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beer and food london Spain

Jamon and frozen beer

sagres

Our second attempt at a London tapas crawl was less succesful than the first, which you can read about here.

Our first port of call was Fernandez and Wells in Soho which was crammed. Nor did it seem to offer any beer, and what point is there in eating tapas without a cold little lager?

We thought we’d never find our second destination but it was worth the schlep. Iberica is pretty posh but the cheery staff made no effort to force us into a sit down meal. We sat at the bar, drank Mahou (terrible in itself, but evocative of hot Andalucian afternoons) and enjoyed a perfectly engineered Spanish omelette, some pimientos de padron and croquetas. Not cheap, but worth every penny.

Next, we headed for somewhere much more down-to-earth — Bar Gansa in Camden. The several mile walk stretched the definition of a ‘crawl’ and the English weather had us trapped under a bridge for nearly an hour while it rained and hailed with awe-inspiring ferocity. When we arrived, we were no longer feeling very Andalucian at all. Fortunately, more chilly beers and some very cheap, very decent Spanish ham put us back in the mood. There was music, there were people, they were young and alive. Good moods restored, we set out to our final destination.

Bar Camino was very trendy a year or two back and when you walk through the door, one thing is clear: no expense has been spared on decor, fixtures and fittings and staff training. Again, we sat at the bar (bucking the trend, this time) and nibbled. Sagres is Portugese and pretty boring but, on a humid afternoon, the freezer-fresh handled krugs it came in worked wonders. Tacky, we know, but very, very refreshing.