El Quijote

Home-style cooking in a small rustic room, offering bite-sized tastes of Spain.

The 2018 edition of The List's Eating & Drinking Guide is out now – only £7.95 (+p&p).

El Quijote manages a neat trick of being inauthentically authentic Spanish. In Spain, tapa are little snacks handed over as you order a drink in the bar, but here they are the main event. Not that it’s any less enjoyable for that. The bijou restaurant serves chorizo that melts in the mouth, pimientos del padron are a lip-smacking carrier for oil and salt, and deep-fried bacalao is a handsome vehicle for garlicky aioli. Pan con anchoas is everything you’d want from a salty snack too – soft white cheese, crisp bread and the deep salinity of anchovies. El Quijote is worth targeting for the wine list alone – a triumphant display of the diverse elegance of Spain’s wine regions, from earthy riojas to a rías baixas albariño so flinty you could strike a match on it. There’s lots of choice, but all are an easily quaffed accompaniment to the restaurant’s enticing nibbles.