Twenty years ago, Spanish food meant stodgy paella with pitchers of over-sweetened sangria to most of us. British chefs Sam and Sam Clark had just opened Moro, a neighbourhood restaurant in London, but you’d be hard-pressed to name a Spaniard working in a professional kitchen.
That’s changed now, as smoked paprika has become a store-cupboard staple and we gobble up plates of pricey, intensely flavoured jamón ibérico in chic tapas bars. Smart drinkers are ditching prosecco in favour of small-producer cava.
In London, it’s standing room only at José tapas in Bermondsey Street; the Barrafina bars have queues around the block. The hottest opening of the year so far is Sabor, the bar and restaurant...