Catalan Tapas Bar Near Me in Nihonbashi: Bikini PICAR at COREDO Muromachi

Bikini PICAR is a Catalan tapas bar on the second floor of COREDO Muromachi at 2-2-1 Nihonbashi Muromachi, three minutes from exit A6 of Mitsukoshimae Station. Its signature Bikini, a hot sandwich of Ibérico ham and bocconcini, costs ¥980, and small pintxos start at ¥300. For anyone searching tapas bar near me around Nihonbashi, the useful detail is the 3pm to 5pm tea time, when the full tapas list and wine are served between lunch and dinner.

The menu is supervised by Josep Barahona Viñes, a Catalan chef the restaurant calls a pintxos specialist, and the kitchen cooks Catalan food in a simple, gentle style: seasonal ingredients grilled, fried or simmered without much fuss. Bikini is the name of the restaurant family, taken from the toasted ham and cheese sandwich that Barcelona bars call a bikini, and PICAR is the Spanish word for snacking. The restaurant is run by Four Seeds, the Tokyo company behind the Bikini group. Its corporate page gives its founding date as 1 April 1980, when it started out as an importer, and it launched the Pizza-La delivery chain in Mejiro in 1987.

Several dishes on the menu carry the chef's family stories. The Jordi pintxo, ¥420, is topped with tomato, egg, green olive, anchovy, capers and herbs and, according to the menu, is named after the chef's son, who loves it. The Florón Marina, a crisp flower-shaped fried pastry for ¥200, is the sweet the chef ate as a child at the festival in his grandmother's village.

The Bikini, ¥980, is the dish the restaurant tells every first-timer to order: bocconcini cheese and Ibérico ham pressed hot so the cheese melts into the ham. Pan con tomate with garlic and olive oil is ¥500, and two of the cheapest pintxos cost ¥300 each: escalivada of grilled pepper, aubergine and onion with avocado and L'Escala anchovy, and a smooth chicken liver pâté.

Moruno, spiced Ibérico pork shoulder skewers in the Moroccan style served at Spanish festivals, cost ¥650, and a grilled Ibérico belly pintxo is ¥600. Trevélez ham is ¥980 for a half portion or ¥1,650 for a full one, and Joselito Ibérico bellota is carved in front of you for ¥1,980 a half or ¥3,350 for a full plate. Ask the staff which Spanish cheese is on for ¥550.

Cod buñuelos, fluffy potato and salt cod fritters, cost ¥730 and are one of the chef's own favourites. Patatas bravas are ¥650, shishito-style padrón peppers are ¥650 and Ibérico ham croquetas are ¥930. Huevos estrellados, soft eggs over fries and chorizo, cost ¥790, and the Catalan omelette is ¥830. The standard Spanish omelette, cooked to a soft centre, is ¥750.

The chup-chup dishes are little simmered pots: mushrooms with garlic for ¥750, gambas al ajillo for ¥1,350 and Madrid-style callos tripe stew for ¥1,380. Gazpacho is ¥720 and the garlic soup, sopa de ajo, is ¥660. For a fresher plate, the three-tomato salad of fruit tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and semi-dried tomatoes is ¥830.

The restaurant makes its paella and caldoso stock by hand from sea bream alone, simmered for five hours, and that stock is what flavours the rice. Arròs a banda, the simple fish-stock paella served with aioli, is ¥2,100 for a pot that feeds two or three. Fideuà, the Catalan noodle paella with clams, prawns and squid, is ¥1,850 for a half or ¥3,080 for a full pot.

The soupy arroz caldoso with clams and salt cod is ¥1,580 for a half or ¥2,800 for a full pot. This autumn the seasonal special is a paella of Mogami chicken from Yamagata with mixed mushrooms, from ¥1,980 for a single portion, so a solo diner can still have rice. For a group, a bone-in lamb plancha is ¥5,200 for a half size.

Around 50 Spanish wines are kept in stock, and the sommelier focuses on bottles in the ¥2,000 to ¥4,000 range. Cava starts at ¥680 a glass and the house red or white, Sol de España, is ¥600 a glass. Four sherries cover the range: Manzanilla ¥600, Fino Hidalgo ¥660, Amontillado ¥750 and Pedro Ximénez ¥880, the last a natural partner for dessert.

House sangria in red or white is ¥780, and the Spanish mixed drinks cost ¥750 each: kalimotxo of red wine and cola, tinto de verano, clara and the Giralda, an acorn liqueur with milk meant to go with Ibérico ham. Spanish beers include Estrella Damm and Voll-Damm at ¥1,080 and Cruzcampo at ¥980.

Lunch runs from 11am to 3pm, and the lunch menu is still served after 2pm. A fideuà set with salad and a pintxo is ¥1,250, weekly lunches start at ¥1,450 and this autumn's paella set of Atlantic salmon and salmon roe is ¥1,690. The lunch course with five pintxos, soup, a main or paella, dessert and coffee is ¥2,500.

The quiet slot is tea time, from 3pm to 5pm, when the tapas and wine list stay available while the office crowd is back at work. Dinner runs from 5pm to 10pm, with last food orders at 9pm and drinks at 9.30pm, which is early by bar standards. Closing days follow COREDO Muromachi's own schedule.

The room has 57 seats and is fully non-smoking. It is wheelchair accessible, including the toilet, and families are welcome with babies, strollers and a changing space, which makes it one of the easier tapas bars in central Tokyo to bring children to. English and Spanish menus are available. In the evening, the Mercado party plan at ¥3,300 including tax and free-flow drinks from ¥1,700 bring in office groups from the surrounding towers.

One honest call: skip the large plancha meats if you are only two, because they are built for groups of three or four, and order more pintxos instead. If you want a later night than the 9pm last order allows, BROWNSTONE Tapas Bar in Ginza takes food orders until 10.30pm and is a few stops away on the Ginza Line.

COREDO Muromachi sits on Chuo-dori opposite the historic Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi main store and a short walk north of the Nihonbashi bridge itself. Fukutoku Shrine, a small shrine tucked between the COREDO buildings, is worth a stop on the way in.

Mitsukoshimae Station on the Ginza and Hanzomon lines is the closest, three minutes from exit A6. Shin-Nihombashi Station on the JR Sobu Line is also three minutes away, Nihombashi Station on the Tozai Line is about five minutes, and JR Kanda Station is roughly five minutes on foot.

Address: COREDO Muromachi 2F, 2-2-1 Nihonbashi Muromachi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-0022. Phone: +81 3-6202-3600 (COREDO Muromachi directory); Gurunavi reservations +81 50-5485-6168. Hours: lunch 11am to 3pm; tea time 3pm to 5pm; dinner 5pm to 10pm, last food order 9pm, drinks 9.30pm. Closed on COREDO Muromachi's closing days. Cards accepted include Visa, Mastercard, JCB, American Express, Diners and UnionPay. Takeaway is available.