So I have this friend. And when people ask how we know each other, I always say well, he’s a friend of a friend. In actual fact, he’s my friend’s ex. But my friend has said that as long as I love her more, which of course I do, infinitely more, I can be friends with him.

So, Michael, you are my friend.

Anyway, this Michael, Mike, Mikey guy, he’s a bit of a man about town. If you ever see his foursquare account it’s like what the f*** how many hours does he have in a day? How does he physically go to two restaurants and three bars a night? On a school night?!

Well, the answer really is not about bending the time and space continuum, it’s because he’s young. And social. And somehow has inside connections with like every frickin’ bar in the east side of London.

Fine ok, mainly it’s because he’s young. I mean, last Tuesday night after dinner with him at PINCHITOtapas, he dragged me to Casita for a cocktail and when I finally bowed out to go home so I could take my dentures out, his night had only just began.

So I can’t really tell you about any of the other places he went to on Tuesday night. But I can tell you about PINCHITOtapas.

PINCHITOtapas has a branch in the east end of London and one in the west. We hit up the east end location, literally 30 seconds from Old St tube, for a few tapas. After a hideous day at work, the first word I uttered when we arrived was sangria. Plain and simple sangria.

Second and third words? Jamón ibérico.

Muchas gracias.

With a jug of sangria safely cordoned off on my corner of the table, we checked out the menu and specials board and ordered a selection of yummies.

Jamón ibérico, or iberico ham, is a type of Spanish cured ham and deemed the “expensive” cured ham because duh, it’s frickin’ delicious. Whether on its own or on a slice of bread with puréed fresh tomato, PINCHITOtapas‘ iberico ham were paper thin slices of salty perfection. No where near as pretty (but equally tasty in oil-soaked goodness) was the warm roasted vegetables, which somewhat looked like a sea creature had turned itself inside out, and then died.

Three other delicious dishes included pork belly with mango (off the specials menu) whose crackle was so light it was almost like the airy pork rind snacks (c’mon you know what I’m talking about). We also had the standard but trusty garlic prawns, and Michael’s choice of the night, the hanger steak, which is like a Spanish version of beef tataki, only somehow manlier (read: smokier, thicker, meatier).

No meal in my world is ever complete without dessert, and no Spanish meal is complete without churros, so the choice was a no-brainer for me. Michael opted for a special leche frita, a Spanish fried milk dessert slightly complemented by the essence of lemon and vanilla. Truth? I liked my dessert but I also wanted to kill Michael for his.

But I refrained. Because he was paying for my meal.

So that was the meal and having not had a lot of great tapas in London (I’m yet to try Barrica), I was really pleased with PINCHITOtapas – the quality of their traditional tapas as well the taste and creativity with some of the items on their specials menu.

After dinner we dropped by one of Michael’s locals, Casita, for a drink before I turned into a pumpkin.

Anyhoos, if you get a chance, check out Michael’s new(ish) blog or follow him on twitter. If you can ignore his foursquare check-ins and find inside tips like…

“Dose recommends checking out Caravan, Exmouth Market. Scoop: Good barista (3rd place UK Barista Championships), good chef”

and…

“Casita recommends Portobello Star in Notting Hill”

… you’ll all be the crazy hot thangs around town soon, while I sleep. With my dentures out.

PINCHITOtapas
32 Featherstone Street
Old Street, EC1Y 8QX
0207 490 0121
website

Pinchito Tapas on Urbanspoon

9 Thoughts on “PINCHITOtapas: out & about with @vachonline, the man about town

  1. The meaty and smoky steak tatakis look brill, rare and intense red colour, so you reckon this place is not bad then? Will add it to my list.

  2. What Kang said… In spades.

  3. Kang: It’s not bad as far as I know – I just haven’t had that much great tapas in London! But I’m aiming to hit up Barrica soon, have heard great things about them.

    The Grubworm: *nod*

  4. Forgot where the hell I had it (might have been Fino, definitely worse for wear) but leche frita is one hell of a dessert. And I’m not really a dessert kind of guy.

    I’ve also had a Chinese version of leche frita in either Hong Kong or Beijing but again my memory fails me, which is why I guess I started blogging!

  5. The Chinese version was good but sweet as I’m pretty sure it was deep fried condensed milk.

  6. Jenny on March 16, 2010 at 9:14 pm said:

    my boyfriend and i went to Pinchito just a few weeks ago, I thought it was pretty good too, but maybe a little loud as the bar is right where you eat. otherwise the food was really good!

    • Oh yeh I know what you’re talking about. We were sitting right near the bar too, but it was a Tuesday night so it wasn’t all that happening! Glad yo liked the food though, I thought the food was pretty tasty!

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