New Brockley restaurant Cantinera is inspired by Mexican cantinas and Spanish tapas bars

You may have encountered them in their previous guise, Codillos, popping up at Patio in Brighton and Joyce in Brockley. Now chefs Jake Barwood and Celia D’Ortiz have gone one better, opening their first restaurant together, Cantinera. This Brockley neighbourhood cantina is going to combine ultra seasonal ingredients with dishes inspired by Celia's Spanish and Mexican heritage.

Now they have their own space, having taken over the old Mother Flipper site on Coulgate Street. Based on Mexican cantinas and Spanish tapas bars, the menu will change weekly, with dishes on the launch one including seabass crudo tostada with almond praline and fried leeks, along with tortilla de patatas with chile de arbol, onion salsa and goat's cheese.

The seed for the restaurant was sown when Jake and Celia bumped into each other at Brockley Market, and "dreamed up bringing friends together over delicious food... We wanted it to be accessible and affordable...with a nod to Celia’s Mexican and Spanish heritage."

Here in Brockley, they're currently unlicensed, so diners are welcome to bring their own booze, subject to corkage. And it'll start as walk-ins only while they find their feet.