Tapas.
Get it wrong, and you just end up with pasta.
But get it very right, and you end up with something like Barrafina – the critically lauded restaurant that – before they started taking bookings – were famous for out-the-door queues.
Now, brothers James and Sam Hart have opened a fourth Barrafina in the new King’s Cross development Coal Drops Yard. The place has 40 covers at the dining counter, and there’s also a private dining room, bookable for up to 24.
The menu here comprises an all-Catalonian set of dishes. The mar i muntanya section is a traditional part of Catalonian cuisine taking ingredients from the sea and the mountains. Dishes include black rice with Iberian pork ribs and artichokes; sea cucumber and chicken oyster picada; and a cazuela (hotpot) of pig’s trotters and prawns. But the desserts will challenge all your powers of restraint with lionesas (Catalonian profiteroles) served with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce; a rice pudding with tonka bean and cinnamon; and platano canario ice cream, a Canary Islands speciality.
All this is a mere slice of the places they run at Coal Drops Yard: next door you’ll find Parrillan, a sprawling al fresco terrace where you can BBQ your own food. They’ve also launched a spin-off of their Borough taqueria El Pastor with pal Crispin Somerville called Casa Pastor, and a new wine bar called The Drop…
It’s worth dropping by.
NOTE: Barrafina King’s Cross is open for lunch and dinner daily. You can find out more, and book, at their website right HERE.
Barrafina King’s Cross | Coal Drops Yard, King’s Cross, London N1C 4AB
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