Beronia Txoco Club at Boqueria Clapham
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192 Acre Ln, SW2 5UL
020 7733 4408/www.boqueriatapas.com/
Northern Spain has a long tradition of male only gastronomic societies where beret-wearing moustachioed chaps gather to cook, eat, drink fine wines, sing traditional songs and presumably moan about their wives. It sounds great! One group in particular decided in 1973 to start their own vineyard which has developed into the award winning winery Bodegas Beronia. The Beronia people have come up with the bright idea of recreating these ‘Txoco’ events in a fun way in London and that’s why Fiona and I found ourselves heading to Boqueria which has a reputation for being south London’s finest tapas bar.
On arrival we were ushered into the restaurant’s kitchen and I was surrounded by some very attractive young men who had obviously being focussing on their skin care regimes.
We started with a glass of good fizz and noshed heartily on pan e tomato, delicious slivers of manchego and jamon alongside great olives and the best almonds I have ever tasted.
Meanwhile the chefs were cooking up a storm in the kitchen with a stew of flank steak, red wine and onions.
We moved downstairs to the restaurant’s basement where we had a tasting of the Beronia reds; first up was a full-bodied fruity Tempranillo with menthol and chocolate notes. This was followed by the lesser known Graciano grape which was more floral with black pepper and mint notes-perfect without food. The third grape we tasted was a Mazuelo which is more often known as a Carignan. This was quite tannic with a rich fruitiness and spice elements. At this point things got a little blurry…
Fortunately the food arrived to save the day. The stew was rich and warming with the meat being tender and full of flavour. We celebrated with more wine…
By this time the party was in full swing and it turned out that the attractive young men were actually young women sneaking in to the Txoco. I can’t condone this kind of gender swapping, wild partying behaviour…well maybe on the weekends…
If you get a chance to go to one of the Beronia Txocos you should take it. I can’t promise that you will remember too much about it afterwards or that photos of you wearing a beret and fake rash in a compromising situation won’t appear afterwards on the internet, but at least you will have had a good time. Alternatively you could just go to Bocqueria and create your own Txoco; I definitely want to return to try out more of the menu and more of the Beronia wines.
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