The Best Tapas Restaurants In Covent Garden

Tapas in London has come a long way over the past few years, with high-end tapas restaurants joining the ranks along with more relaxed bars. Covent Garden is has turned into a hub for great Spanish food, with dedicated jamón shops, pintxos bars and restaurants serving up Basque, Catalan and Balearic dishes.

1. The Port House

Restaurant, Spanish, Tapas

After establishing three successful restaurants in the Dublin area, the owners of the Port House set up shop on the Strand with a cosy and atmospheric restaurant. The tapas menu is impressively extensive but the drinks are the real hit here, with a dedicated rotating gin and tonic menu and a Spanish and Portuguese-heavy port and wine list.

2. PIX PINTXOS

Bar, Cocktail Bar, Restaurant, Spanish, Tapas

PIX PINTXOS is modelled after the classic tapas bars of Spain where you pick over a few plates with drinks: it’s mainly a bar with a whole array of pintxos laid out for you to help yourself. The atmosphere is buzzy with music constantly playing and there’s a good selection of both hot and cold pintxos, but PIX PINTXOS definitely works better as a place to nip in for snacks rather than a full meal. They do, however, offer all-you-can-eat pintxos and unlimited cava for set price on Sundays.

3. Jamon Jamon Soho

Restaurant, Spanish, Tapas

The Covent Garden branch of Jamon Jamon (so named because if one of something – especially jamón – is good, then two must be superb) joins Camden, Islington and Belsize Park sites in a mini-chain. As well as classic tapas plates like albondigas, calamares, tortilla and their namesake ham, Jamon Jamon serves five kinds of paella and traditional Spanish desserts.

5. Barrafina Drury Lane

Bar, Restaurant, Spanish, Tapas

As well as the Adelaide Street site, there’s also a Barrafina on Drury Lane – very handy as there are no reservations and seemingly permanent queues at both locations. This site has a similar layout with a central bar but a totally different menu, with more inventive plates like crab buns and cuttlefish empanadas, and selection of tortillas and eggs.

6. Eneko at One Aldwych

Hotel Restaurant, Restaurant, Bar, Bistro, Spanish

Eneko Axta, of the three-Michelin-starred Arzumendi in Bilbao, opened his London restaurant in 2016 in the One Aldwych Hotel. It’s less formal (and less expensive) than Arzumendi but the quality of the food is still extremely high. The focus is on Basque ingredients and flavours handled in a playful way, like the ibérico ham, mushroom duxelle and Basque muffin ‘Hot Hog’. The all-Spanish wine list also features some bottles from Eneko and his uncle Gorka’s own winery.

7. Condesa

Restaurant, Bar, Spanish, Tapas, Mexican

Condesa is a small tapas joint that fuses Spanish and Mexican flavours, so you can dine on jamón ibérico and boquerones at the same time as pig cheek tacos and octopus ceviche. The specials are more eclectic so keep an eye on those too and you can get wines by the half carafe, so you can chop and change from the list with ease.

8. Casa Manolo

Restaurant, Spanish, Tapas

Casa Manolo started life in Salamanca, where the owners produced artisanal meats and cheeses. Now there are five London locations that serve a range of tapas dishes but it’s the cured meat where Casa Manolo really shines. Pop into the tiny spot on the Strand for a few plates of pata negra and a glass or two of Rioja.

9. Enrique Tomas

Deli, Spanish

Enrique Tomas is a jamón ibérico store with branches across Spain, and two shops in London. You can’t miss it as the windows are packed full of legs of ham. You can sample the meats and other deli products in-store as well as buy them to take home. If you want a taste but can’t shell out for a whole ham, grab one of their sandwiches instead.

10. Salvador & Amanda Covent Garden

Restaurant, Spanish, Tapas

There’s always a party atmosphere at Salvador & Amanda thanks to their weekday happy hour, live flamenco shows and late night dancing. All your favourite tapas dishes are present and correct but if you’re in a celebratory mood, they offer a sucking pig and tapas party menu – a whole roasted Spanish suckling pig served with Seville oranges and caramelised shallots plus a mixture of tapas plates.

11. The Opera Tavern

Restaurant, Bar, Pub, Spanish, Italian, Tapas

The Opera Tavern is one of the five restaurants in the Salt Yard Group and is set in a former pub that’s been given a makeover with an open grill on the ground floor. Like the other establishments in the group, the menu is a blend of Spanish and Italian influences, and you can get traditional snacks like pardon peppers and habas fritas as well as more creative dishes like roasted wood pigeon with crispy morcilla, tiger prawns with piquillo and prawn bisque, sourdough and lardo, and their signature Iberico pork and foie gras burger.

Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in.

Culture Trip launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful — and this is still in our DNA today. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.

Increasingly we believe the world needs more meaningful, real-life connections between curious travellers keen to explore the world in a more responsible way. That is why we have intensively curated a collection of premium small-group trips as an invitation to meet and connect with new, like-minded people for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in three categories: Culture Trips, Rail Trips and Private Trips. Our Trips are suitable for both solo travelers, couples and friends who want to explore the world together.

Culture Trips are deeply immersive 5 to 16 days itineraries, that combine authentic local experiences, exciting activities and 4-5* accommodation to look forward to at the end of each day. Our Rail Trips are our most planet-friendly itineraries that invite you to take the scenic route, relax whilst getting under the skin of a destination. Our Private Trips are fully tailored itineraries, curated by our Travel Experts specifically for you, your friends or your family.

We know that many of you worry about the environmental impact of travel and are looking for ways of expanding horizons in ways that do minimal harm - and may even bring benefits. We are committed to go as far as possible in curating our trips with care for the planet. That is why all of our trips are flightless in destination, fully carbon offset - and we have ambitious plans to be net zero in the very near future.