Wine Comes First at PINCHITOtapas

There is a particular type of person who makes going out for dinner an agitating experience and can be the cause of real irritation for fellow diners: the wine snob.

I am not talking about someone who loves wine and can make an informed choice from a restaurant’s list. The object of my ire is the man (for it is always a man) who, upon sitting down for a meal, instinctively grabs a wine list and insists that he is the only person capable of deciding on it.

He will snort at any other suggestion made and will make a point of making fatuous statements such as: ‘never trust a Tempranillo that hasn’t been aged in oak for more than 18 months.’ To which my suppressed response is, ‘What are you aged in? Bad manners?’

However, this type of person is now under threat from a new menu from Bloomsbury tapas restaurant PINCHITOtapas. Their menu is not based around items of food but around selected wines. The diner picks the wines and has the tapas based around the characteristics that match up with the flavours and nuances of those wines. It’s innovative and given that the wines are supplied by Campo Viejo, the standard of wine is pretty consistent. The crianza and gran reserva are substantial wines and go with a lot of food on offer. But can the food match up to what is in the glass?

For the most part, yes. The restaurant offers a modern take on tapas and is quite an international approach. Chorizo is mixed with French fries and melted cheese to make an Iberian take on the Quebecois dish poutine. An octopus salad is substantial whilst the lamb kebabs with mint dressing are delightful.

What is admirable is that the chefs at the restaurant are consistently reinventing their dishes and coming up with new variations on the traditional platters. Although there were some dishes that didn’t go well with the wines on offer, the democratic approach operating at the restaurant means that favoured dishes are kept on.

At £20 for a four-wine menu and £30 for an eight-sample menu, the restaurant offers reasonable value for money. The experience is not your traditional tapas environment in spite of the effort that has been paid to the decor which features a plethora of Spanish items with an emphasis on a Catalan feel, even though this jars with the northern Spanish aspect to the food. However, it is well worth a look for imaginative food and an absence of a lecture on the right temperature for a Chilean shiraz.

11-13 Bayley Street
Bedford Square
Bloomsbury
WC1 3HD

Opening hours:
Mon-Sat: 8am – 12am
Sun: 10am – 5pm