Opening a fully fledged tapas bar after trading from a food truck can be tricky.
People often lose their drive.
That’s not the case, however, for the experienced team behind the Donostia Social Club, which started life in London as a food truck stalwart at Kerb and Southbank markets, before a stint in Pop Brixton‘s shipping containers.
Now they’ve launched a more permanent South London tapas nook in Tooting’s Broadway Market, with Spanish and Basque-inspired small plates, a wealth of regional, directly-source drinks, and a deli section so that you can directly source it all too.
It’s a dinky corner unit in the heart of the market, with candlelit counter seating that folds out when the shutters are raised. The interior is a buzzing, intimate hub, with crates of wines and sherries stacked up against the dark teal walls, and a miniature kitchen sizzling with activity.
On the menu you’ll find regularly evolving cheese and charcuterie boards alongside elegant small plates like chicken liver parfait with pickled figs, morcilla with quails eggs, and griddled white asparagus with romesco and toasted almonds. The drinks offering is equally glorious – thanks to the other side of the business, DSC Imports. Crammed with products that you won’t easily find in London, they’ve hand-selected bottles from their own suppliers in Spain and the Basque region. There’s wines, sherries and cava – but the stars of the menu are the Galician vermouths; sweet fortified wines with flavours ranging from warm, smokey spices to fresh lemon.
NOTE: The Tapas Room is open Tuesday – Saturday. You can find out more, and book, HERE.
The Tapas Room | Unit 3-5 Broadway Market, 29 Tooting High Street, SW17 0RJ
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