The UK has 52 Spanish restaurants in our directory, many of them in London, which makes choosing hard. This two-day plan keeps it to one corner of south-east London: Borough and London Bridge on Saturday, then Bermondsey on Sunday. Every venue, hour and description comes from our records and each restaurant's listing. Hours change, so check before you go.
Saturday: Borough and London Bridge
Start with a late breakfast. Lolo at 102 Bermondsey Street is José Pizarro's first all-day spot, according to its listing, with weekend breakfasts through to late dinners. It opens at 09:30 on Saturday.
Lunch at the market's tapas bar. Brindisa London Bridge on Southwark Street traces its roots to Borough Market in the early 1990s, with its first shop in the Floral Hall. The listing says that in 2004 it took a space in the market and opened what it calls London's first no-reservations traditional tapas bar. It is open 11:00 to midnight on Saturday in our records.
Afternoon at Borough Yards. Two venues sit on Dirty Lane. Barrafina Borough Yards at number 2 has an open kitchen and a marble-topped bar where you can watch the chefs. In our records it serves 12:00 to 15:00 and 17:00 to 22:00 on Saturday. Parrillan Borough Yards at number 4 cooks over a wood-fired grill: whole fish, Galician steaks, arroces and seasonal vegetables. Its terrace lets guests cook ingredients on their own mini parrillas. It is open 12:00 to 21:30 on Saturday.
Barrafina's listed hours have a gap from 15:00 to 17:00, while Parrillan's run through the afternoon, so check which is open when you arrive.
Sunday: Bermondsey Street
Three of the venues on this stretch are José Pizarro's: Lolo at 102, José Tapas Bar at 104 and Pizarro at 194. The listings say his cuisine aims at simplicity along with enthusiasm and passion, and that he is often described as the "Godfather of Spanish cooking in the UK". Sunday hours in our records differ, which shapes the day:
- Lolo: 09:30 to 21:00
- José Tapas Bar: 12:00 to 21:00
- Pizarro: 12:00 to 15:30
- Andanza Tapas y Pintxos on Weston Street: 12:00 to 19:00
One way to do Sunday: lunch at Pizarro, whose listed hours end at 15:30, then a pintxos stop at Andanza, whose listing says it set out to capture the flow and energy of San Sebastián's pintxo bars. Read our profile of Andanza for the story behind it.
Practical notes
- The no-reservations description in Brindisa's listing refers to its 2004 market space. We don't have the current booking policy for any of these venues, so check before you go.
- Lolo's listed hours run to 23:00 on Friday and Saturday. We have no kitchen cut-off times for any venue.
- For vermouth or sherry, see our sherry guide.
Many more are on our London page.
