BRIDISA TAPAS BAR AND RESTAURANT IN LODON (SPANISH FOOD)
- Brindisa a Story of Spanish Food: The company name comes from the word "brindis", to raise one’s glass in a toast, and their work over the past 29 years has been to toast and celebrate the varied cultures, landscapes and, above all the exceptional foods of Spain. In essence, the business is a tribute to the people who create the remarkable cheeses, hams, meats, fish, and a huge selection of other ingredients that are now enjoyed in the UK.
It is hard to imagine now but, back in 1988 when the business was founded by Monika Linton, knowledge of Spanish gastronomy was almost non-existent in the UK. Starting with a conviction that the foods she loved in Spain deserved to find a wider audience, Monika launched her company on a shoestring. Fine Spanish food is now firmly on the gastronomes’ map in the UK and the team at Brindisa is proud to have played a part in this change.
After more than 29 years the business has grown to include:
- A wholesale business providing hundreds of different products to many of the country’s finest restaurants, delis and food halls.
- One of the first retail outlets in Borough Market, Southwark, now regarded as being among the finest food markets in Britain.
- A Spanish cheese and charcuterie delicatessen in Balham, South London, including freshly carved iberico bellota ham.
- A world renowned chorizo roll, regularly listed as one of Time Out’s top ten cheap eats in London.
- Five ground breaking tapas bars and restaurants in Central London.
- A state of the art warehouse and distribution centre in Balham which includes cheese maturing rooms and optimal storage conditions for Ibérico meats, charcuterie, nuts, chocolate, fish, fresh fruit and vegetables.
- Hugely popular ham schools, where customers learn the essentials of carving jamón and to determine the best wine pairings with our experts.
- Our online shop, which ensures that our delicious Spanish foods are available throughout the UK, whenever and wherever you need them.
- Tapas Brindisa Soho: Nestled near Carnaby Street, they’ve been a favourite foodie haunt for years. They’re inspired by the bustling bodegas synonymous with Spanish cities. Bodegas are intimate, local joints where artisanal beers and wines are served with impeccably sourced food. Their menu champions craftmanship. Celebrating the cured fish, stunning farmhouse cheeses and charcuterie of Spain that sit alongside a sensational selection of tapas and traditional comfort food. Enjoy a vermouth at our kitchen counter bar with a plate of Cantabrian anchovies or take a seat in their conservatory dining room and have a long, languorous lunch. They’re now open for breakfast. Serving traditional Spanish "tostadas" toasts with an array of traditional toppings with freshly squeezed juice & Monmouth coffee.
- Urbia Winery in Rioja: This single estate Rioja is located in Cuzcurrita de Rio Tiron on the north-western boundary of DOC Rioja. Urbina has 75 hectares of vineyards at two main vineyard sites (the first site is at Cuzcurrita de Rio Tiron, an area well-known for producing Riojas capable of ageing for many years ideal for Gran Reservas. The other vineyards are located at Uruñuela, in the heart of the Rioja DOC, which consistently produces wines of great quality and body whe they are young. Four generations of the Urbina family had dedicated themselves to producing Rioja wines and, following in his father´s footsteps, Pedro Urbina is the current wine-maker. In 1976 the family took the decision to bottle and age all the wine made themselves, rather than selling grapes to other wine producers, and the single estate Urbina Rioja wines were created. Since then Urbina has gone from strength to strength. A new winery was designed and built by the Urbina family at Cuzcurrita in 1986 and there has been a large investment in modern equipment, stainless steel tanks and a bottling plant. Bodegas Urbina produces 300,000 bottles of red Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva and 50,000 bottles of white and rosé wine, all made from grapes sourced from their own vineyards. The vineyards are cultivated using traditional methods, harvesting is by hand and there is little, or no, use of weed killers and pesticides. Additionally all fertilizer used is organic. Only local / indigenous yeasts are used in the wine-making process which help to give Urbina wines their unique personality.
- Wine and Food Matching: Wine and food matching is the process of pairing food dishes with wine to enhance the dining experience. In many cultures, wine has had a long history of being a staple at the dinner table and in some ways both the winemaking and culinary traditions of a region will have evolved together over the years. Rather than following a set of rules, local cuisines were paired simply with local wines. The modern "art" of food pairings is a relatively recent phenomenon, fostering an industry of books and media with guidelines for pairings of particular foods and wine. In the restaurant industry, sommeliers are often present to make food pairing recommendations for the guest. The main concept behind pairings is that certain elements (such as texture and flavor) in both food and wine interact with each other, and thus finding the right combination of these elements will make the entire dining experience more enjoyable. However, taste and enjoyment are very subjective and what may be a "textbook perfect" pairing for one taster could be less enjoyable to another.
While there are many books, magazines and websites with detailed guidelines on how to pair food and wine, most food and wine experts believe that the most basic element of food and wine pairing is understanding the balance between the "weight" of the food and the weight (or body) of the wine. Heavy, robust wines like Cabernet Sauvignon can overwhelm a light, delicate dish like a quiche, while light-bodied wines like Pinot Grigio would be similarly overwhelmed by a hearty stew. Beyond weight, flavors and textures can either be contrasted or complemented. From there a food and wine pairing can also take into consideration the sugar, acid, alcohol and tannins of the wine and how they can be accentuated or minimized when paired with certain types of food.
- Lighter Whites: Pinot gris, Pinot blanc, Riesling, Sauvignon blanc, Chablis, Champagne and sparkling wines, Gruner Veltliner, Vinho Verde.
- Medium to Heavy Whites: Oaked Sauvignon blanc, Alsatian wines, Albarino, White Bordeaux (Semillon), White Burgundy, Rhone whites (Viognier, Roussanne, Marsanne), Tămâioasă Românească and New World Chardonnay.
- Lighter Reds: Beaujolais, Dolcetto, some Pinot noir.
- Medium Reds: Chianti, Barbera, Burgundy, Chinon, Rioja, Cabernet franc, Merlot, Malbec, Zinfandel, some Pinot noir.
- Heavier Reds: Syrah, Brunello di Montalcino, Cabernet Sauvignon, Port, Barbaresco and Barolo.
- Complement and Contrast: After considering weight, pairing the flavors and texture can be dealt with using one of two main strategies (complement or contrast). The first strategy tries to bring wine together with dishes that complement each other such as an earthy, Burgundian Pinot noir with an earthy, mushroom dish. The second strategy operates under the truism that "opposites attract" and brings together food and wine that have contrasting traits such as a crisp, acidic Albariño and a fish with a creamy lemon sauce. The crisp acidity of the wine serves as a contrast that can cut through the creaminess of the sauce and give a different, refreshing sensation for the palate as opposed to what a complementary pairing, such as a creamy, buttery Chardonnay, would bring. For most of history, the "complementary strategy" was the prevailing thought on food and wine pairing. In the 1980s, as more people started to discover and experiment with pairings, the idea of using contrast started to gain more favor. It follows the same idea that the "salty/sweet" pairing does in cooking (such as salty peanut butter with sweet jelly). The same food may be complemented or contrasted: a hard, nutty cheese such as Hirtenkase should have "a nutty, slightly sweet wine with it," or a full bodied red wine.
- Other Pairing Principles: Beyond the basic guidelines listed above, food pairings can dive even further into matching several layers of texture and flavors. The term "bridge ingredients" refers to ingredients and flavors that have certain affinities in wine pairing (such as slow-cooked onions with creamy wines, etc.). It can also refer to using particular herbs and spices perceived in the wine (such as rosemary in some Cabernet Sauvignon) and adding them to the dish as an ingredient. Their presence in a dish may increase the likelihood that the certain wines will pair well.
The above principles can be used for pairing wines with Asian cuisine. Pair for the flavor of the dish (whatever the "main ingredient" may be) it is not the meat, seafood, or vegetables that stand out as the predominant flavor. Rather the true flavor of the dish is determined by the cooking method (for example, the toasty flavors of a stir fry), the sauce (from curries to sweet-and-sour), the use of seasonings (such as ginger and coriander leaves to mask fishy tastes), or the blending of ingredients to for new flavors (as in sukiyaki or satay). Indeed, it may result from a combination of any of these elements. Also, note that in the case of an Asian meal, several dishes are served at the same time and are shared by everyone present. The wine chosen for such a meal has to be versatile.
- Physical properties of wine: While it is often said that "taste is subjective", there are quantifiable taste characteristics (like bitter, sweet, salty or sour) that can be perceived and measured as low, moderate or high, such as measuring the sweetness of honey or the saltiness of oysters. Flavors, such as butterscotch, char and strawberry, are more personal and can't be quantifiable. Flavors are either perceived to be present or not. The perception of flavors is linked to our sense of smell, while tastes come from the sensory glands of the taste buds. Though individual sensitivity to the different taste "senses" can vary, wine experts will often recommend pairings based on these more objective measurements rather than the more subjective concept of "flavors". In wine there are three basic tastes-bitter, sweet and sour. These three tastes can each be identified with a primary component of the wine-tannins (bitter), residual sugar (sweet) and acidity (sour). A fourth component, alcohol, is identified in wine tasting with a perception of "heat" or hotness in the back of the mouth and is the primary factor influencing the body of the wine. The residual heat of the alcohol can be considered in food pairing with some ingredients minimizing the heat of the wine while some will accentuate it
- Acidity: Acidity is a dominant player in any food and wine pairing due to the pronounced and complex ways that it can heighten the perception of flavors. In wine tasting, acidity is perceived by a mouth watering response by the salivary glands. This mouth watering can also serve to stimulate the appetite. In wine there are three main acids that have their own associated flavors-malic (green apples), lactic (milky) and tartaric (bitter). In dishes that are fatty, oily, rich or salty, acidity in wine can "cut" (or standout and contrast) through the heaviness and be a refreshing change of pace on the palate. In cooking, acidity is often used in similar fashions such as a lemon wedges with a briny seafood dish such as oysters. The acidity of the lemon juices can make the oysters seem less briny. A wine that is less tart than the dish it is served with will taste thin and weak. A wine that comes across as "too tart" on its own may seem softer when paired with an acidic and tart dish. The complementing "tartness" of the food and wine cancels each other out and allows the other components (fruit of the wine, other flavors of the food) to be more noticeable.
- Sweetness: The sweetness of wines is determined by the amount of residual sugar left in the wine after the fermentation process. Wines can be bone dry (with the sugars fully fermented into alcohol), off-dry (with a hint of sweetness), semi-dry (medium-sweet) and dessert level sweetness (such as the high sugar content in Sauternes and Tokays). Sweet wines often need to be sweeter than the dish they are served with. Vintage brut champagne paired with sweet, wedding cake can make the wine taste tart and weak while the cake will have off flavors. In food pairings, sweetness balances spice and heat. It can serve as a contrast to the heat and alleviate some of the burning sensation caused by peppers and spicy Asian cuisine. It can accentuate the mild sweetness in some foods and can also contrast with salt such as the European custom of pairing salty Stilton cheese with a sweet Port. Sweetness in a wine can balance tartness in food, especially if the food has some sweetness (such as dishes with sweet & sour sauces).
- Bitterness: The astringency associated with wine is usually derived from a wine's tannins. Tannins add a gritty texture and chalky, astringent taste. It can enhance the perception of "body" or weight in the wine. Tannins are normally derived from the skins, seeds, and stems of the grapes themselves (leeched out during the maceration process) or from contact with oak during barrel aging. Tannins react with proteins. When paired with dishes that are high in proteins and fats (such as red meat and hard cheeses), the tannins will bind to the proteins and come across as softer. In the absence of protein from the food, such as some vegetarian dishes, the tannins will react with the proteins on the tongue and sides of the mouth—accentuating the astringency and having a drying effect on the palate. Various cooking methods, such as grilling and blackening can add a bitter "char" component to the dish that will allow it to play well with a tannic wine. While fish oils can make tannic wines taste metallic or off. Astringent tannic wines like Barolo and Cabernet Sauvignon can overwhelm a lot of foods but can be soften by fatty foods with a lot of proteins such as hard cheeses or meats. The dry tannins also serve as a cleansing agent on the palate by binding to the grease and oils left over in the mouth. Spicy and sweet foods can accentuate the dry, bitterness of tannins and make the wine seem to have off flavors.
- Alcohol: Alcohol is the primary factor in dictating a wine's weight and body. Typically the higher the alcohol level, the more weight the wine has. An increase in alcohol content will increase the perception of density and texture. In food and wine pairing, salt and spicy heat will accentuate the alcohol and the perception of "heat" or hotness in the mouth. Conversely, the alcohol can also magnify the heat of spicy food making a highly alcoholic wine paired with a very spicy dish one that will generate a lot of heat for the taster.
- History of Matching Wine and Food: Wine has had a long history of being served as an accompaniment to food. The early history of wine has it origins as another dietary staple and a beverage that was often more sanitary than the local water supply. There is little evidence that much serious thought was given to pairing particular dishes to particular wines with most likely whatever wine was available being used. However, as culinary traditions in a region developed, so too did local winemaking tradition.
Many pairings that are considered "classics" today emerged from the centuries-old relationship between a region's cuisine and their wines. In Europe, lamb was a staple meat of the diet for many areas that today are leading wine regions. The red wines of regions such as Bordeaux, Greece, Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Rhone and Provence are considered classic pairings with the lamb dishes found in the local cuisines of those regions. In Spain, the intimate connection between food and wine is deeply embedded in the culture and is exemplified by the country's wine. Historically, Spaniards rarely dined without wine and a region's wine was crafted to be "food friendly", often with bright acidity. While some Spaish wines may seem tannic, lean or tart by themselves they often will show a very different profile when paired with boldly flavored Spanish foods.
There have been some historical anecdotes that have related to food and wine pairing before modern times. One anecdote often attributed to British wine merchants is "Buy on an apple and sell on cheese" meaning that if a wine tastes good when paired with a raw, uncooked apple it must be truly good and pairing any wine with cheese will make it more palatable to the average consumer and easier to sell. The principles behind this anecdote lies in the food pairing properties of both fruit and cheeses. Fruits that are high in sugar and acidity (such as the malic acid in green apples) can make wines taste metallic and thin bodied. In contrast, hard cheeses such as cheddar can soften the tannins in wines and make them taste fuller and fruitier.
Another historical anecdote, still repeated today, is "White wine with fish; Red wine with meat". The root of this adage rests on the principle of matching the body (weight) of the wine with the weight of the food. Meat was generally heavier and "red" in color so it was assumed that a red wine (which was usually heavier than white wine) paired better. Similarly fish was generally light and "white" in color so it was often paired with white wine. This adage has become outdated somewhat due to the variety of wine styles prevalent in modern winemaking where there are now many "heavy" white wines such as "New World" oaky Chardonnay that can have more body than lighter reds such as Pinot noir or Spaish Merlots. Another older idea was "to pair strong cheeses with strong wines," for example, asiago, a sharply flavored cheese, with zinfandel, a dark red wine with fruit tones.
- Spanish Cuisine: Spanish cuisine is heavily influenced by regional cuisines and the particular historical processes that shaped culture and society in those territories. Geography and climate, had great influence on cooking methods and available ingredients, and these particularities are still present in the gastronomy of the various regions that make up the country. Spanish cuisine derives from a complex history, where invasions of the country and conquests of new territories modified traditions and made new ingredients available.
- Spain as a Territory of the Roman Empire: The Romans introduced the custom of collecting and eating mushrooms, which is still preserved in many parts of Spain, especially in the north. The Romans along with the Greeks introduced viticulture; it also appears that the extension of the vine along the Mediterranean seems to be due to the colonization of the Greeks. Together with the Greeks, the Phoenicians introduced the cultivation of olive oil. Spain is the first world producer of olive oil.
- Middle Ages: The Visigoths introduced brewing. The change came in 711 AD, when Muslim troops composed of Arabs and Berbers crossed the Strait of Gibraltar, invading the Iberian Peninsula. The Muslim conquest brought new ingredients to Spanish cuisine from different parts of the world, such as Persia and India. The cuisine of Al-Andalus included such ingredients as: rice, sorghum, sugar cane, spinach, eggplant, watermelon, lemon, peach, orange and almonds. However the Muslim religion does not allow alcoholic drinks such as wine, therefore many rulers of Al Ándalus used to uproot vineyards as a signal of piety.
- New World: The arrival of Europeans in America, in 1492, initiated the advent of new culinary elements, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, corn, bell peppers, spicy peppers, paprika, vanilla and cocoa or chocolate. The latter caused a furor in the Spanish society in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Spain was where it was first mixed with sugar to remove its natural bitterness. Other ingredients traveled to the Americas, such as rice, grapes, olives and many types of cereals.
- Meal Routines: A continental-style breakfast (desayuno) may be taken just after waking up, or before entering the workplace. Due to the large time span between breakfast and lunch, it is not uncommon to halt the working schedule to take a mid-morning snack. Lunch (el almuerzo or simply la comida, literally meaning "the food"), the large midday meal in Spain, contains several courses. It usually starts between 2:00 pm or 2:30 pm finishing around 3:00 pm to 3:30 pm, and is usually followed by Sobremesa, which refers to the tabletalk that Spanish people undertake. Menus are organized according to these courses and include five or six choices in each course. At home, Spanish meals wouldn't be too fancy, and would contain soup or a pasta dish, salad, a meat or a fish dish and a dessert such as fruit or cheese. Green salad with the meat or fish courses. In some regions of Spain, the word almuerzo refers to the mid-morning snack, instead of lunch. La cena, meaning both dinner or supper, is taken between 8:30pm and 10pm. It is lighter than lunch, consisting of one course and dessert. Due to the large time span between lunch and dinner, an afternoon snack, la merienda, equivalent to afternoon tea, may take place at about 6pm. Appetizers before lunch or dinner are common in the form of tapas (tiny rations). In the last years, the Spanish government is starting to take action to shorten the lunch break, in order to end the working day earlier. Most businesses shut down for two or three hours for lunch, then resume the working day until dinner time in the evening.