We love this story by Tamsin Snyman, a South African judge of the World’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards in Spain (where she saw chef Luke Dale-Roberts and his team at The Test Kitchen being honoured with 50th in the world).

A post shared by Tamsin Snyman (@tamsinsnyman) on Jun 16, 2018 at 4:46am PDT

Tamsin is the daughter of the late and beloved Lannice Snyman, founding editor of Eat Out. Every year at the Eat Out Mercedes-Benz Restaurant Awards, the Lannice Snyman Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to a legendary culinary figure. (Last year it went to Letitia Prinsloo of the Institute of Culinary Arts.)

What makes this story special – apart from some astonishing Spanish restaurants you must put on your bucket list – is that Tamsin was using Lannice’s notes, re-tracing her mother’s own journey to Spain many years ago. So if you’re planning a trip to Spain or just want to live vicariously (at least until your pay cheque comes in), have a read.

A post shared by Tamsin Snyman (@tamsinsnyman) on Jun 23, 2018 at 7:41am PDT

Tamsin calls Spain a “gourmet giant of a country”, listing the best spots for croissants, chorizo-crammed tortilla de patatas and even brioche filled with warm truffle cream. As for pintxos? She says to try them all: “Directing you to top pintxos spots for midday mouthfuls would be fruitless. Be brave and graze your way through as many as possible. We succeeded by doing just this; a pintxos here, two next door, a pint around the corner, more pintxos across the road, a G&T with our 12th pintxos.”

We like the sound of that.