What: A sister restaurant to the original al-fresco Parrillan in Coal Drops Yard (CDY) in King’s Cross that celebrates Spanish cooking over fire. Located in the newly-minted Borough Yards in London Bridge, Parrillan mark two has a 60-cover main restaurant and a 40-cover outdoor dining terrace.
Who: Harts Group, which owns London restaurants including Barrafina and El Pastor, is behind the new venture, specifically owners James and Sam Hart and Crispin Somerville. Chef director Angel Zapata Martin, who oversees the food at the group’s Barrafina restaurants (as well as Parrillan CDY), is in charge of the menu.
The food: Starters include serviola esqueixada, a shredded salad with raw serviola that takes its name from the verb ‘to tear’ in Catalan; Iberian pork ‘manteca’ - whipped lard with paprika and pork rillettes served with grilled sourdough; fresh peas, fried egg and butifarra, while mains include a hefty whole Dover sole with agua de Lourdes - a secret ‘miracle water’, made famous at Elkano restaurant in Getaria; milk-fed lamb cutlets; and wood roast shank of veal. The side options have been kept tight and include charred baby gem and chips with all I oli on the side. As with the debut Parrillan, the outside terrace will feature tabletop parrilla grills for guests to cook certain ingredients themselves over coals but for those who don’t fancy having the pressure of playing chef this time round there’s an indoor kitchen where chefs cook on an Ox Grill and an apple and olive wood-fired stove and oven.
The vibe: The minute you walk into the restaurant you’re hit with a smoky perfume that takes you away from Borough Market to further afield. Never shy of doing the work themselves, the design has been led by James Hart, working with Superfutures and Concorde BGW, that uses the open kitchen as a focal point. The vibe is Mallorcan, with wooden tables and soft furnishings in Mallorcan fabrics sourced near the Harts’ family home, with ornaments picked up on their Mallorcan travels, such Gordiola glass lanterns and terracotta bowls, scattered around the room. There is also a marble-topped bar that seats four people for those requiring a pre-prandial beer, or gin and tonic. Hart has also designed the terrace using extra-large terracotta pots and a 300-year-old olive tree to bring a touch of the Med to Borough.
And another thing: Parrillan is just phase one of a three-pronged attack from Harts Group at their Borough Yards location. Hot in is heels in the same location will be a Barrafina, due to open in July, as well as Bar Daskal, which pays homage to owners Sam, Eddie and James Hart’s grandfather Vladimir Daskaloff.
4 Dirty Lane, London, SE1 9PA