CityLife

Pinchjo's Tapas Bar

MANY people, who have spent time in Northern Spain, will know the delights of wasting a lazy, late afternoon in a local bar.

Whiling away the hours drinking glasses of rioja, sangria or watery lager and ordering the odd elaborate bar snack.

Plates of delicious slices of meat, bread and fresh sea food arrive steadily as the clock ticks on and, before you’ve realised, the sun has disappeared and with it your appetite for that slightly upmarket and expensive restaurant you spotted on your morning stroll.

Unfortunately, I’ve never experienced this delight. I haven’t been to Spain – the closest I came was hastily backing out of a boy’s beano to Magaluf when a better alternative opportunity arose at the last minute.

Seduced me

But I have friends, who love the country, particularly Barcelona, Valencia and the rural villages close by, and they have seduced me with tales of killing hours and evening in friendly, local taverns.

I’m particularly intrigued by the ’slowly, slowly, stuffy monkey’ approach to eating and why it has never caught on among the ubiquitous tapas restaurants here.

One reason I’d like it to take off is that I hate the tiring ordeal of ordering the damn stuff.

I’m always embarrassed and greedy, ordering (usually too many) dishes with a dreaded ’one of them, one of them’ and, if there’s four or more at the table, then it’s just plain hard work.

Daring place

Pinchjo’s is trying to change all that and is hoping that the sophisticated set that works and plays in West Didsbury will tune in to the Iberian ideology.

It’s a daring place to open with Simon Rimmer’s vegetarian mecca Greens and the hugely popular Lime Tree barely an olive stone’s throw away.

But with boho hangouts like Folk and Silver Apples finding favour, there’s surely room for another alternative eaterie.Its name comes from the Spanish word ’pincho’ (or pintxo in Basque), which literally means thorn or spike and was given to bread pierced with a toothpick.

There are plates of these snacks for people sitting at the Pinchjos bar or relaxing for a drink and I tried a tasty bruschetta-style bread spiked with chorizo and olives.

Pavement tables

But owner Joe Maddock (the ’Jo’ in Pinchjos), who fell in love with food growing up in Mexico and Cuba, has decided it’s too adventurous to go fully with this ‘tranquilo’ approach straight away, although he hopes it will take over eventually.

Eager to try it out, we arrived late afternoon on a sunny Saturday, fuelled by a couple of Argentinian Quilmes on the Folk patio across the road.

It was possibly the best time to arrive. The sun was still warm enough to allow for a couple of pavement tables and the glass folding doors at the front to be fully opened, yet the shadows were long enough to know the evening Burton Road buzz had begun.

Pinchjos is cosily small and not unlike a Latin-style drinking room although that’s a slightly unfair comparison.

Of course, it’s far smarter, with bright if slightly unexciting white and red walls and a spectacular, well-stocked bar.

Suitable beats

The music is unintrusive but a thoughtful mix of suitable beats and rhythms rather than the standard Buena Vista Social Club soundtrack that seems now to be often used to muster a rustic ambience.

Taking a seat fairly close to the front door, we expected to continue our lager tour of South America but Jessica insisted on ordering a jug of the mango and raspberry sangria (£14.95).

It was a great decision. Beautifully refreshing and with a generous mix of fruit, it made a sound accompaniement for what was to come.

The menu was in proportion to the restaurant – a single side of A4, including drinks and sweets – with only 10 dishes to select from.
 

Annoy tapas purists

Still it was surprisingly difficult to whittle it down to the chosen few.Some of the choices are influenced by other areas of the Mediterranean, which may annoy the tapas purists who insist that it has to be an all-Spanish affair, but it was not the least bit worrying to us.
 

The fish dishes were particularly tasty – the fried calamari (£4.35) were perfection while the Gambas pil pil (£4.35) were extremely moreish with the chilli and garlic subtlely complementing, rather than overpowering, the good-sized prawns.
 

It wasn’t all spectacular, though. The garlic mushrooms on toast (£3.95) was exactly what it said on the tin but didn’t quite come off and tasted rather bland while the patatas bravas (£3.95) was standard fare.

Both our meat dishes were pretty good, the homemade beef and pork meatballs in tomato sauce (£4.35) well worth getting stuck into while the chorizo in wine (£4.35) was chunky and tasty.
 

Atmosphere bubbling

A raspberry cheesecake (£3) was a proficient if unadventurous dessert but by the time it arrived we were already making heady progress on a second jug of sangria.
 

The atmosphere was bubbling away nicely with the bar filling stealthily and it was a shame that it was time to leave when the meal ended.
 

We left in the direction of the pubs of Chorlton but Catalonia was on my mind and it could get that long, overdue visit before the summer is over.
 

And, if I don’t get to see the Nou Camp or La Sagrada Familia because I’ve wasted away a few hours in a back street bar, it wouldn’t be the end of the world.
 

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