Jose on Bermondsey Street

Jose Pizarro's new tapas and sherry bar, which opened a few weeks ago on Bermondsey Street, is great.  I'll keep it short, as I went to a second tapas bar, Morito, for dinner after lunch here today and there's only so much small plate action a girl can take.

First things first, I love Bermondsey Street - the buildings are beautiful and quirky and modern and mixed up and cool, and they come in great colours:

Very spring / summer '11, this sort of putty colour.  Never did it for me in H&M, but it works on a building.

There's a couple of very good pubs, the fantastic Garrison restaurant which serves a mean steak and chips:

gorgeous little boutiques, the Fashion and Textile Museum, a great looking Vietnamese coffee shop, the awesome London Glassblowing Studio on Bermondsey Street where they have beautiful objects such as this:

...and then you pull back a block and realise you're a stone's throw from The Shard.

which may become less hideous at night when it's lit up, or when it's finished, we shall see.  Anyway, Jose is on the corner of Bermondsey Street and Morocco Street.
 
I want to live in this building off Morocco Street.  I love Flatiron style buildings, they always remind me of wedges of cheese.

Get to Jose a few minutes before it opens at midday or you'll have to queue.  We got there just in the nick of time as it was instantly rammed.

It's very little, which I think is a good thing.  Easy to say when you've got a seat and aren't having to queue.

Everything we ate was delicious and extremely well executed.

You get a little jar of crispy crunchy broad beans, or haba in Spanish.  At least I think that's what our waiter said, I was pretty much tipsy from the moment I sat down and started necking white rioja.  I'm a totally crap daytime drinker but decided to embrace the concept of the siesta, what with it being a beautiful sunny day and all.

We had the tortilla, which was made with honey, walnut, aubergine and blue cheese.  Normally I like my tortilla's pretty much straight up potato, onion, no chaser - but this really was delicious.

Then we had some more wine and some stuff and I think judging from my photos these are almost definitely prawns with garlic and chilli:

They look like they're spooning, don't they?  Very romantic.

Also some Iberica ham.  Salt and fat, salt and fat - what is not to love about salt and fat?

Bread and tomato.  Jose's rendition was faultless - super fresh tomato, clean flavours, perfect slightly soggy bread with fruity olive oil on it.  So simple and so pleasing, I could have eaten another five portions.  I should have eaten another five portions because I can't remember what else we ate...Oh well, them's the breaks.

I do know that after a very good caffe con leche we went and sat in the park and stuffed St John custard donuts in our gobs, which was the perfect end to a perfect morning.

Then off home for a siesta before doing it all again.....