Mayfair, Spanish Restaurant Guide

“Properly special and intimate for date night” – this “lovely restaurant” in Mayfair’s pretty Shepherd Market has come roaring back in our annual ratings, with its superior bistro fare consistently highly rated: “I know it’s had its detractors recently but this was great – the food was outstanding – ambience was intimate, quiet but loud enough to not feel conscious about your conversations”.

2024 Review: Madrid-born Arian and Alberto Zandi added this new Mayfair venture to their portfolio (alongside Zuaya and Como Garden) in November 2021. On the plus side, results from the Spanish menu can be excellent. On the downside, the bill here can mount and feedback is sufficiently up-and-down to preclude a fully wholehearted endorsement.

“A nice lunch followed by some very nice art!” is a formula for success according to the many fans of José P’s “wonderfully situated”, “light and airy” dining room in the heart of the Academy. Many reports note that this is “way above the norm for an in-house gallery restaurant” and heartily applaud its “smallish selection of excellent tapas”. Even some fans, though, acknowledge that “what makes this place special is the wow factor of the venue”. And one or two poor experiences dragged the food rating down this year (“the food could be so much better – one wonders when José Pizarro was last there in person to oversee it?”).

2022 Review: Joining José Pizarro at the RA is this less-formal tapas bar from the star Spaniard. The RA’s food operations in recent years have always conformed to the low expectations of gallery catering generally, but our hunch is that José didn’t get the memo telling him that no great shakes are expected, and that actually it may be rather good...