It isn’t often that both the food and weather Gods conspire to provide you with an unforgettable dining experience. Yet, the day before Scott’s birthday only a couple of weeks ago, such a rare occurrence happened.
We had been strutting past Bar San Juan weekly ever since we moved back to Manchester; enviously eyeing up the lucky few who manage to bag a street side table in the sunshine. The restaurant is small (big enough to swing a cat, but not a paella pan), and so the outside tables are really the pick spot. And lo and behold, the day we decided to venture out for some tapas, which also happened to be the sunniest day that week so far, an outdoor table was vacated quicker than the waiter could bring our big jug of sangria.
So firstly: the sangria. One of the main reasons I like to go out for tapas is to enjoy a nice cold glass of sangria with it – a drink I never make myself at home but love to drink when the weather’s sunny. When we saw that it came straight from a tap behind the bar, we were a little apprehensive, but it was wonderfully fruity and not at all sickly-sweet. I’ll give them a pass on the fact that it’s ready-made, because the amount of jugs they were shifting on a hot day meant that no sane person would be able to whip up that many litres. It just makes plain sense, really.
We then ordered five different small plates to share. The fresh anchovies, crispy fried Padron peppers, Patatas Bravas, cod-stuffed red peppers and roasted vegetables topped with goat cheese.
The anchovies were creamy, with a slight vinegary tang, and came accompanied by plump green olives. This was my first time eating anchovies which weren’t jarred or tinned, and I was delighted by the difference in taste (although I have absolutely nothing against the salty tinned variety, FYI).
The Padron peppers came sprinkled with a good amount of sea salt, and were up there with some of the best I’d eaten in Mexico. None were spicy, as warned on the menu, which was fine by me, although it was a little like Russian Roulette biting into each one just to check.
As we couldn’t decide which of the two sauces (traditional or aioli) to have with the Patatas Bravas, the waiter offered to bring us both. I’m glad he did, as usually I would have ordered the traditional sauce, which was smokily flavoured with ham and thinner in consistency than I am used to, yet I actually preferred the rich garlicky aioli. Potatoes were crispy and well-seasoned. We were on a roll.
Then came the red peppers stuffed with shredded cod meat and a creamy sauce. The peppers were sweet and slightly smoky, and the whole ensemble melted on your tongue. The freshness of the cod still sung through the creamy sauce, but the whole thing was so heavenly that I could easily have polished it off as a much larger main course. Some may find it a little rich, but me? I live for this kind of dish.
The roasted vegetable dish was similar to a Spanish version of ratatouille – chunky, rich and tomato-based – but was made so much better by the creamy and tangy goat’s cheese melted on top.
I’m not sure whether it was the weather (superbly sunny) or the sangria (superbly alcoholic) that enhanced our visit to Bar San Juan Chorlton, but I’ll definitely be back. Maybe next time you’ll find me in a corner, just stuffing my face with those cod-filled peppers and aioli Patatas Bravas; because they were by far my two favourite dishes of the evening.
- 56 Beech Road, Chorlton, Manchester M21 9EG
- Open Sun – Thurs 12pm – 11.30pm, Fri and Sat 12pm – Midnight
- https://www.facebook.com/barsanjuantapas/
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