Emma Bartholomew tries out Eyre Brothers’ lunch en famille, and yearns to return.

I keep getting flashbacks of Eyre Brothers’ Iberico pork fillet – sliced to reveal its rare red flesh, and the way the tender meat melted in my mouth, with a hint of Moorish spice,

The signature dish, served alongside the melt in your mouth Portuguese soft potatoes, was really unlike anything I’ve tasted before - and what I found unbelievable is that it came from a pig, and not a cow.

Usually pork fillets are creamy white, but this special black pig roams freely around the Iberian region of Spain and Portugal in forests, eating just acorns.

The little swines have a ferocious appetite and are prone to obesity, meaning their muscle is marbled with fat and super tasty,

The jamón ibérico on the tapas menu comes from the same Iberico pork – which was possibly the best raw ham I’ve ever tasted, with sweet, warm, intense tones.

David Eyre’s restaurant in Leonard Street has been going strong for 15 years.

He has said that if they could hire old Portuguese and Spanish women dressed in black then the kitchen would be full of them - but there is something so sophisticated and yet still simple about the fare, that it surpasses authentic.

Aged 55, while many chefs might put their name above the door and have never visited, Eyre is still behind the stove every day.

I came to sample Sunday lunch with my three children and we wolfed down the tapas starters – the delectable crispy-fried salt cod fish cakes, the sweet juicy prawns in a piquant sauce which was mopped up with the homemade rolls, the wonderful vinegary anchovies with red onions and walnuts, and the calamari.

It’s a wonder that we had room for the main course and it’s testament to the top-notch food that we managed to clear just about everything on our plates.

The huge king prawns were juicy and spicy, and the succulent lamb chops were served with a rich black olive tapenade on a bed of chick peas and subtly flavoured green-themed vegetables.

The spacious and airy interior kitted out from ceiling to floor in dark walnut wood harks to Lisbon, which has become a destination of late – especially when the sun is beating down outside and inside you are cool.

It’s so exciting to leave a restaurant feeling enthused about discovering a new food.

Surely the best homage to a restaurant is when you dream of returning, and I’ll be going back for lunch at Eyre brothers – one of the best I could imagine.

Eyre Brothers is based in Leonard Street Shoreditch, EC2.

Tapas from £3 to £16 more for dishes from the grill.

Website: eyrebrothers.co.uk Telephone bookings on 0207 6135346.