Because you can never have enough tapas, right?
Tucked into Borough Market itself, Tapas Brindisa has a genuine claim to a small piece of London restaurant history. When it opened in 2004, it was the first traditional, no-reservations tapas bar the city had seen, the format so many others have since copied without necessarily crediting where it started. Today, everyone’s taking up the example Brindisa set, and this original location is still going strong.
The food comes courtesy of ingredients sourced by Brindisa, the Spanish food and drink importer the restaurant takes its name from, and that supply chain shows in every dish. Tortilla Española arrives properly soft in the middle rather than overcooked into something rubbery. Croquetas de jamón are the kind of bar snack that makes you order a second plate before you’ve finished the first. Arroz negro, the black rice dish stained with squid ink, is worth ordering if you haven’t tried it before, dramatic to look at and genuinely good to eat rather than just a photo opportunity.
The atmosphere is the other half of the appeal, convivial, informal, and built for lingering rather than rushing through courses. This is a restaurant that rewards going with a group of friends who are happy to share everything on the table, order too much, and work through a bottle or two of sherry along the way, the Spanish wine and sherry selection here is genuinely excellent and worth exploring beyond the usual house pour.
Because it’s set right inside Borough Market, the setting does a lot of the atmosphere’s heavy lifting too, market noise and bustle spilling in around you, which either adds to the charm or feels like a lot depending on your tolerance for crowds. We’d argue it’s very much part of the appeal.
Tapas Brindisa has expanded into other branches across London since this one opened, but the original Borough Market site remains our favourite, there’s something about eating tapas within earshot of the market that traders and ingredients actually came from that the newer locations can’t quite replicate.
The London x London Take: Tapas Brindisa is a genuine London Bridge institution, and more than twenty years on from opening, it’s still doing exactly what made it a big deal in the first place: simple, well-sourced Spanish food, no reservations required, and a setting that puts you right in the middle of Borough Market’s energy. Go hungry, go with people willing to share, and don’t skip the sherry.
Rating: 4/5
Need to know
- Address: Borough Market, London SE1
- Nearest station: London Bridge (2-minute walk)
- Website: brindisakitchens.com
- Booking: No reservations
- Visited: August 2026
“A genuine London Bridge institution that still delivers on well-sourced, simple Spanish cooking, over twenty years on.”
