Baratxuri

Basque enclave Baratxuri is the second Ramsbottom-based bar and restaurant from Joe and Fiona Botham.

A spin-off from their business importing high-quality Spanish raw materials, including aged beef from Galician dairy cows, Baratxuri follows the success of their first venture, Levanter, which is just around the corner (and also in the top 100).

Careful sourcing and perfectly cooked meat and fish are at the heart of the operation with a menu that includes bar-top pintxos, raciones, and a short ‘asado’ or wood-fired roasted meats menu. This could include a quarter of milk-fed lamb, Txuleton rib steak, Jacobs Ladder or octopus leg, all served whole and carved at the table with piles of roast potatoes and buttery ham and cabbage.

While the menu is ever-changing, look out for pintxos such as Txistorra (a sausage roll encasing piquant chorizo) or Txangurro a la Donastiana, a pimento-rich spider crab tartlet (a signature dish of San Sebastian).

To drink? Tzakoli is an obvious choice but everything is good from the medium-bodied Mencia M Mencia from the Luna Beberide winery in Bierzo, to Xixarito Pedro Ximenez sherry and the Marioneta cocktail (a Negroni by any other name with the emphasis on the Spanish sweet vermouth). A wonderful place.

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