My cravings for tapas and my love for Spanish food are growing day by day. What is it about Spanish food that has got my mind thinking about it? In some ways there are some parallels with Japanese food; the quality and freshness of ingredients; doing very little with the ingredients and still getting the most out of it; the passion of those cooking it. Spain I feel is sometimes overlooked in terms of its food… I’m glad I’m developing a thing for it…
Mrs. Foodie and I were out with a friend who suggested we go to Navarro’s. Being a Barrafina ‘resident’ I rarely go anywhere else for tapas as sometimes it doesn’t live up to expectation.
When you walk into Navarro’s its like you walked into someone’s home… with its Moorish influenced décor. We hadn’t booked and although they were fully booked that evening the lady kindly gave us a seat for an hour and a half, which was plenty of time.
Their menu is extensive and I was suddenly overwhelmed by indecision, as I wanted everything. Mrs. Foodie had never had Spanish food so this was going to a revelation, well… hopefully, for her.
We eventually decided what we were going to have:
Patatas Bravas
Patatas Bravas
Chunky potatoes with bravas sauce. Nothing exciting to say here other than good.
Chorizo con Cognac
Chorizo con Conac
Chorizo is good at any time, however chorizo cooked to crisp in cognac was even better. Also the oil that comes out is nice to mop up with bread.
Chiperones
Chiperones
Nice soft, oh so soft, baby squid. Simples!
Sardinas a la plancha
Sardinas
Nice crispy salty skin and juicy flesh. Very nice.
Gambas al ajillo
Gambas con Ajillo
Soft juicy prawns. Not too oily like this dish sometimes is – perfect. Nice and garlicky too! mmmm…
Croquetas
Croquetas
These were ok, perhaps not my favourite out of everything we ate… but ok.
Gazpacho
I accidentally deleted the picture of this… but it was very refreshing, light and very tasty.
We also had the pimentos padron. One of them however had turned into a rogue chilli… I bit into the whole thing… and then turned bright red as my mouth was set on fire by this rogue one. It was so hot.. I was almost in tears.. and I can eat a lot of hot food!!! It was funny though 
Overall it was really good… and homely, which I liked. I’d definitely go back there. It was also all the more better because Mrs. Foodie enjoyed it. Its also quite modestly priced which was nice surprise when the bill came.
Navarro’s is located at 67 Charlotte St, London. Tel: (020) 7637 7713
Web: www.navarros.co.uk
Re the pimentos padron and the “rogue chilli” — this is normal for this type of pepper. Most of them are mild, but around one in ten is spicy. You can’t tell which are the spicy ones until you eat them!