Ever since my 30th birthday party at the wonderful Fino (https://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/fino-london-05-2012), I've owned the Barrafina cookbook. I must admit I haven't cooked from it, but it's always been on the cards. I finally got the opportunity to try the tapas sensation that is Barrafina with an early pre-theatre meal before watching The Grinning Man.
Seats are arranged all around a bar setting and so you can see the food being prepared and the activity complete with Spanish frantically spoken here and there.
- Crab croquettes £8 - warm and creamy however the crab flavour wasn't very obvious;
- Ortiguillas frituras £7 - sea anemone fried bits had me intrigued. 4 small pieces had a slightly creamy and mild sea-mushroom flavour;
- Tortilla gambas, ajetes, setas £9.5 - a simple traditional tortilla with small bits of prawn and mushroom. I'm generally not the biggest fan of omelettes, but it was alright;
- Octopus "A Feira" £14.5 - some extremely tender Galician octopus with some smokey paprika;
- Salmorejo, yellow chicory, anchovies Cantabrico "000", quail eggs £9.5 - the most visually stunning dish accompanied by the biggest and best anchovies in the world. These aren't the intensely salty tapas standards, they are bigger fillets with a bit more texture. The soup was light and tangy and all ingredients harmonised together;
- Flan £6.8 - reasonably firm and sweet with a burnt caramel flavour.
The food is good and the cooking shows a modern technique to tapas. It is expensive for the size of each serving though. It would have to be a special occasion for me next time.