Last week was the opening day for Bodega 18 and their second restaurant on Arwenack Street, Falmouth.

Formerly the site of Hunky Dory, the owners of Bodega 18, partners Steven Fradgley and Irene Del Val Martin saw the opportunity and got to work on the site in-between lockdowns.

They have held successful restaurants in Devon (for 10 years) and Truro, Steven, and Irene decided they wanted to venture into Falmouth spotting potential in the vibrant and diverse nature of the town.

At the time, Falmouth didn't have another authentic Spanish tapas bar, so this makes Bodega stand out and brings something new into the town.

Steven told Nub News:

"This is a short menu, nice and simple but it is all homecooked food, recipes from Irene's family passed down from aunties and mums, using as much local produce as we can.

"Falmouth is such a nice bustling town, it is quite a foody town with all different types of people and very artistic. When you leave here in the evening Falmouth is buzzing, one of the places to be."

Irene said:

"When we went to Truro that is when we decided we really wanted to do our own thing and introduce a full tapas menu without any mains. We felt comfortable moving to Truro with those 10 years in Devon behind us, we are really lucky because we have a brilliant team in both restaurants, recruitment has been great so far.

"It was the right time to open this one in May, people we spoke to said to us the location was amazing and we didn't want to end up losing it."

What are the dishes to look out for on the menu?

They added:

"Pigs cheeks which we get from a local butcher and then we cook them for about 4 ½ hours, we use the stock to make a nice gravy with Rioja and serve it with horseradish mash potato.

"And then, anchovies with a smoky tomato sorbet, so you have the warmth from the bread, saltiness from the anchovy, and then a really cold smoky tomato sorbet people really love the contrast between the saltiness and the sweet. We would say those two are the wow dishes."

A great location right on the waterfront, the colour scheme is bright and comfortable with a Spanish twist, hanging chorizo and Spanish music lightly playing in the background, and a stunning open kitchen so you can see and smell your food being prepared.

Bodega 18 Falmouth is open 12pm-2pm and 5pm-9pm daily, excluding Tuesday.

Call 07934 769876 to make a booking.

Click here to see more news and updates from Bodega.

Bodega 18 is also on the lookout for a new motivated chef to join the team in Falmouth, do you know someone who would be interested?