Jeffrey, me and Victor in Málaga

I can't even begin to count the ways that Twitter has changed my life, but this is yet another one. Back in late 2012 my Twitter pal Niamh Shields @eatlikeagirl got in touch with me about joining a new international foodie venture called Chowzter,. At first glance Chowzter didn't seem like the sort of thing I’d be interested in (though I remember years ago saying the same thing about Twitter!) but I decided to give it a go as it had been recommended by Niamh and there wasn’t a lot of work required to set it up. Thus I became their Sevilla food expert.

Then about ten days ago I got to meet Chowzter founder Jeffrey Merrihue @jeffreymerrihue. He was holidaying in Marbella and came up to Sevilla for the day to do a tapas tour with me, which morphed into a tapeo extremo (a term coined by my friend and travel writer Annie Bennett @anniebennett a few years ago when we went out for tapas - I have no idea why! 😉 ). That day Jeffrey and I broke my personal record by visiting 7 tapas bars in 4 hours.

Tapeo Extremo Sevilla 08-08-14 | 7 tapas bars in 4 hours

Chowzter began as an argument between two well-travelled food-obsessed brothers about where to get the "best this-or-that" in every city they visited. Not Michelin star fare (everybody knows where to find that), but fabulous day-to-day local food. Fast feasts. The trick was to find passionate locals who wanted to share their knowledge. Which now includes me. And now also includes Victor Garrido @welovemalaga, who runs the best tapas and walking tours in Málaga. At first Jeffrey asked Victor if he wanted to meet him in Marbella, but then mentioned that he'd never had good food in Málaga (!!!). And when he asked if I wanted to come down for the day too... well, it just had to be another Tapeo Extremo!

Tapeo Extremo Málaga 14-08-14 | 10 tapas bars in 4 hours

Jeffrey, Victor and I met in front of the Atarazanas Market in the centre of Málaga and what happened next was epic. Of course you can't "properly" visit every excellent tapas bar in any city in just one afternoon, but the purpose of tapeo extremo (if there needs to be one) is to show someone with huge interest and little time as much as possible. Both tapeos were wonderful, though I think Málaga had the advantage of the bars being closer together, having both Victor and me as guides, and also knowing by that time that Jeffrey was a complete food maniac (had I known this in Sevilla we would have got into more taxis). But I'm sure that Jeffrey will agree that both Victor and I killed it, and we both loved showing someone around who clearly appreciated the best. In fact, Jeffrey's enthusiasm was so contagious that I'm now helping find "chief Chowzters" for other areas in Spain and Portugal. So watch this space and also @SevillaTapas for future developments. And thanks again for a great couple of days, Jeffrey. Hasta pronto!