Tapas Brindisa to open croqueta bar this month

The team behind Spanish restaurant group Tapas Brindisa is to open a new bar concept in London focused on croquetas.

Launching in Carnaby’s 21 Beak Street on the week of 12 December, the “postage stamp-sized space” will have blackboards listing a frequently changing selection of croquetas.

Bar Kroketa will be informal, and guests will be encouraged to lean at a barrel or perch at the counter with a beer, vermút or cocktail, with seating space available for lunches or dinner.

The initial selection of croquetas will include: sobrasada and goat’s curd with honey, girolle and pine with shaved idiazabal; jamón with lardo and migas; blue cheese with crushed walnut; prawn and leek with prawn head alioli; and salt cod with txakoli verjus alioli.

Small plates will include a crab and alioli toastie; chicken livers and cider onion toast with pancetta; spiced aubergine, curd, pine nuts and salsa verde; and a lamb neck pintxo moruño marinated in kalimotxo.

The team is keen to champion off cuts and offal when it comes to meat, and seasonality will be at the menu’s core. Counter dishes, served from the bar, will include crisps and encurtidos, tomato pickle tartar, cheese taquitos with chestnut honey and coffee and gildas.

Spanish wines will be on offer as well as sherry, vermút and sidra, with cocktails including the Kalimotxo Sour – a modern take on an Basque combination of red wine and coke; a Krok Spritz made with fino sherry, fig liqueur and cava; and the cider-based Basque & Stormy.