The best restaurants serving Spanish food in East of England

Celebrated a 50th birthday and we couldn’t haven’t been looked after any better by Sarah. We were a group of 13 and she kept us all fed and watered, and the restaurant provided a nice cake at the end. Cocktails were lovely, Tapas was very good, I especially enjoyed the meatballs and ham croquettes but others had their own favourites. A memorable night!

A fascinating evening in the coolest place around. Live music, people having fun...it's been too long.

We happened up on El Chigre Tapas Restaurant in Chelmsford, a) because we love good authentic tapas, b) didn’t want a heavy meal and c) we’re a bit bored with central cities being dominated by soulless chains. El Chigre is a one-off, family owned traditional Spanish tapas bar. The family hails from Asturias in the north of Spain and the cooking tells that story. Simple, elegant and delicious tapas. We ordered cod-loin stuffed roasted red peppers, fried aubergine fingers drizzled with honey, hand made ham croquetas, gambas cooked in garlic, calamares with aioli and sliced chorizo cooked in white wine. It was all rich in flavour, authentic, and simply delicious. Washed down with a white Rioja, this was a treat. They’ve been here a number of years but we’re thrilled to have found them. If you give them a few days notice, they’ll even prepare traditional suckling pig, garlic roasted lamb shoulder and other traditional dishes. Having sampled the tapas as a measure of the restaurant, next time we’ll try their paella and see how that measures up. Excellent food, reasonably priced, great family service. Muy bien.

Works Christmas meal, booked early in the year in order to get a good date in December and time to sort the menu and monies from all staff attending.(£22 per head) Despite contacting the restaurant,as I have a food allergy and wanted to make sure there was something I could eat on the Tapas menu,by email and several phone calls I never heard back from the chefs. Instead I called in, in person twice, to discuss what I could eat from the menu and agreed that the chef would make a separate platter for me for the evening in December. So it was really disappointing when I arrived and notified the waiting staff that I was the person with the allergy and had arranged with the chef for a separate platter that nobody knew anything about it. The venue was nice, live music but quiet enough to chat. However there is no heating on so it is chilly and freezing cold in the washrooms. A good place to visit to meet up with friends as long as you don't have any allergies as there is not enough communication between kitchen and waiting staff

Enjoyed tapas and wine in the sun in the outdoor seating area. Great lunchtime deal on the tapas for two of us, and including a bottle of wine the bill was under £70.

Came here for a bite to eat before the theatre, what great little tapas place. Excellent food and lovely staff, will definitely come back.