This authentic tapas restaurant – along with its two other sites in London – is where you'll find some of the best Spanish food in the UK.
Tapas is what most people who holiday in Spain miss the most when they return home. The little dishes are the perfect representation of the country’s cuisine, and they rarely fail to delight. And for that same taste in the UK, no one recreates the flavours better than Barrafina, a group of three restaurants – one with a Michelin star – in London.
There’s the Barrafina on Drury Lane, Covent Garden and then the Michelin-starred one on Dean Street in Soho. The site on Adelaide Street is the third of the group, owned and conceived by Sam and Eddie Hart, who also own culinary stalwart Quo Vadis and the newer Mexican restaurant El Pastor. All three Barrafinas serve authentic, traditional tapas, paying homage to the classical cooking of Spain. Expect much-loved dishes like pan con tomate, patatas bravas and squid ink rice, alongside more specialist dishes which change daily and are scribbled on the specials blackboard. While Drury Lane is known for its beautiful interior and Dean Street is the larger and buzzier of the three, Adelaide Street is home to the most adventurous menu.
The restaurant itself puts you right in the heart of the action, with a striking marble counter snaking its way through the dining room, the only thing that separates the chefs from the diners. There are plenty of little snacks to nibble on as you peruse the menu, and just as many come in for these and a few tapas dishes as those who stay for a blow-out meal.
Spanish sherries make up a large part of the drinks menu, from the well-known Pedro Ximenez to more unusual, rare bottles (all of which are available by the glass). For something fizzy there’s cava, and all the wines are sourced from Spain. Barrafina Adelaide Street is the perfect example of an authentic tapas bar – the fact that it’s in the centre of London is forgotten the second you walk through the doors.
10 Adelaide Street, Covent Garden, Soho, London, WC2N 4HZ
As executive chef of London’s four Barrafina restaurants, Angel Zapata Martin is a figurehead for authentic Spanish tapas in the UK. He manages to stay true to authenticity and tradition whilst at the same time propelling rustic tapas dishes into Michelin-starred territory.
Angel Zapata Martin is Barcelonan through and through. Growing up in the city, he fell in love with the flavours of his uncle’s cooking, and now recreates the flavours of Catalonia’s tapas bars at the Barrafina restaurants in London. ‘I was always interested in food growing up,’ he says. ‘My father was a businessman and had quite an old mentality believing women should be in the kitchen, but my uncle was very passionate about cooking. He would always do something different with a dish – my mother might cook some vegetables simply, but he would add garlic or some jamon. It always caught my attention.’
