His & Hers has discovered there is much to celebrate in Bold Street. It boasts some impressive independent restaurants. Yet there is always room to accommodate a beautifully formed new Bold Street tapas bar that serves authentic, Spanish food with great style.
Words: Jean Hill
Design is very much to the forefront. This is a beautifully decorated space with original art work and intricate stencilling on the walls. A chef and his wife combined to create the impressive content and subtly coloured design of the menus. The staff will give you a warm welcome, in Basque fashion, and they are really knowledgeable about the food. There was time to talk through the menu(s) and discuss possible combinations. There are veggie and vegan options to be found in the mix. We settled on the ‘Three Tapas’ menu. We went for variety, so that we could share. Pecado, translated from Spanish, means punctured or a burst of flavour. And that is exactly what we got.
Particular favourites? More or less everything! The bravas potatoes, crisp outside, squishy inside, with a lush dipping sauce, are well worth coming back for. The sourdough starter, with garlic and tomato, set the tone. The Manchego croquettes, dry, crispy appearance, ooze delicious, creamy cheese. Spiced aubergine, plum tomato and rocket, was freshness itself. The pork and beef meatballs and almond migas, has the wow factor. The sauce and sharp herby flavour of the meatballs could be addictive. My own favourite was the Fatoush salad. It includes seasonal vegetables, herbs, lemon, and sumac. Genius really to have a simple, healthy salad dressing of yoghurt. The Serrano jamon (ham) has salty flavour and melts in the mouth. The pan-fried, Padron peppers with salt crystals, look suitably crumpled, but retain all that bitter sweet flavour. I did not manage to get to the roast chicken in time, but better luck next time.
There should not have been room for dessert, yet… The star was, without a doubt, Persian trifle. The coconut cream was smooth, light and ‘airy’. The coconut and almond granola added an essential layer of flavour. Pomegranate features widely in all menus. It definitely adds sharp definition to the rosewater jelly, that has a gentle, sweet flavour, but a satisfying chewy consistency .
This is a restaurant that takes sourcing seriously. Fish is from: ‘My Fish’ and meat from H Greaves. Fruit and vegetables comes from John Donohue and dry goods from Amato. The Spanish supplier is Basco, and the bread: never underestimate the value of that crust, is from Baltic Bakehouse. Recommended by all involved.
Tel: 0151 3639653
Website: https://www.elpecado.co.uk/
You may also enjoy: Thornton Hall in the running for afternoon tea award.
