Named Tramontana, Brindisa’s fourth restaurant celebrates the cuisine of the Spanish Mediterranean. This includes the Catalan and Levantine Coasts, from northern Catalunya to Almería and the Balearic Islands. Fresh fish, rice and pasta along with an exceptional array of Mediterranean vegetables and fruit are strong elements of this cuisine. The warm and unique climate of this area of Spain provides a colourful, diverse range of dishes and a balanced way of eating.
Rice is a speciality of the restaurant and rice dishes are cooked daily from scratch through lunch and dinner every day; the day’s specials at half hour intervals, and a la carte to order. The ringing of a bell tells you that the next batch is ready. Be sure to order ahead because once it’s gone it’s gone. Daily rice dishes or “arroces” will feature an array of vegetables, fish and meat from the region such as lobster, rabbit, artichokes and salt cod.
Alongside a daily changing rice and tapas blackboard, the main menu also features tapas plates, and an unusual and exciting array of cured meats and fish including specialities such as mojama cured tuna fillet, huevas salted and pressed roe and sarda salt cured tuna loin, highlighting the skill of small traditional producers and the provenance of their foods. Breakfast at Tramontana is also a very satisfying affair, boasting a menu of Spanish omelettes, broad beans with ham, mushrooms with Ermesenda cheese sobrasada with honey and goats cheese, fresh farmhouse yoghurt and a full Brindisa breakfast of fried eggs, grilled chorizo, ibérico ham, rice morcilla, chips and home cooked tomato arrocina beans.
The 100-cover restaurant is situated on the former SAF site in Curtain Road, Shoreditch. The restaurant and its long dining counter based around the kitchen, also features a cheese counter where co-founder Monika Linton indulges her passion for Spanish cheeses – the range at Tramontana will be the largest in the UK. There is also an outside courtyard, shaded by a mulberry tree, that seats 24.
The menu focuses on Spanish Mediterranean flavours and ingredients with rice and pasta being a speciality of the restaurant. Monika Linton co-owner said ‘We are thrilled to open in the vibrant neighbourhood of Shoreditch and Tramontana the name of a wind that affects parts of this coastline, is an extremely exciting opportunity and will enable us to deepen the British experience of rice cooking from this part of the world..’
Josep Carbonell, says ‘We’re going to see some very exciting and different Spanish dishes come out of the restaurant. For me showing the real side of Spain is so important and we’ve still got so much to discover here in England, we’ll work with the wonderful produce of the English garden and combine it with the Spanish Mediterranean style of cooking.’
‘Wines at Tramontana are equally important to this venue’ added Victor Calvente ‘The area is of course home to Cava and so we’ll be able to have some fun with this and create an extensive Cava menu, we’ll also create an interesting wine list which will showcase some local grape varietals such as the Monastrell and Moscatel and also feature some of the more unusual wines from Spain.’
Brindisa Tapas Kitchens was formed in 2004 by Monika Linton and business partner, Finance Director Ratnesh Bagdai ‘This organic growth does illustrate the group’s success in opening sites on a timely and well-researched basis. With three current good performing Tapas sites in London, the groups managerial and financial base will continue to strengthen’ states Ratnesh Bagdai.
Today Brindisa, the Spanish food importing arm of the business, and Brindisa Tapas Kitchen is headed up by Monika Linton, Alastair Brown and Ratnesh Bagdai.