of the wine in Cava are DO status, but all the wines from Rioja and Priorat that we have in the restaurant are DOCa. We also have some amazing Vinos de la Tierra, from Mallorca which are just as expensive as the ones from Rioja. There is alot of politics behind the Denominación de Origen. It is not only about mataining quality but also about promoting certain regions as the best, for example Rioja.

All the top levels wine, the Denominación de Pago, are extermely expensive and rare. Dominio de Valdepusa, for example, is one of only nine Denominaciones de Origen de Pago existing in Spain as of 2009. This conferring means that in addition to having a proven track record of consistent quality, the wines have to be both produced from estate-grown grapes and also have to be processed and aged in a winery (bodega) located on the estate.

This bottle will set you back about €60 in Spain, which means if you did get it in Ireland you may be looking at lot more due to transport, excise duty, and Vat.