Pizarro : Extremadura’s favourite son.

At last, José Pizarro’s diptych is finally complete, and you know what, it’s mighty fine work. The restaurant took a while to finish – it’s at least a month late, and the private rooms are still awaiting the finishing details – but it finally opened, and my my, is it going to be a smashing success in 2012. It seems to be fashionable these days for Spanish restaurant owners to pair larger scale restaurants for the full experience with a more modest – or shall we say more fun – sherry bar for the easy tapas and alhambras. If you cast your mind back to the boozy summer of sherry and half cooked pork, you’ll remember that José really was just the prologue to something much bigger to come. And it is much, much bigger. If José was a cute baby taking his first steps into the dangerous world of hospitality, then Pizarro is all grown up 28 year old voluptuous Paz Vega all lips, puppy dog eyes and husky voice (Oh Paz Vega, wouldn’t that be a christmas to remember). Alright to be fair then, how about a 35 year old Antonio Banderas with his piercing stare, a Spanish guitar with brand new nylon strings and cat whiskers. For background noise, the front of house chose Nina Simone tracks from (I’d like to think it was) her 1958 album

Copita : Iberian Fantasimo

I told you Barrica was good. Not all of us agreed two years ago, but we probably do now. After all, they’ve impressed enough of us to have a crack at a second child: Soho newest sensation called Copita, for sherry glass. I’m sure I recognised a couple of ex-Barrica staff who now work at Copita. Looking back, it may have been because Barrica was yet another conventional tapas bar in face of the stiff competition. The Brindisas for example, the mighty Dehesa group, the supremely hot Barrafina, and that’s just along the spine of Shaftesbury Avenue. 2009 feels like such a long time ago. In the future (2011) , populist plate sharing still prevails, but we have matured past reserving tables or eat sitting down, we’ve put Sherry on the tube map, and small plates are no longer limited to Iberian classics. How does the rest of the world think of the way we Londoners like to eat out, I wonder. We seem to enjoy the shift toward establishments that merge drinking and nibbling, we don’t mind queuing up, or even notice that new restaurants are cramming the same covers onto shrinking floorspace. Just when you thought the proverbial towel of shared plates has been well and truly wrung of juicy ideas, comes a new tapas bar with enough upgrades to set itself apart from the competition. But first,

José : The godfather of tapas, returns.

Pizzaro. One of a select group of individuals who masterminded the transformation of the Spanish perishable importer into a synonym for the British definition of a Tapas restaurant. He is a huge reason why we are so comfortable with the idea of sharing small plates of food, and thanks to the sheer dependability of the Brindisa restaurants he helped create over the last few years, his efforts has shaped this category of London restaurants. Yes, it is about the right time for José Pizzaro to his name on the signage and he has decided to do so by splitting it into two discreet projects. The latter is slated for a late October debut, a more civil sit-down affair that will formally bear his last name, Pizzaro. Until the real party arrives however, we have to make do with a sneak preview of his cooking with this teeny tapas bar situated in the heart of Bermondsey street, casually known as ‘José’. The space is seriously tiny, it’s like a food truck, except you eat with the chef inside the claustrophobic environs. It’s got bags of ambiance, and it is hugely popular at the moment. The lack of floor space (and chairs) is perhaps accidentally on purpose, it fills up by 6pm (on Friday nights, and every other balmy night, I imagine) and perhaps also accidentally on purpose, the casual exclusivity of

Capote y Toros: The Genius of Sherry.

My favourite London restaurant is Cambio de Tercio. I think Abel Lusa’s fabulous, often times adventurous and sometimes experimental change of pace to Spanish cooking is the best representative of the cuisine to grace the Big Smoke. This is my most frequented restaurant in London, since my first visit in 2004 (or 05, around then) when I moved to West London. In fact, it was one of the first reviews (the 3rd one if I’m not mistaken) I’d written when I started this blog. I would like to think that I’ve eaten pretty much everything on its menu; witnessing some of its mainstay dishes – like the oxtail – evolve over time. I remember the days when I used to visit as frequently as my monthly paychecks. Heck, I even remember the days when Tendido Cero – the tapas bar opposite the street from Cambio – was attractive because it was BYO, and extremely cheap, by Kensington standards anyway. Since I moved to North London last year, my former neighbourhood restaurant, has now become a pilgrimage, and returning to Old Brompton Road to sample the finest in (London based) Spanish cuisine, is ever more a treat. In the time since my move from West London, Abel had opened Tendido Cuatro in Parsons Green – a tapas bar which I will visit sometime in the coming weeks – but for now,

Opera Tavern: Finely shared.

I shan’t patronise you with a protracted preamble about the intertwined fate of how tapas became part of the culinary landscape of London (something which you no doubt are already well acquainted with), and simply get straight to the point: This is a rather perfect London tapas restaurant. Hardly anything else was expected, considering Simon Mullins and Sanja Morris-Mullins, the owners, are also the brilliant minders behind 2005′s Salt Yard and 2008′s Dehesa. Ah, I see. So we shall expect another superb Mullins tapas bar in say 2014. The decor is spell bindingly beautiful. Spread across two floors, in a once former 19th century built pub. All that dark wooden furniture cutting lovely shades of shadows around the food (and your dining partners), coupled with a contemporary, light-hearted approach to service, equals a formidable ambiance. Anyway, you can read about history elsewhere, let’s skip ahead to the food. Ibérico Pig’s Head Terrine £4.00 As the ingredient suggests, the terrine was gelatinous, unctuous, slippery and full of rich, salted pork goodiness. A champion terrine, no two ways about it. Jamón Ibérico de Bellota, aged 5 years, Castro y González, Castilla-Leon £14.95 Five years? Yowza, that’s old pork leg. I think three years usually qualifies for the top grade of gran reserva, so I assume the older the better. Well I could be wrong. Whatever the case, I am guessing we were

Cambio de Tercio: The Finest Spanish in London.

This is one restaurant where I have expended more of my earnings than any other. Before I started writing this blog, Cambio de Tercio was the pay day reward I gave myself at end of every month, it had always turned out to be a fantastic evening. It’s a great restaurant to say the least, my most frequented (aside from Byron) and it remains my favourite to this day. I’ve done all my celebrations here, with family and friends, the folks especially love it; In the seven (or so) years since I first visited, every meal was inspiring. I can think of no better place in town for a midweek solo affair, since the staff ooze uber-warmth, that you never feel lonely. It is probably the singular reason why I refuse to uproot from Gloucester Road

Tierra Brindisa : Getting over the tapas fever.

Barrica : The tapas bar which took me by surprise.

Iberica: London in Spain.

Cafe Espana: Afford-a-tapas [review]

Tapas Brindisa: Little Drops of Spain [Review]

Salt Yard: Rock and Roll [Review]

Sunday morning at the providores and tapa room (review)

Super spanish food at Barrafina (Review)

Review: Cambio De Tercio, Spanish in the Smoke