Copita Del Mercado

A £2 per head service charge for serving your own birthday cake (we put our foot down but still had to pay something) + 20% slapped on each time you make your own way to the bar to grab a chilled glass of rose or espresso martini = one less than favourable review! When our plates of tapas eventually made it to the table we were placated for a while — half an octopus for some and sweet potato slathered in a spicy brava sauce with the quirky, but welcome, addition of peanuts for me — but the simple truth is that small plates of food will never make up for big gaps in customer service!

A friend and I had dinner here last night and I have nothing but praise. The veg options are OUT of this world. WE shared a special, the truffled spinach and celeriac. The truffle flavour explodes in your mouth and the creamy texture was perfect. A must-​have. I next got the sweet potato, peanuts, salsa brava and aioli. Again, rich, smoky flavours made it a mouth explosion. And a good size for a tapa as well. Finally, I got the aubergine, hazelnut, tomato honey and coriander tapa. The presentation looked a bit off to me: the aubergine appeared slimy but the honey worked so well with the veg I stopped caring after the first bite. The malvasia wine I ordered complemented the dishes. I would definitely return here! My total, of 33.60 quid, was well worth it.

Copita del Mercado, Spitalfields (published 4^th January 2016)
Copita del Mercado, Spitalfields — gin galore! But that was not the main thing that enticed me to dine at Copita del Mercado. I’d heard enough to make me want to visit. I only noticed the various gin bottles, not empty ones, on display as we entered the restaurant. So it was not surprising to find there was a dedicated G&T menu. I was even more so impressed that they had Xoriguer gin; despite from seeing it in Laithwaites in Borough Market, I don’t recall having seen Xoriguer in any London restaurant before. My favourite gin of all time, not only fragrant but a concentrated flavour of the juniper berries.
Starting from £7.00 at 35ml, I decided to leave my Xoriguer moments at home and try a different drink at Copita del Mercado.
The dishes at Copita del Mercado is a mixture of dishes to share and for one to have with an average of £8.00 per dish. The dishes have a strong Spanish influence, using aioli, sobrasada as well as the style of cooking, but takes on a newer, more modern and creative flair.
Immediately immersed in the one sheet menu with all starters, mains and desserts, the meat dishes did sound much better than the seafood and vegetarian options. The only thing that I need to nit pick is that it really leaves me disgruntled when I have to pay for bread in a tapas style restaurant. Most of the time I would like just a slither to wipe out that last bit of sauce, so paying for a full basket of bread whilst does not do much injury to the wallet but is the little detail for the goodwill that money can’t buy. By polishing up their dish, I would also have probably saved their cost of washing up liquid.
Not trying to be querulous here because I really did love the food.
salmorejo, duck egg and roasted beetroot — The pink-​orange appearance of salmorejo was a good start and very well seasoned. The roasted beetroot did not have the intensity that roasting implies. It was a mediocre dish, probably the least exciting dish of the evening. With a wobbly egg yolk, I cannot resist the obligatory egg porn photo. Great contrast of textures — with the crusty bread, soft beetroot and wobbly egg — and this was where I thought that the piece of bread would be great to ‘scoop’ up those delicious sauces. Or, lick the plate.
sea trout tartare, tarragon butter, apple and pine nuts — the colour is so rich that it looks almost like a salmon. Flavours were very delicate.
Iberico pork jowl, pear and pine nuts — one word: STUPENDOUS!
neck of lamb, pistachio migas & apricot chutney — my favourite dish of the evening. The nutty pistachio was delicious with the tender meat. Quite a fair bit of fat but I really didn’t mind it. Mildly spiced apricot chutney on the side was also excellent!
fish of the day — grilled hake in squid ink — I was a little apprehensive with hake because I knew that the meaty fish can be quite dry and tough. Luckily I tried it because the fish was, and I don’t normally quote this but on this occasion it is most suitable to say it was cooked to perfection. The hake was moist and so delicate, flakes off politely and the squid ink was not over powering. The drizzle of olive oil was ‘A’ class and I wished I had bread to scoop those beautiful sauces up! A generous size portion of fish.
roasted acorn-​fed Iberico pork caramelised onion & pincho moruno salsa — a beautifully cooked dish, the pork is tender and full of flavour, slightly caramelised around the edges, and very well complimented by the salsa.
churros con chocolate — a hot and warming dessert perfect for the rainy cold weather. Served with the bitter chocolate; initially which I didn’t thought it was going to be enough but it had plentiful to even have spoonfuls of the chocolate sauce alone — the bitter sweetness made every mouthful so pleasurable. I was offered a share of the dessert but secretly, I think my diner companion regretted offering it.
tarta de Santiago, seville orange marmalade & allspice ice-​cream — this Galician almond cake was moist and delicious. Delicious with the allspice ice-​cream but I did think that it was a little sweet for my palate. I still enjoyed it.
Service was very good and it would have been more attentive had the restaurant not filled up. It felt like the waitress needed to rush off her feet each time we tried to converse. A surprisingly busy Monday evening with office workers.
Overall, I think that Copita del Mercado excelled in their food. A little fanciful with their precise chopping of food in cubed form but I was glad that their mains were served in the same manner. Good sized portions of food and their meat dishes really wow-​ed me!
With the special star deal for £16.50 — a 3 course meal with cava/​wine — there is a turnaround table of two hours. Brilliant value but I’d say that they could have been a little more generous with their cava portions. Wouldn’t you agree with me?

Copita del Mercado turned out to be a really great discovery, the cooking went above all of my expectations with some very nicely constructed dishes, mostly are classic simple dishes but the ingredients and mixture of flavours are well executed by the chefs. I used to think East London lacked any decent Spanish restaurants but Copita del Mercado is the answer, the food is excellent at a well affordable price, the food portions are a little bit bigger than your standard tapas sizes so it is possible to enjoy the menu in A la carte format without needing to order 5 dishes per person.

Great food, good ambience.

I love the soho branch of Copita, the dishes at this branch in the City are a little hit and miss (although I’m a veggie so can only comment on non meaty numbers). I mainly head here for the immense gin and tonic menu and bar snacks.

Meh, you can definitely have better tapas in town.
I went to Copita del Mercado because a Spanish friend of mine swears by the Soho locale. I assumed that on a Friday eve that it would be buzzing. So it was a shock to walk into the resto on Friday at 7:30 and it was dead. But as my friend correctly pointed out, tapas should have an intimate, casual buzzy feel which the restaurant didn’t offer with its big tables and big chairs.
Food was good – we enjoyed the iberico pork with its onions, the aubergine and the sweet potatoes. But not at the level of other tapas restaurants in London. And not at a cheap price either.
Service was good, churros can be had better at other tapas restaurants (not to be named so you don’t flock there).
They need to make massive improvements here or I fear they will be done in a matter of months…

Who needs to go to Spain when you can have tapas this good on your doorstep? (OK they might have warmer climates and better looking people.). This is not just your average tapas bar. Not a patatas bravas insight. We didn’t come across a bad dish. Meat was succulent and even hare stew was featured (not often you come across Bug Bunny’s ugly cousin).

One of the best meals I’ve had in ages – and I eat a lot of good food! Favorites were the Lamb neck (with pistachios, mustard seeds, and a divine apricot compote) and a mind-​blowingly good tuna tartare. (There was a great divide at our table about whether the churros or the pear tart was the best dessert.) The drinks were generous, the service was impeccable, and the atmosphere was cool but chilled, elegant but not at all stuffy – the perfect balance. I think I might just move into one of the corner tables.