Barrafina, although none of the branches comes close to the original Frith Street one in terms of quality.

Also Sabor & El Ganso.

Barrica in soho is fabulous (tapas). Their braised ox cheeks tapas is to die for.

For Andalusian/Moorish, try Moro or its younger brother, Morito.

El Ganso on Broadway market in Hackney!

Barrafina is as good as any tapas bar I've been to in Spain. My fav one is the Charing Cross (Adelaide street) branch. Order the suckling pig.

Cambio De Tercio in South Ken is also great (and Rafa Nadal's fav London restaurant if anyone cares).

Maybe start here? https://secretldn.com/best-authentic-spanish-restaurants-in-london/

Centro Gallego at Willesden Junction

Sabor (just off Regent Street) - upstairs serve larger dishes (ground floor bar serves tapas)

Cambio De Tercio in South Ken is Rafa Nadal’s fav London restaurant. Do with that info what you will.

Anywhere that’s got Jose Pizzaro or Neves Barragans name on 🙃

Sabor was specifically set up by Nieves Barragan to serve traditional Spanish food that wasn't 'just tapas' and to differentiate it from Barrafina although you can't really go wrong with that either, both restaurants have a Michelin star.

Holy heck, what’s the dish in picture number 3 and is it considering marriage proposals at the moment?!

What's this? A post with actual half decent food on it? Well done!!!

That looks so good

Fuck me, a plate 😱

This looks amazing and I never heard of it, that's my next dinner out sorted thank you!!

I hated La Tasqueria and I am a big offal guy. You may have a different experience to me though.

I would really recommend going to Sala Des Despiece in Madrid and Mont Bar in Barcelona. In San Sebastian just go pintxos hopping but don't miss La Vina, Bar Sport or Bar Nestor.

We did Madrid-San Sebastian-Barcelona last year in July and had an extraordinary time. The michelin restaurants we did were Disfrutar and El Cellar de Can Roca and we loved them both.

If food is your priority. Bar none, San Sebastián. It’s the best food city in the world. Not only Michelin, but just the pintxos (tapas) in the street.

We went to Arzak (3 Michelin stars) and it was great, but honestly we had to two tapas bars that were somehow even better at 8€ or less a plate.

Also definitely go to Getaría for the grilled fish.

Feel free to DM if you want more details on what we did.

Madrid ‘fine’: -Santerra -Saddle -Desde 1911 -Coque -Sala de Despiece -Lhardy -La Tasquita de Enfrente

Casual & classics: Bar Alonso El fogón de Trifón Malacatín Taberna Ardosa Los Caracoles Asturianos La Bola Casa Ciriaco

Barcelona ‘fine’: Suculent Disfrutar Montbar Pur Teatro Kitchen

Casual: El Nacional Ultramarinos Marín Quim i Quimet Paco Meralgo Petit Comité Bardeni

San Sebastian: Akelarre Martín Berasategui Bodegón Alejandro Astelena La Viña Borda Berri Bodega Donostiarra Ganbara Txepetxa Kokotxa Bar Nestor Casa Urola El Tamboril Otaegui Gandarias La Cuchara de San Telmo La Jarana Txuleta

For fine dining. Maybe?

But all in all the quality of food, from street tapas, to mid-tier, to Michelin Starred, I’ll take San Sebastián any day.

Only other cities I might put in contention for all-around great food are Bangkok, New York & Mexico City. (I’ll give Emilio Romagna region a shout, but I haven’t been there to verify.) Also worth noting that San Sebastián is weird because it’s really small but a city most 100% focused and obsessed with food.

Also let’s be real, Regular danish food is pretty sad.

I think that if you’re concerned with value and in Spain, you can eat 3 1* meals for just a bit more than 1 3* meal.

Kaia Kaipe in Getaria is a fantastic spot.

Just chiming in that Hermanos Torres was also the best meal I have ever eaten.

El Astillero or Balearri-Geteria Jatetxea.

You need to call ahead. These aren’t super fancy but they get booked up super quick, so want to make a booking a week or so in advance.

If they have the monkfish, go for that. It’s insane. Something so simple should not be able to taste so amazing, and yet it does.

Looking at the photos, I’m so glad I chose El Celler Can de Roca for my 50th birthday party instead of Disfrutar which was my plan B. It was a clean 10/10.

Having been to Disfrutar recently, I understand your complaint about being sat in the front. Had a very different atmosphere than the main dining room. I don’t think the restaurant was initially designed with being a 3* restaurant in mind.

I’m surprised at the English language issues, as we had several servers who were perfectly fluent.

I had one mocktail, which was very good. I enjoy a non-alcoholic pairing, but I’m okay saving the money if there’s not one!

Interestingly, the hoisin dessert was one of my favorite dishes of my meal! We had largely the same menu. We did have different desserts after the hoisin though. Is the only other dessert you had the peppers? We had an apple dessert instead plus two additional (smaller) desserts before the petit fours.

I loved it and can't wait to go back next July to try the other menu, but I agree 100% with you, unfortunately we were one of the unlucky ones too, who had the terrible seats along the main corridor entrance.

It looks unreal - and I mean that in the best possible way. What an amazing experience to eat there! Thank you for sharing! Can’t help but notice your comment about exceptional does not equal perfect. Somehow I’m glad perfection wasn’t achieved. That means you can still chase new restaurant experiences, instead of feeling like it peaked with this. 🫶

It must be so hard for such a hyped restaurant to deliver on expectations. It seems they did a good job based on your experience

âme Barcelona was an amazing and unforgettable experience… everything from the food to the chef explaining everything about it… it was one of the best restaurants and experiences that we’ve in our trip to Barcelona!

These are not fine but definitely worth visiting!

For Madrid, check out Sala de Despiece 1 or 2, they have two locations. The Rolex is sooo gooood

Granada: Manigua Casa de Comidas, Betula Nana and El Mercader

El Poblet in Valencia is really worth having on the radar. Terrific food, exciting plates and nice service but not stuffy at all. I first went (2x) when they had 1 star, and last time was 2 years ago after getting a second star. True story I was on a girls strip with my SIL on the first visit and my boyfriend got jealous so we flew back six month later so he could go too 🤣

The main omission is completely missing out on San Sebastian. One of the worlds great food cities.

and FWIW i would drop RavioXO unless you have your heart set on inferior facsimiles of Asian staple dishes.

If you make it for DiverXO there's no need to go to the others XO's IMO

Por donde vaya encontrarás tapas buenísimas.

Blanco Cerrillo, tiene 3 bares repartidos por Sevilla. El adobo y las pavías están...

Salsamento cerca de la calle Regina; Juan Palomo en la Cuesta del Rosario

A mí me encanta ir a tapear al bar Donald, en la calle canalejas, cerca de plaza de armas, eso sí, tiene que ser de pie en la barra, en las mesas solo platos, la ensaladilla rusa es espectacular, está catalogada como una de las 5 mejores de sevilla, y la pechuga villaroy tremenda también.

Ernestos/huertas/ bar jamon

Try Tomiño

La Vara in Cobble Hill is so good

It’s been a while since I’ve been, but I enjoyed casa mono/bar jamón.

Check out little mercado in hudson yards. Might not be the best but a great place to get a bit of everything youre probably looking for.

I’ll die on the hill that old south village pub has the best chicken tenders in the country haha. Sagi, in my humble opinion, is outrageously priced. I know this thread mentioned price doesn’t matter, but as someone that is completely obsessed with Northern Thai cuisine and has lived in both Toronto and Montreal, obsessively hunting for the best Thai food, and has spent a decent amount of time in Asia, I find it inhumane that a pad gra prao (holy basil) is priced 30/35 and the Khao Soi is 32/35. Not once in any place in Toronto or MTL have I seen these dishes (that I love so much) priced anywhere near this, and as someone that cooks these dishes I know that the ingredient price is nowhere near the justified markup. To me, it just feels like it’s taking advantage of the fact that no one else in London is doing something similar, and while it is good that they are exposing people to flavours and dishes outside of the normal pad Thai association to Thai dishes, it just feels so wrong and ridiculous to me. The quality, while good, is nowhere near mind blowing or would ever survive in a city that offered competition, so while I don’t mean to sound pretentious, I just find it a bit predatory and greedy price wise.

Ivano Poblano, best tasting food I’ve ever had.

Taco Loco—Birria with cheese

Don’t sleep on cochina la michoacana (Mexican) and pupuseria Rosa (el Salvadoran). Fantastic spots.

Ellie’s pizzeria is also fantastic

David’s Bistro on Richmond is my go to. I have been going there forever and I have never been disappointed. Great service, a nice atmosphere and spectacular dishes. We like to do the “trust me”, which is not on the menu. Chef’s choice and everyone who orders it gets something different- mains and appetizers. They will also do wine pairings with your food. Try it, you will love it!