José
Anchovies and goats' cheese with honey off the blackboard, standing up, in a room José Pizarro built too small on purpose.1
Why go
Harden's survey reporters name the same two things edition after edition and then send you to the board for the rest: Despite the queues, it's worth the squeeze to get some anchovies, goats' cheese and honey and pretty much anything else on the blackboard.
1
The steadiness is the argument. The same reporters call it an outstanding and consistent performer
with sublime food and some cracking wines
, and describe the menu as excellent tapas, with old favourite dishes joined by an array of changing specials
.1
The complaint never changes either: you just have to get over how many they can cram into this tiny outlet!
1
Order this / avoid
- Order: anchovies first, then the goats' cheese with honey.1
- Order: off the blackboard after that, because the specials are where the menu moves.1
- Avoid: arriving in a group. There are no bookings and reporters describe the room as cramped in every edition.1
What locals & experts say
- Harden's survey, on where it sits:
Just about edges Barrafina
, andno wonder there's always a queue
.1 - The same survey, on the room:
It's cramped, but always relaxed and friendly.
1 - On José Pizarro himself: Harden's records that he was
honoured by King Felipe VI
with the Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic. That is his honour, not this address's, and the edition does not print a year.1
Good to know
- Where: 104 Bermondsey Street SE1 3UB. London Bridge is about eight minutes on foot.
- Booking: none. Queue, or come off-peak.
- Standing: the room is small enough that this is a stand-at-the-counter proposition more often than a sit-down one.
- Nearby: The Garrison is at 99-101, on the same street.
Verdict
should-visit — This tapas bar is small enough that the complaint is always the same one. Harden's reporters have named the same two plates across editions, anchovies and goats' cheese with honey, and they point at the blackboard for everything else, which tells you the specials are the reason to look up rather than down. Harden's is direct about the kitchen: an 'outstanding and consistent performer' with 'sublime food and some cracking wines', and one edition puts it above Barrafina, which is not a sentence anybody writes casually. It stops short of the top rung here because the case rests entirely on survey aggregate; no bylined critic on this address was reached, and the honour everyone cites belongs to José Pizarro rather than to the room. Go early, stand up, order the anchovies.