Popular tapas bar and restaurant, Camino, launched its sixth London venue last month at The Blue Fin Building on Canvey Street. Furthering restaurateur Richard Bigg’s vision of casual Spanish dining in Britain, Camino Bankside offers Londoners more opportunity to enjoy Executive Chef Nacho Del Campo’s smart menu of tapas, sharing platters and more in a stylish setting with plenty of outdoor seating.
Grabbing a bite en route to a show at the National Theatre during an early evening weekday visit last week, Kemey and I were impressed by the swift service. Our waiter was really friendly too and seemed to manage a packed house (or at least the outdoor seating area where we dined was all abuzz) with exceptional grace.
We admired much of the food he presented. I loved the Padron peppers (£5), but let’s face it such a basic dish is hard to screw up. Items requiring a bit more finesse that nonetheless pleased included a great tasting slice of tortilla de patata (£4) and an addictively scrumptious bowl of chipirones a la Andaluza (crisp-fried baby squid with aioli and lemon, £5.50).
Definitely delicious but leaning toward the gratuitous end of the tapas spectrum was the Hamburguesa Iberia (mini Iberico pork burger with Idiazabal cheese, roasted onions, watercress and patatas bravas, £5.75). To be sure I wolfed it down but next time (and I see no reason why there shouldn’t be a next time) I’d probably just go with the secreto Iberico (pork skirt with sweet potato mash, £9.75) or one of the Jamon Iberico charcuteria options.
As at other Camino outlets, the wine list is a good one. We loved our “seductive” bottle Vina Zorzal 2013 (£27) and found it paired fairly well with a mx of dishes.
Room for dessert? A scoop (£1.25 each) of refreshing blood orange sorbet and another of toasted almond ice cream did the trick!
As mentioned, we sat outside but the tiled interior with contemporary Spanish furnishings, moody lighting and looooong and smartly stocked bar looked lovely.
Camino Bankside is located at 5 Canvey Street, SE1 9NA and is among the better-valued eateries wrapped round the ground floor of The Blue Fin Building. Find out more at camino.uk.com.
