Arts & Culture
S
o writes the dynamic owner of the authentic Spanish restaurant in Southwark’s super trendy Bermondsey Street, where art gallery owners and city financiers rub shoulders daily.
I sit with my dining partner in comfortable wooden seats facing an open plan kitchen, where the greatest delights of Spanish tapas are made before our eyes. The friendly and helpful staff, Huw the assistant manager, and Peter, the restaurant manager, fill us in about the delicious food, and the story of the man behind it all. José Pizarro, a native of Extremadura in the Southwest of Spain, started life as a dentist technician but was fascinated by the restaurant business. He co-founded Brindisa in London, where he worked for a number of years, but he was determined to strike out on his own. He began with a little tapas bar in Bermondsey St in 2011 and saw the demand for a more formal restaurant. The result, just a block away, is Pizarro Restaurant that serves little tapas dishes and more substantial food. The setting is beautiful and simple, wooden walls, floors and benches, and an open kitchen where you can watch your food being prepared. To the left hangs a painting by Tracey Emin, to the right through the window we see the ultracool trip their way along Bermondsey Street.
JOSÉ PIZARRO
Spanish Tapas to transform your Tastebuds Review by Susan Isaacs - Arts and Restaurant critic
“
I called my restaurant Pizarro after my
grandfather. He had a bar called Pizarro in Talaván. Seeing that name above the door is incredibly special for me. 24 Southwark BUSINESS TODAY
”
The ideas are drawn from all sorts of different regions in Spain, as are the staff. So executive chef Monty from Barcelona is Catalan, and Pizarro head chef is Adrian from Galicia. There is Manchego cheese from La Mancha and Jamón Ibérico. Often the way the food is preserved affects the taste, so bacalao, cod, is salted. Huw showed us a wonderful book of recipes collected by José Pizarro, and the most delightful was an image of him surrounded by nuns, making little cakes out of almond dough in a cobbled town in Andalucía called Ronda. We particularly loved, for starters, the buñuelos de bacalao, which are crispy cod fritters with parsley allioli. Equally mouthwatering were the boquerones en vinagre, that is pickled white anchovies, with garlic. The padrón peppers, fried peppers with sea salt flakes, were incredibly more-ish. For the main course the Presa Ibérica does not come cheap. It is 100% acorn fed Ibérico pork, served medium rare with potatoes, padrón peppers, and a sprinkling of salt. But it is outstanding. And the bacalao a la llauna, cod in a traditional Catalan sauce with sautéed baby spinach, was delicious. For dessert you just have to try natillas de azafrán con peras. Saffron custard, pear confit and crumble. Once you have tasted the food, there is no question you will want to come back. This is authentic Spanish food that is unforgettable.
