REVIEW: Copita del Mercado, Wentworth Street, Shoreditch

Fresh off the heels of the London foodie boom, which seem as though it’s never going to slow down – Spanish food is seeing a revival. It’s not that it ever really had a slump, but it did become rather predictable and in my opinion insanely expensive, with small tapas dishes priced at the same, if not more than a main course. For me that just isn’t tapas. True tapas should be quality, ingredient led produce which is affordable, always pleasing and pairs with just about any glass of wine or sherry – so it was refreshing to come to somewhere like Copita del Mercado who obviously have my same opinion in mind, because our experience was spot on.

Copita del Mercado is the new sister restaurant to that fabulous Copita in Soho and part of a group including a few other Spanish restaurants/bars in and around London. Inside this new restaurant it has been fabulously decked out. It’s modern, full of eclectic furniture & lighting and with a gorgeous colour scheme, showing off some lovely blue tiles adoring the chefs table area where you can watch all the magic happen. Food wise they have their usual a la carte which is made for sharing, plus an ever-changing specials board – it’s all a bit of a bargain if you ask me. We started our Spanish journey here with some lovely home-made bread & oil (which was excellent), roasted aubergine with hazelnuts, tomato honey & coriander which was mouthwateringly good – plus a plate of Iberico pork jowl with pine nuts and pear – a nice enough dish but it failed to really get me excited.

For review purposes I was trying to keep these next group of dishes in a meaty-moment, but gluttony and greed took over meaning one fishy dish made an appearance, and I’m so glad it did. First up however was a dish from the specials board – a gorgeous whole grilled chorizo with pear aioli – it was absolutely perfect. I’d only just come back from sherry making town, Jerez in Spain, so of course a nice cold glass of Fino sherry was in order and a meat dish which after my trip, I simply fell completely in love with – Iberico pork. Here we devoured a lovely Acorn-fed Iberico presa with caramelised onion and pincho moruno salsa. The meat was every bit as soft as I hoped and remembered from my travels in Jerez. The fishy plate which tempted us into spending even more money (the sign of a good restaurant) was this plate of beautiful anchovies served three ways, smoked, boquerones and cured. This was my favourite during our dinner, with so much flavour and textures going on you forget just how amazing these little fish really are.

Desserts at Copita del Mercado were a simple and classic affair, which meant for a lovely end to the meal, though hardly extraordinary – yet simple is good here. Like its sister restaurant Copita in Soho, the food is all about quality ingredients, nothing overly fussy and a good selection of wines, sherry and cold G&T’s. If I had to choose between the two I think I still prefer the original Copita, but for me that was my first love – so I’ll never stray away. But if you’re looking for quality Spanish food in the Shoreditch area then come here to Copita del Mercado – it’s the best Spanish restaurant East London has to offer right now.

8/10