Boqueria Tapas

This south London newcomer shares a name with Boqueria food market in Barcelona, the gastronomic epicentre of a particularly gastro-centric city. The name suggests that the place means business - and, mostly, it delivers.

The sleek, contemporary setting, with simple wooden floors and unadorned tables, is devoid of the flamenco and bullfighting décor that too often signals 1980s timewarp tapas bars. There are enough familiar-sounding dishes (patatas bravas, tortilla, croquetas) to provide common ground, but elsewhere the menu goes far beyond the usual roll-call found in London tapas gaffs.

Simple classics such as pan con tomate - good crusty bread rubbed with garlic with a smear of tomato - are done well. The chorizo looks a typical tapas-bar version but the flavour is a cut above; the top quality sausage is cooked in cider, as it's done in the Asturias region of northern Spain. There are appealing rice dishes too, such as classic Valencian paella with rabbit and chicken, or Catalan/Valencian-style 'black' rice flavoured (and given its gothic look) with squid ink.

Star of the show on our visit was one of the daily specials chalked up on a blackboard: tender monkfish 'meatballs' delicately spiced with saffron and served on top of a pillow of mashed potato. An unusual dish, as was the aubergine canelones, made with strips of aubergine cooked until soft and rolled up to enclose shiitake mushroom and slivers of goat's cheese. A bit of a summery dish for a February menu, perhaps, but incredibly tasty. Suckling pig isn't a dish you see on many tapas menus in the UK. This version featured a rectangle of crisp pork skin with soft, tender shreds of piglet beneath, served with crunchy sweet potato and parsnip crisps.

The short dessert menu doesn't stray far from the classics, with a not-too-sweet rice pudding flavoured with cinnamon, and a gloriously almondy Santiago tart. We didn't quite see the point of the balsamic vinegar-like sauce that the tart was drizzled with, but overall the food did the Boqueria name proud.

Add some decent Spanish wines at prices that don't break the bank, including half a dozen sherries, hold it all together with friendly professional service and you have a proper local tapas bar. Welcome to the neighbourhood.