Friday 30 December 2011

Copita

Let me start by admitting that my pictures of Copita are terrible. So awful that I’m pretty embarrassed to post them up. The food was also largely mauled before I got my chance.

Copita is a tapas bar on D’Arblay Street, right by the corner of Bodeans on Poland Street. It used to be a crap bar, and the makeover is incredible. It looks and feels like an authentic yet modern Iberian drinking den. It’s yellow and sultry, with great tiles and moody low lighting. Hence my rubbish pictures.

a touch of almodovar?

It’s more bar than restaurant, and the stools don’t really encourage lingering mainly due to a lack of back support. Sounds old fogeyish perhaps, but once one person in our group proclaimed their gyp, the rest concurred.


Come here for the drinking. There’s a long list of interesting Spanish wines and plenty of sherries also.

The food is still very good though. As well as great bread & oil, and massive olives like inflated manzanillas, we had grilled iberico pork, served medium rare which was delicious. That seems to be a hugely popular dish for London in 2011 and it’s done well here.

We also had venison which was possibly even tastier. Portions of both of the meat dishes were a little small for the price, especially the venison. Some scallops and a mixed cured meats and cheese platter were also solid. Special mention to the Spanish blue cheese as well as the generous chunks of manchego.

iberico presa

I’m a fan of Barrica, Copita’s elder sibling in Goodge St, but that is better equipped as a restaurant for people to seriously dine in. Copita is different, but it’s in a different area too which it should take advantage of. Service was friendly and Spanish; you really could have been in a bar in Madrid. And I think that is where Copita is best placed in the market.

I don’t think I’d plan to have a big, long dinner here because it’s not overly comfortable but it’s a brilliant atmospheric place for a glass of wine or two and some authentic tapas. Especially with some attention to the music and the bloody furniture (supported barstools?), and if it had Madrid opening hours...

Food – 7/10
Drink – 8/10
Service - 7/10
Value – 7/10
Tap water tales – 8/10
Staff Hotness – 7/10

Copita on Urbanspoon 
Square Meal

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