Isabel Rios started serving her home cooked food on Columbia Road in 1982 after leaving the rural farm she’d grown up on in Galicia when she was 17.  Food was her passion in Spain and her dream was to continue her passion in London.  She opened her shop which was the first continental delicatessen in the East End of London. She turned the local community and beyond onto new and exciting foods and wines from Spain. 

 

People would come from all over London and further afield to try her food, especially her home cooking. Over time, a corner of the deli where people would eat their lunch turned into a table. Soon, this grew to two tables, then three… 

 

In time, the delicatessen evolved into a restaurant and alongside her son Eduardo, they opened the first restaurant in the Bethnal Green & Shoreditch area. Eduardo had grown up in his family’s deli kitchen and shared his mother’s passion for Spanish food and wines. Opening the first Spanish restaurant in East London wasn’t easy. Back then people thought we were crazy. “No one is going to go to the East End to eat out” they would warn us. 40 years on, East London is now a culinary destination and we are still proud as ever to serve our neighbourhood with delicious food and wines.