Successful Spanish restaurant Barrica (and winner of the 2010 Time Out award for best Spanish restaurant) is expanding into Soho with a new tapas bar, launching this Friday.
Copita is on D'Arblay Street (just off Berwick Street) and, taking its inspiration from La Cuchara de San Telmo in San Sebastian, will be a fully fledged tapas bar - all stools and standing space only with no bookings being taken. They're aiming for speedy service at any time of day if you need a quick place to meet, eat and drink. The regularly changing menu will feature 15-20 tapas, and Copita will be open all day, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.
So you can expect to see dishes like home-cured anchovy with broad bean ice-cream, Iberico pork ribs and home-made butifarra (based on catalan sausage) served with piquillo pepper, chickpea and caperberry. Plus there will be a selection of pastry for the early morning crowd.
Drinks-wise, there will be 15 sherries by the glass as well as white wines split by grape variety and red wines by region - each with a young and aged example of each. Their signature drink will be gin and tonic - with doubles or more served in a big glass full of Scotsman (a mega ice machine) ice. Their triple is called a Donostia measure with essence of lemon coming from the zest (Donostia is Basque for San Sebastian and it's there they serve this style of gin and tonic).
Hot Dinners always has time for tapas and if you're after a new tapas experience and can't make it out to Jose in Bermondsey, this should be the place to be come Friday.
Copita - on 26 D’Arblay Street W1 - opens Friday 14th October 2011.
