BarRioja

BarRioja
Jeffrey St
Edinburgh
4th April 2008


BarRioja is the tapas outfit of the Iggs establishment next door, catering for simpler Spanish tastes. I went there with my Spanish friend who was visiting from Manchester, (he's from Madrid and has lived there most of his life). He was very much up for investigating the authenticity of the cities Spanish places, and I had no idea who authentic BarRioja was so of course, for the sake of food writing, we had to go. The interior is very Spanish apparetly, it's not done up, but it's not this faux Spanish back street nonsense you get at La Tasca and the Tapas Tree on Broughton St (which is terrible incidentally, but that's another story and another review). It's slick, but a little rough at the edges still, and very very busy. We had possibly the wost table in the restaurant, as it's in the gangway by the door so we got knocked about by the (lovely) staff and gusts of cold air, but you stop caring after glass number 2.

I ordered the wine a tempranillo from Castilla (thumbs up, nice and juicy and a whack of spice, not too heavy making it pretty adapatable and therefore perfect for tapas) and let my friend order the tapas as he's the expert and I'm a bit of a novice with spanish food - i told him I wasn't leaving without some black pudding and calamares though, and he agreed that this was the way forward. The black pudding was one of the stars, it was just the right side of crumbly and superbly and innovatively spiced - I've never had black pudding like it, and I wish I knew how they did it. We also had a plate of cured meats, the calamares, patatas bravas (extremely firey) and a bean salad. Cacaphonous mish mash of flavours and textures aside, it was superb. Tapas is supposed to be a bit chaotic and this is a large part of its charm and appeal. The food was very enjoyable and, my friend claims, the best Spanish meal he's had in the UK. High praise indeed knowing that Evuna in Manchester is like.

I finished the meal on a Pedro Ximinez, as I can't end a spanish meal without a glass of sherry and we paid. £45 for a bottle of wine, 5 dishes, olives, a decent bottle and a glass of PX. I thought that was excellent value and will certainly go again. Highly recommended.