Coming at Bar Isabel from the Spanish side, what van Gameren got right — and what so many North American 'Spanish-influenced' rooms get wrong — is the structure of the meal. This is genuine tapeo: you eat in stages, standing-room energy at the bar, plates arriving as they are ready rather than coordinated, and the kitchen builds the menu to be grazed across a long evening rather than ordered as courses. The format is as much the achievement as any single dish.
The tortilla española is the technical test and it passes — set at the edges, still loose at the centre, the potato-to-egg ratio actually calibrated — and the in-house charcuterie is among the best cured-meat programs in the country. But the dish I would insist on is the grilled octopus, which is the one the room is quietly famous for and which comes to the table tender from the preparation rather than from overcooking. The Spanish wine and sherry list is serious, and the sherry pairing is the move most guests overlook.
Go with a group, sit at the bar if you can, and order in waves. This is the closest thing Toronto has to an actual Spanish night out, and it should be treated like one.
Note: Bar seating is held for walk-ins and is the best way in without a booking; ask the staff to build a sherry flight alongside the meat plates.
