From Tapas to Kroketas: How Brindisa and Bar Kroketa Keep London Eating Spanish
London’s Spanish dining scene has evolved far beyond tapas clichés, and few names have shaped that journey more than Brindisa. For over two decades, the group has championed Spain’s regional food, wine and traditions across the capital, helping define how London eats Spanish food today.
Its younger sister brand, Bar Kroketa, brings a more playful edge to that legacy. Now three sites strong, the croqueta-led bar channels the Basque tradition of txikiteo with crisp kroketas, sharp drinks and a fast-moving, sociable style of dining – together placing both brands firmly among the leaders of Spanish cuisine in London. The Knife finds out how the two are able to still maintain such a firm stronghold on the Spanish dining scene in the capital.
The OG
Brindisa has earned the right to call itself one of London's Spanish-food pioneers. Founder Monika Linton began importing Spanish produce after falling for the food and ingredients of Catalonia, eventually establishing the first Brindisa tapas bar at Borough Market. Two decades later, the group stretches from London Bridge and Soho to South Kensington, Battersea and Richmond, alongside its Borough Market counter.
Its influence goes beyond the restaurants themselves, too. José Pizarro – regularly dubbed the "Godfather" of Spanish cooking in the UK – became Brindisa's executive chef during his early London career before striking out independently in 2011. It's a neat reminder of just how much of modern London's relationship with Spanish food has, at one point or another, passed through Brindisa's doors.
What has kept Brindisa relevant, though, isn't nostalgia. It's the sense that Spain is a collection of food cultures rather than one easily packaged cuisine.
Take Richmond's Galicia Day celebration in July. For one day, its Thames-side terrace turned its attention north-west, with Estrella Galicia flowing, whole octopus cooked tableside, Txuleta Rubia Gallega sharing the menu with Padrón peppers, and live acoustic music supplying the soundtrack. It was the sort of event Brindisa does particularly well: regional food presented without turning dinner into a geography lesson.
The everyday menu follows the same philosophy, mixing carefully sourced Spanish ingredients with seasonal British produce and staples such as pan con tomate, Padrón peppers, cured meats and seafood.
Making the croqueta the main character
If Brindisa represents London's long love affair with tapas, Bar Kroketa feels like what happens when the next generation decides to turn the volume up. The premise is gloriously uncomplicated: croquetas first, everything else follows.
Bar Kroketa opened its original Beak Street site in Soho before expanding to St Christopher's Place in 2024 and Broadgate Circle in 2025. Three years, three bars, plenty of béchamel. There are similarities to its sister brand, certainly, but the rhythm is different. This is Spanish eating designed around the bar rather than the table, taking its cues from the Basque tradition of txikiteo: a drink here, something small to eat there, then onwards before anybody gets too comfortable.
Beak Street remains the scrappy original, with its counter and tucked-away dining room. St Christopher's Place sprawls across two floors, its terrace giving a little northern-Spanish-plaza energy just moments from Oxford Street. Broadgate Circle, meanwhile, is the biggest incarnation yet, opening the concept out onto a City terrace where after-work drinks can rather easily become dinner.
And then there are those kroketas…
Crisp outside, molten within
There is something inherently cheerful about a croqueta. It's difficult to take yourself too seriously while waiting for molten béchamel to cool sufficiently that it doesn't remove a layer of your mouth.
Bar Kroketa leans into that pleasure completely. Jamón comes with migas and paleta; king prawn with torched prawn-head alioli; piquillo pepper meets Manchego, while more playful variations currently include Monte Enebro goat's cheese with spinach bonbons, honey and a coffee-chilli dip. Each portion arrives as a pair, encouraging the correct approach: order several and start negotiating over halves.
Croquetas might get top billing, but this isn't a one-dish gimmick. There are gildas, tortilla, pan con tomate, Padrón peppers, anchovies, patatas bravas, pork skewers, pulpo and larger sharing plates lurking beyond the blackboard.
The drinks matter just as much. Vermút and natural cider rub shoulders with txakoli, Albariño, cava and orange wine, while cocktails happily loosen the rules further. A Firebird Paloma sits alongside the likes of Agua de Valencia and brandy-spiked twists on familiar classics.
In other words: come thirsty, and hungry.
Same Spain, different speed
That's where the fun comparison between the two brands really lands. Brindisa invites you to settle in, while Bar Kroketa tempts you to squeeze in.
At Brindisa, Spain unfolds across the table: sharing plates arriving in waves, wine being poured, regional ingredients given room to tell their story. Bar Kroketa compresses that same generosity into something quicker and cheekier, with a cold caña, two kroketas, another plate, perhaps a vermút, maybe one more round…
Neither feels more "authentic" than the other because authenticity here isn't about recreating a Spanish restaurant down to the last tile. It's about recreating a way of eating. And both understand that Spanish hospitality is as much about energy as ingredients.
That point becomes particularly literal this month. On 26th September, Bar Kroketa Broadgate is turning itself into a miniature Basque bar crawl, bringing together cider, txakoli, vermút, pintxos, croqueta tastings, cheesecake and live music as part of Eat Spain Drink Spain 2026. The idea is essentially txikiteo without having to leave Broadgate Circle, although moving between the different stands is probably compulsory for authenticity.
¡Salud!
What connects Brindisa and Bar Kroketa is ultimately much bigger than croquetas, tapas or even Spain itself. It's the belief that eating should be social. Food gets torn, dipped, divided and passed around. Drinks encourage another plate rather than mark the end of the meal. Tables become crowded. Plans become slightly less organised. Nobody looks particularly eager to leave.
Brindisa has spent more than 20 years helping London understand that way of eating. Bar Kroketa is now taking the baton and running with it, preferably towards the next bar. Old guard and new wave they may be, but together they remain among the most persuasive ambassadors London has for Spanish food.
And if their version of cultural diplomacy involves jamón kroketas and a cold glass of txakoli, we're very much on board.
