So today I was invited to an impromptu celebratory lunch with work colleagues which was lovely, and lets face it, you’re not going to turn down a lunch! When I realised we were heading to Jose Pizarro’s restaurant in Bermondsey I was even more excited – I had never been before but it looked incredible and I absolutely love Spanish cuisine.

We were seated in the private dining area which was just the right amount of private. It was located around the corner from the main restaurant, seated 10, but we weren’t isolated from the whole restaurant which is great as we were still able to experience the buzz of hungry ‘lunch-ers’ (I think I’ve made that word up) in our own space.

Now I always find it a bit awkward trying to take pictures of food in a restaurant, leaning over the table to get the right angle and lighting or even asking someone to take a picture of their dish for me. I usually get a roll of the eyes or shake of the head in dissaproval for even attempting – and this is with family and friends. So you see my dilemma in trying to capture this moment for my blog whilst doing so on the sly as everyone was deep in conversation. Trying to keep work ettiqute to a tee but hey, we live in 2016, work in FinTech and all had at least two phones each on the table – I think I was safe. I could at the very least disguise it as ‘sorting some emails’.

Of course taking pictures of the menu and my own food wasn’t a problem but this was Spanish tapas, which means sharing! I captured of few of the tasty dishes but not as many as I would have liked. Here’s what I ended up with …

I find it difficult to choose a dish from a menu at the best of times so imagine when I’m faced with such as tasty menu, a lot of choice and I can pick more than one thing – automatically want to order 1 of everything! I still can’t decide whether this is a harder or easier choice to make. We probably ordered almost everything from the ‘pica pica’ section of the menu and we couldn’t have had tapas without Gambas al Ajillo – a classic. The chorizo and jamon iberico were delicious but my favourite dish had to be the spinach and goat’s cheese croquetas, simple yet full of flavour and a perfect contrast in texture of soft & crisp.   Similar to these was the Bermondsey Bomba – what a great name! For my main I ordered the baked aubergine gratin stuffed with roast vegetables and topped with cheese. Usually I would go for a meat course but I knew I would already be filling up at this stage with the tapas and what a great decision… the aubergine was cooked perfectly, still juicy, lots of seasonal vegetables and melted cheese – you can’t go wrong with that combo. I have to say it’s the best tapas I’ve tasted in a long time, very impressed. Quality food, great service, yummy wine and a very happy team.

My photos may not be perfect so you’ll just have to take my word for it and give it a go! My next venture is to try Jose tapas bar, just down the road!

http://www.josepizarro.com