mytravelbugbite

I have been to El Bareto a few times before. It is a tapas restaurant located on Gledhow Valley Road in the Chapel Allerton area of Leeds. Upstairs there is a small bar area which seems to be a hot spot for all the Spanish expats living in Leeds to come and hang out and stocks a variety of Spanish brews. The fluent Spanish been spoken between all the customers and staff really sets the scene for a Mediterranean experience.

The restaurant is located downstairs in a cosy seating area. The seats themselves are not particularly comfortable and it is a bit of a squeeze if the place is full, but on our last visit (a Monday night) there was plenty of room for us. You are given a menu and a piece of paper with a list of all the dishes on it and to choose your meal you simply tick the boxes next to the food you want and hand it in to the waitress. They recommend 4-6 dishes for 2 people, but being highly indecisive we always go for more and gets disbelieving comments from the staff.

The food comes out as and when it is ready, they do not wait for it all to be cooked first. This usually works quite well as it means plates can be cleared as and when they are finished and the table never gets too filled. Unfortunately on this occasion it did lead to me getting and eating all the plates I wanted before Fraser got any of his, although I note he did manage to help me with some of mine whilst he was waiting.

The food isn’t particularly pretty, as you can see from the pictures, but it is flavorsome and really delicious. Fraser particularly like the aioli potatoes and I love the chorizo in cider. The white chocolate cheesecake dessert was naughty but yummy as well.

There are live music nights a couple of times a week when it can get quite loud in the restaurant.

I would highly recommend El Bareto as it is one of my favourite places to eat in Leeds. The bill can add up if you go crazy on the number of dishes as we tend to do but it delivers really tasty food in an authentic Spanish atmosphere, and lets face it, what more could you want from a tapas joint?!

Sorry about the quality of the pictures, I was too busy enjoying eating the food.