Restaurants are cooking up small plates all across London, but there’s a certain wonderful magic to Spanish tapas. If you have been to Spain, you’ll be familiar with the delicious little dishes that fly out of the kitchens of bars and restaurants across the country every evening: slippery anchovies in oil, fried spicy potatoes, punchy peppers, piping-hot croquettes, moreish chorizo, melt-in-the-mouth Iberico ham and so much more. These days, tapas range from a simple, swift stomach-lining snack to a sophisticated sit-down supper, and you can find great examples of both in London. The classic dishes are all here, as well as some innovative new surprises and the beauty of it is you can keep on ordering until you can’t move. These are the tastiest tapas restaurants in London right now.
BarrafinaAlexander Baxter
Barrafina
Getting a seat at the bar in Barrafina Dean Street is the stuff of legends. People patiently queue around the shiny edges of the room, furtively glancing to get a glimpse of what’s being served. Once seated, diners watch the performance of the open kitchen, with whole fish flipped on the open grill, padrons sizzling and perfectly gooey tortillas with chunks of spicy Chistorra sausage coming out straight of the perfect little pan. There are multiple branches in Covent Garden, Coal Drops Yard and Borough, but the Soho one has the most electric atmosphere and is always well worth the wait, even on a crowded night.
Address: Barrafina, Dean Street, 26-27 Dean Street, W1D 3LL
Website: barrafina.co.uk
Price: £££
José Tapas BarAdele Audisio
José Tapas Bar
José Pizarro is synonymous with well-honed Spanish cookery thanks to his two lively restaurants on Bermondsey Street and more recent openings in Broadgate Circus and at the Royal Academy. The original and best (especially if you’re after memorable tapas) has to be the José Tapas Bar. This cosy corner spot doesn’t take reservations, so there’s often a queue down the street to bag a bar stool or a table outside. The menu changes daily here, and there’s a blackboard boasting the array of small plates, which include delights such as black squid ink rice with fried baby cuttlefish, tuna tartar and garlicky prawns, as well as favourites like plates of Iberico ham, padron peppers, pan con tomate and plenty of Spanish wines and sherries to sample.
Address: José Tapas Bar, 104 Bermondsey St, Bermondsey, London SE1 3UB
Website: josepizarro.com
Price: ££
