After wandering around Kinetica for an hour, we wandered off to a small Spanish restaurant called Meson Los Barilles. It’s also in Old Spitalfields (the proper old bit), and just off the main very commercial drag of Giraffe et al.
I think this may be a contender for the best tapas I’ve had in London. Admittedly, I haven’t had much, but it was good. Although I’m a fan of our local tapas in Leyton, La Parreira, it can’t quite match Meson Los Barilles for depth of taste.
We were surprised it wasn’t completely packed out, given how many people there were out around Spitalfields that night and that it was nearly 9pm, but they found us a table quickly. We ordered a variety including the sold favourites like patatas bravas, some squid, and chorizo with white beans in a tomato sauce. The highlight, though, was definitely the shell on prawns in olive oil, garlic and chilli, which justified having a bowl of bread to mop up with in themselves.
The wine list was pretty good too, with house reds and whites from around a tenner, and about twice that for some of the more specialist bottles.
All in all it come to around fifty pounds between two which is quite reasonable given that we had more than enough to eat and drink, and especially so given the location.
I think I may find myself there again from time-to-time.
Review of Meson Los Barilles on Squaremeal.co.uk
Location of Meson Los Barilles