Bar San Juan Chorlton – A Review

If you want good Tapas in a relaxed and authentic-feeling atmosphere, then Bar San Juan in Chortlon should be on your hit-list. It’s located on Beech Road in Chorltonville, in a tiny spot on the corner, which we found out gets drenched in sun when the weather is good!

We awoke to a hot and sunny weekend morning and with the in-laws over, wanted to head somewhere local, relaxed and above all yummy! We knew that anywhere decent would be packed by lunch-time (particularly the coveted outdoor seating areas), so waltzed our way down Beech Road just ahead of the lunch crowd at midday, and nabbed the last outdoor table on the terrace of Bar San Juan. The perfect spot to catch the sun, people-watch and enjoy some tapas and sangria…and that’s exactly what we did!

Bar San Juan is a relaxed place, serving authentic, fresh and seriously delicious tapas. The staff are friendly and the decor authentic and not too polished with tiled walls, wooden furniture and fairy lights adorning the ceiling and pictures across the walls. The place is seriously tiny though and it’s a well-known fact in Chorlton that it’s always busy! You can’t pre-book and instead just have to hope you pass by at the right time, as a table becomes free, or be prepared to prop-up their tiny bar area and wait (with tapas flying past you at a rate of knots). We’ve done both in the past and have never been disappointed. However on a sunny day, be prepared to wait a long while as the place gets seriously over-subscribed…which of course means it’s good.

So the organiser in me was very chuffed when our plan of setting-off at 11.50am (on the dot) meant we got a brilliant spot for the 4 of us to enjoy lunch (much to the envy of passing salivating Chorltonites).

I drank sangria (would be rude not to) and the boys drank San Miguel beers. We ordered some bread with aioli (garlic mayo) to tuck into while we chose our array of tapas dishes. The bread by the way is so moreish…soft and white with a nice crust!

The prices are very reasonable at Bar San Juan – circa £4.50 per dish, which gives you a good serving of at least 4 of the thing you ordered. I’d say you want to allow for 3-4 choices per person (or more if you’re anything like us!).

Unfortunately I got way too giddy when the food arrived and dived in to devour most of it before remembering to take a photo! (Oops!). But I did get a few snaps, which only go slightly the way to doing this place justice. Did I mention the food is seriously good!? Above are the dates wrapped in bacon and breaded and fried on skewers…sticky, sweet with a salty kick from the bacon. Yum.

Here’s the prawns pil-pil, which are seriously meaty king prawns, cooked in butter garlic and chilli. They have a firey heat to them and come out sizzling in their dish with chunks of garlic. (If you look closely you can see the basket of bread in the background too – perfect for dipping!).

This is a nod to the north as it’s black-pudding fritters with a red-pepper sauce on top, served on crusty baked and buttered bread. I can’t pretend I’m a huge black-pudding fan, but these I can handle. Full of flavour while still being light.

For all you fellow prawn-lovers, these bad boys are not to be missed! Giant king prawns, wrapped in bacon and deep fried in a light crispy batter. And just a touch of aioli on top. Seriously meaty with a crispy crunch. Love these!

I’m afraid this is the point when I became a bit remiss with the camera, but caught hubby tucking into some calamari with lemon.

We also ate patatas ali-oli (small chunks of fried potato…like cubed chips, which you can have with a tomato sauce ‘bravas’ or garlic-mayo ‘ali-oli’), deep-fried white bait, chicken and mushroom croquetas (potato cakes) and my favourite thing on the whole menu…honeyed belly pork ribs. They are so so so tender and succulent; the meat just falls off the bone and they come sizzling in  a sweet and juicy honey sauce. We usually get 2 orders of these, so they’re not to be missed!

Other things that feature on the menu are sizzling chorizo, sardines, manchego cheese, fried quail eggs, cured meats, croquetas and the paella of the day. All freshly made on site, this array of dishes are brought to your table as soon as they’re ready, so you get a sort of conveyer belt of food to enjoy and pick away happily at. What a perfect way to eat!

We tucked-in and ate our way through the tapas in the sunshine, which was the perfect way to spend a weekend lunch time. Depending on how much you order, I’d say the bill at this place usually comes out at circa £15-20 per head inc drinks, so certainly reasonable considering you leave feeling satisfyingly full.

Here’s our happy full faces…

If you’re looking for a taste of Spain in sunny (or not so sunny) Manchester, then Bar San Juan in Chorlton is certainly well-worth a visit. It’s a lovely way to while-away an afternoon or evening, or meet with friends after work. But be warned…it gets busy!

Where else does good authentic tapas? It’s a relatively newly discovered cuisine for me, so I’m keen to try other places.

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