Southwark, Spanish Restaurant Guide

“There’s no finer tapas outside Spain” than at José Pizarro’s “outstanding, if authentically tiny” Bermondsey bar: “very buzzy and busy, as a tapas bar should be” providing “absolute classic dishes, prepared with attention to detail and with perfect produce”. “It looks chaotic when you turn up and you have to queue outside with your wine. However the system they have works because you’re soon seated and ready to enjoy some of London’s best tapas”; “highly recommended”.

Lacking the pizzazz of José P’s nearby tapas-bar sibling, which is one block away, his somewhat bigger contemporary Spanish restaurant never inflames quite as much passion as its little sister. It still achieves very good ratings, though, for its “really interesting food” and “attractively priced wine list”.

This “charming, unpretentious neighbourhood tapas restaurant” in an old Southwark pub is a “good option near the South Bank and Young Vic theatre”. “The food is reliable if a little old-fashioned” and comes in “proper portions”. The place “can be noisy – the staff, however, are darlings!”. There’s “a private room for hire upstairs”.

“Authentic and delicious tapas… if you can get a table” has made the bustling, original branch of this Hispanic food importer’s chain a well-known feature of Borough Market, and “at busy times, it feels rushed”. It has spawned a number of spin-offs over the years, which are generally high quality, if not as vibey as the original: most recently opening in October 2018 in the new Battersea Power Station development.

This “modestly priced” veteran Hispanic opposite the Young Vic is invariably “packed out” from early evening. “It’s my default for a quick pre-theatre supper”. There’s “such a vibe between 7-9pm – nobody’s going to write sonnets about the food, but sometimes it’s just about the good times”.

Jon and Nicole Warren, the husband-and-wife team behind San Sebastian’s Mimo (which has branches in Seville, Mallorca and The Algarve) have opened a cookery school, ‘experiential dining’ and chef’s table overlooking Borough Market, with Basque-born Joseba Lasa as chef. You book (for 1-12 guests) for the nightly two-and-a-half-hour ‘experience’, which incorporates a tasting menu with wines, plus cookery demonstration, around the ‘rugged concrete chef’s counter’.

Brindisa, already a long-term fixture of Borough Market, has launched a new restaurant in the newest part of the foodie market; Brindisa Kitchen's food will be sourced from farms dotted along a Spanish pilgrimage route (and Roman trade route), La Ruta de la Plata. There's a marble counter, open kitchen and seafood bar.