The fickle restaurant scene in London is taking a keen interest in the bite-sized snack after more than a decade.

THE tapas bar has been a staple on London's varied gastronomic scene for more than a decade now, but the last couple of years have seen the Spanish nibble go decidedly upmarket, as a growing number of high-profile chefs adapt the tradition to more modern tendencies.

"The English are used to taking the best from other cultures, and now they have found something from our cuisine," says José Manuel Pizarro, the founder of Brindisa, one of the capital's most popular Spanish bar-cum-restaurants, just south of the river in Borough market.

Indeed, Brindisa is the benchmark by which the capital's other tapas bars are judged. It specialises in updated classics: gambas pilpil features juicy tiger-prawns; spinach a la catalana boasts fresh leaves wilted under a hot pinenut-raisin dressing; and the croquetas de jamón are soft-centred and crisp-coated, just as they should be.

Brindisa's owners, and those of the recently opened Barrafina in Soho, or Lola Rojo in Battersea, have applied foodie principals to Spanish cuisine, making a great show out of knowing which time of year is best for hot pimientos de Padrón, and offering a wide selection of wines that go far beyond Rioja.

And their diners don't mind paying top dollar. "My customers love to start a meal off with a plate of the best jamón ibérico, which is very fashionable at the moment. They love showing off to their friends that they know the good stuff," says Pizarro.

Barrafina is a tapas restaurant with stools arranged around a central bar, based on the owner's idolisation of the Barcelona tapas bar, Cal Pep. And with its white furniture and distinctly groovy interiors, Battersea's Lola Rojo has already made enough waves to earn it a short listing for Time Out's Best Local Restaurant category in the 2007 Eating & Drinking Awards.

Spanish food is now associated with quality and fine living among Londoners, as reflected by the adoration shown to star chefs such as Ferran Adrià.

"Spanish cuisine is seen as innovative and of the highest standards," says Abel Lusa, who, along with David Rivero, co-owns the restaurants Cambio de Tercio, Tendido Cero and the soon-to-be-opened Tendido Cuatro in Chelsea.

Years before dedicated foodies had Adrià's El Bulli restaurant on their speed-dial, Abel Lusa and David Rivero were offering cutting-edge nueva cocina at Cambio de Tercio. At their tapas bar, however, offerings are more traditional.

Lusa says that the success of the new generation of Spanish restaurants is largely due to the use of high-quality ingredients. And this has had a ripple effect, with famous establishments such as Japanese-Peruvian restaurant Nobu using jabugo ham, or celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey putting tapas on the menu of his three-Michelin-starred Maze.

Indeed, such is the influence of the tapa that some Indian restaurants are even adapting dishes to it in a bid to keep up with the times. "The tapa is seen as high-quality in a small format," says Lusa.

"Gone are the days when people coming back from a Mediterranean holiday and looking for a reminder of those marvellous meals that they had eaten would have to put up with a side dish of some greasy morsel," he says.

But Lusa, like the other newcomers, says that he respects the pioneering work of establishments such as Hermanos García, Bar Galicia, El Pirata, La Rueda and Blasón.

Spanish influence has also extended to the traditional pub, where it is not uncommon to find gazpacho on the menu or even paella. And then, of course, there is the growing rejection of butter in favour of olive oil - Londoners are ever-more aware of the virtues of the Mediterranean diet. But the star product in London's top restaurants is bellota ham, produced from pigs fed on acorns: the foodies' favourite is 5 Jotas.
 
text by El Pais / Patricia Tubella / Expatica
photos by Flickr contributors udn, Ben30 and Tavallai
 
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