New Tapas Bar for Southwark
This June, Spanish bar and restaurant group Camino are launching an authentic tapas bar format at Bankside, Southwark. Designed to suit the local area, this new take on their existing locations aims to bring a more flexible and relaxed offering to Bankside, similar to that of typical tapas bars in Spain.
Designed by London based designers Blacksheep, Camino Tapas Bar will focus on casual drinking and eating, with a variety of seating options. Features include an open kitchen, prominent bar and jamón counter, where guests can sit and enjoy the theatre of Spanish jamón carving. Upstairs, accessed by a feature staircase which slices through the bar, there will be a balcony space equipped with tables which overlooks the lower floor.
Rich natural leathers, grained timbers and Spanish tiles will furnish the space, fronted with a full glass window, allowing for an abundance of natural light to stream through the bar by day, and exposed hanging lights creating an intimate mood by night. In warmer months, the tapas bar will open onto a large south-facing outdoor terrace, which will be equipped with seating to make the most of any warm weather that comes our way.
The innovative menu, created by Executive Chef Nacho Del Campo, who originates from the Basque country in northern Spain, boasts a selection of tapas and sharing platters, including dishes prepared on a plancha, created with the finest Spanish and British ingredients. Special dishes include: pulpo – pan-roasted whole octopus tentacle, purple potatoes, paprika and olive oil; morcilla de Burgos – pan-fried black pudding and spicy alegría peppers; arroz negro – black rice, cuttlefish, squid ink and alioli; charcuterie and artisan cheeses – Idiazabal, Manchego, Ibores; and a whole roasted Segovian style suckling pig, slow roasted with white wine, onions, garlic and herbs. Spanish brunch will also be served at weekends. The feature jamón counter will offer a selection of the highest quality hand-carved acorn-fed Ibérico black pig ham from D.O.s Extremadura, Guijuelo, Pedroches and Huelva, cured for a minimum of 32 months, professionally carved by a highly trained ‘cortador de jamón’, Rafael Vázquez Carrión. The jamón counter will also offer these delicious Spanish cured hams to take away.
The bar will serve a selection of Spanish craft beers alongside Madrid’s famous premium lager Mahou on draft, in stylish 2/3 pint glasses reminiscent of local tapas bars in Spain. Camino Tapas Bar, like its siblings, will also offer the brand’s renowned Spanish wine list (Imbibe Spanish Wine List of the Year 2014), with new additions for 2015.
Camino Tapas Bar will be open every day, serving fresh tapas for lunch, dinner and everything in between. They will offer Spanish brunch as well as tapas on weekends.