our story

Barrafina serves modern Spanish tapas. It is at once a tribute to the owners’ mothers, who were raised on the Ballearic island of Mallorca, inspired by the legendary tapas bars of Barcelona, and created to suit the lifestyle and tastes of cosmopolitan diners in London.

Brothers Sam and Eddie Hart founded Barrafina in 2007. Their parents, Tim and Stefa Hart, own and operate the renowned Michelin- starred Hambleton Hall in Rutland, where the brothers, and their cousin Anna Watkins, spent many a happy summer waiting on tables and helping in the kitchen. 

Their love of Spain began with their maternal grandparents. Vladimir Daskaloff, a Bulgarian artist and his Scottish wife Helen, fell in love with the beautiful Mallorcan village of Estellencs. In 1951, they built the house that Sam, Eddie and Anna’s mothers, Stefa and Nadia, grew up in and that their families continued to visit for many years. These trips to the island left a lasting impression, with memories of the bustling markets, where everything from tender local lamb to the prised weaver wrasse—only available in August—could be found. Village restaurants, with their simple approach to cooking, taking the freshest local ingredients and doing as little as possible to them, proved formative. An enduring love affair with the country was born. Scroll to continue.

Some years later, Sam spent time living in Barcelona deepening his knowledge of Spanish cuisine. He was particularly taken with the storied restaurant, Cal Pep, with its tiny L-shaped bar, and which sowed the seeds for bringing a modern Spanish dining concept to London.  

In 2003, Sam and Eddie launched Fino, their first Spanish restaurant, before opening Barrafina Frith Street in Soho in 2007, which became the first no- reservations restaurant to be awarded a Michelin star. The second Barrafina opened on Adelaide Street in 2014 and was named the best restaurant in the UK at the National Restaurant Awards in 2015 and OFM’s Readers’ Restaurant of the Year in 2016. Fino closed in 2015 and a third Barrafina opened that year on Drury Lane in Covent Garden; Frith moved to Dean Street in 2016; followed by a fourth in Coal Drops Yard King’s Cross in 2019. 

Having been part of the advisory board since the launch of Sam and Eddie’s first restaurant Fino, and having lived and worked at Grupo Prisa in Madrid, Anna joined the business as Managing Director in 2022, opening Barrafina Borough Yards in London Bridge with Sam. 

Eddie moved to Palma, Mallorca in 2018 to open El Camino tapas bar, and due to its phenomenal success recently launched El Caminito in October 2024. Eddie remains a Director of Barrafina Group.