Andrew Edmunds

Andrew Edmunds

46 Lexington Street

London, W1F 0LP

0207437 5708

http://www.andrewedmunds.com

SN: Andrew Edmunds is a very well known and much loved restaurant on Lexington Street right under the "SOHO" stamp on Google Maps. It describes itself as part of old Soho and feels like it - the building is 18th century with a tiny door that I mistook for a window .  It was established in 1986 - which makes it ancient compared to many of the businesses in that area.  It is gratifyingly simple and beautiful in so many ways.  Simple in terms of layout, dishes, wine list and attention to it's customers, beautiful in execution of the food, the manners of the staff and in that so many of the sight lines end up with a small delicate and supremely painterly still life scene at the end of them.  It bustles but is never rushed or focused on anything but the customer.  The menu - handwritten on one page is a wonder of understatement about the fare.

The wine list is a conversation piece in itself - not least for price comparison - but I'm seldom drawn to so many wines out of a combination of both curiosity and value.  We ended up with this Renato Fenocchio, Barbaresco, DOCG 2009 to meet the challenge of our unpairable food choices ;-)

Spiced Cauliflower, Pomegranate and Labneh

LM: a delight of a dish - gorgeous vibrant colours, the cauliflower still had some crunch and worked beautifully with the creamy labneh and sharp pomegranate. Nice generous portion too.

Cornish Sardines, Harissa Sauce, Preserved Lemons and Coriander

SN: Nothing special about sardines you might think but i) they were fresh, ii) they were not over-cooked and iii) the flavourings were very nicely balanced.  Lovely surprise to find them on a menu and so well delivered.

The visual experience is an under appreciated part of of eating - not I think the dreary pattern making of new cuisinists but something harking back centuries of artistic endeavour to capture nature's bounty when it's ready to be consumed.  There's a measured fecundity about the plates, familiar visuals from a long time ago and a simplicity too.  It's very appealing.

Pavé of Venison, Tokyo Turnips, Beetroot and Walnuts

SN: My Pavé of Venison was the best venison I've tasted in a very long time (sorry Edwin's this was better!).  There's nothing complicated about enjoying good food done well when the starting point is such wonderful source materials.  I'll say no more but it would put all the steaks on all the menus in this postcode in the shade.  Tokyo turnips are a bit of a rarity on menus too but such a natural match for a robust meat.  The greens we ordered were floppy and shiny and full of goodness, greenness and a fantastic taste.

Risotto with Radicchio Trevisano, Chestnuts & Ricotta Salata

LM: The risotto was a thing of joy - no token veggie dish. Lovely and creamy with the radicchio giving it a good bite. I probably would have enjoyed my dessert a fraction more had the risotto been slightly smaller, but only have myself to blame for wading through the whole generous portion.

Bamboozled

I think perhaps the photo of LM tells you all you need to know about the quality of the pudding.  There was also an eloquent silence of concentrated appreciation...

Sticky Toffee Pudding with Vanilla Ice Cream

SN: I had a selection of cheeses from Neal's Yard which were unnamed.  We finished up with some Pedro Ximenez and went out into the clear night air hoping we can go back again soon.  It was nice to get such a positive and confident from the kitchen when I popped down to thank them.  The whole place is busy, but not hassled, quality, but not full of itself and everywhere is beauty.

LM: One of the things I really appreciated about our visit was the honesty about table timings. We knew we had a two hour slot which made it so much easier to plan out courses and drinks. Service was rapid towards the end of the meal but I didn't feel hurried at any point, and our waiter was happy to advise on how long desserts would take. I can absolutely understand the need for maximum table times in a restaurant this small and the staff manage it brilliantly.

Overall

Top marks to Andrew Edmunds - not that they need them from us, but the meal couldn't have been bettered in a place that couldn't be more delightful.

Best bits: 

SN: For me I suspect much as I loved the food, it was the look and feel of the place.  It cares about what you see on the plate but way beyond too and I was just enchanted after the a tour. 

Summary

SN: When I say it's quintessentially English I mean that beyond our current preoccupation with the word.  It is a place full of history from Gillray to old Soho and it bridges those centuries with aplomb.  It is confident and straightforward in what it offers and does so with a nod to London long past.  I admire this singular and unsentimental vision: I've seldom felt so at home in a restaurant.

Honey and Co

Honey & Co

25A Warren Street, 

London 

W1T 5LZ

http://honeyandco.co.uk

SN: Honey & Co is a small, well-regarded establishment on Warren Street, overlooked by the Post Office tower.  They serve what they describe as "food from the Middle East" completely underplaying the excellence of the cuisine.  They have a great reputation.  It is a compact space with a large window at the front, a few tables outside and there is a large counter at the other end groaning with cakes.  The menu is absolutely about Middle Eastern food and its delicate flavour combinations and it is impressive in it's range which changes regularly too.

We started with the Luxury Mezze with six or seven dishes which were just a treat:

First few dishes in the Mezze

LM: everything was delicious and so well balanced. The quality of the ingredients is really clear - the hummous, for example, is smooth and delicate, a million miles away from the gritty, garlicky rubbish you get in a lot of places. Feta cigars had a lovely crunch to them, and there was a good balance of salads to go with the heavier dishes.

tomato and sheeps curd

feta filo cigars with honey

SN: this was very impressive mezze - the dark crusted bread was just gorgeous and at every turn there was something to divert and delight.  And echo what LM said about the hummous - a smooth texture I hadn't encountered at all and none of the cloying after-taste of the worst attempts I've suffered.  There was plenty for two of us.  Colour, flavour and texture brilliantly covered across a range of simple but elegant dishes.

Persian meatballs in yoghurt sauce

SN: It was hard to choose a main course: my decision was based mostly on curiosity about how a yoghurt sauce might match meatballs.  It was just divine with peas and pea shoots and mint balancing the gently spiced lamb meatballs with even more luxurious tastes.  Again I was struck by the high quality ingredients, simple ideas and delightful sense of discovery in this dish. When Honey & Co present a dish it's without fuss, but the real satisfaction is in the tastes and textures that they leave you to explore.

lentil and carrot kofta

LM: my main was a lentil and carrot kofta with carrot and walnut salad and tahini (which you can't see, but was underneth the kofta). Absolutely gorgeous dish - lighter than it looks, the kofta had a lovely crunch to them and were soft and spicy on the inside.

Cold cheesecake, kadaif pastry, honey

LM: My dessert was probably the least exciting of the courses for me - a little bit too much cheesecake topping and not enough pastry base, although the sugared nuts and honey gave it a glorious edge. I had dessert envy over SN's choice...

Warm pistachio and goats cheese baklava with set lemon saffron cream

SN: LM was right to suffer dessert envy.  I like baklava very occasionally and I was interested in the Honey & Co take on it: I was ready for something sickly but there was none of that.  It was the highlight of the meal in every sense.  Delicious understated filling, rich in the fullest sense of the word, delicate pastry and the gorgeous cream to set it off and provide a vivid sense of the Middle East sun. The striking colours, textures and tastes sum up all that I really enjoyed at Honey & Co: nothing offends, mostly it intrigues and everything is of a very high quality.

We didn't get round to cake

SN: But there was a problem - having put all that effort into the food, they fell flat on their faces on customer services.

We were 1 hour 52 minutes into our allowed 2 hours when we were presented with a bill.  This was galling - I'd had no time for a coffee, I was thinking about more wine and even toying with the idea of another dessert (on the advice of Itamar Srulovich who had just responded to a question I had just tweeted).  It was a greater disappointment to be moved on in such a perfunctory, charmless way. Had the service been lightning fast throughout I might have felt the restaurant had kept it's side of the bargain - but it wasn't.  Service was poor: we waited five minutes for our member of staff to get off the phone to order dessert.  When we ordered the sweet no sense of the impending exclusions was given - she could have had one more sale if she had recommended we ordered coffee at the same time as ordering dessert.  At one point a different person came back to check our order.  I don't think they were doing everything they could to maximise our enjoyment in that 2 hours.

This is a venue where you will have great food - food in truth worth more than they charge for it - but a meal out is more than that - especially for us.

I guess the owners might argue that they would prefer to offend a few people by moving them on than risk having empty tables.  There was a queue of people waiting, but it seemed fewer than the seats available.  But with our departure and the departure of a large birthday party party at the same time, a lot of space was freed up.  The overall impression left for me is that are not well enough organised - certainly that's how it felt. No one awards prizes for restaurants that turn round tables quickly.  They should pay a visit to the Regency Cafe in Pimlico which has a system which shows it can be done. I won't be going back.

They may excuse this by saying that all the other restaurants do it: our experience is that whilst other restaurants may say that, they very rarely do it. So a sad end to a great food experience and if you are booking - beware the sting in the tail!

Grain Store Unleashed

Grain Store Unleashed

St John's Square, 

86-88 Clerkenwell Road, 

London 

EC1M 5RJ

Phone: +44 (0)20 7324 4455

eat@thezetter.com

SN: Grain Store Unleashed is the re-invention of Bruno Loubet's Bistro deep in Clerkenwell hosted in the Zetter Hotel.  It has relaunched recently and we were lucky enough to get a table shortly after the re-opening.  It is a light and airy, casual style eateries during the day and something a bit mor intimate at night.  We went for Sunday Lunch (a rarity for Split the Bill) to see how it matched up to one of our favourite venues - Grain Store at Kings Cross which we first visited for this blog in Oct 2013 and again more recently in February.  We are still big fans - read how Unleashed stacked up....

As you can see - it's a nice spacious spread of tables with a busy bar and a Spring-like French garden feel about it.

Rhubarb Negroni

SN: It's worth just pausing a moment on Grain Store cocktails - always simple on the page and complex and entertaining on the palate.  This Rhubarb Negroni attracted us both.  The Italian Aperol provided rhubarb and floral flavours whilst the Lillet Blanc (a mix of Bordeaux white wine and exotic citrus bitters) provided a foil to that.  The triangle completed with a robust Beefeater Gin.   Fantastic.

Crozes-Hermitage Les Pontaix 2013, Domaine Fayolle, N. Rhône, France 

SN: This wine was on offer as a bin end in February so unlikely to be around now.  But robust enough to cope with the avalanche of flavours.  We know that if nothing else Loubet squeezes every ounce of flavour out of his ingredients and everything needs a pretty robust wine to balance it.

Cornbread with avocado butter

LM: We started our meal with complimentary cornbread with avocado butter. The cornbread was hot and fresh with crunchy seasalt flakes and the avocado butter was spiked with lime to cut through the richness. A very encouraging start...

Vegetal oyster & caviar, ‘Bottom of the Sea’

SN: This was a curious starter and I was expecting something that made more immediate impact but it did excite the taste buds.  A bit more explanation from the staff might have helped I think.  The overall package is very much of 'the sea'.  I enjoy date seaweed sheet a little more than the oysters - the caviar was delicious but the pickle puree was fine on its own without the onion.

Asparagus in brown butter, pomelo & bronze fennel

LM: Asparagus was a really interesting dish - not particularly adventurous looking on the plate, and for a moment I wondered whether I had picked badly, but thankfully not - the asparagus was dressed with what can only be described as magic butter - sweet and tart without being sour, and fantastically complimentary to the asparagus.

Spring vegetable cassoulet, pulled lamb shoulder

SN: The strong broth beneath this dish would have been sufficient on it's own but with carrots, peas beans and epic poached white radish this was already one of the best dishes I've had at a Loubet restaurant.  The pulled lamb was very finely balanced against these lovely delicate veggie tastes.  As usual Loubet gets these subtleties just right.  Idea for a snack or a light lunch this dish was rich enough for a main course and so hearty as to leave me comfortably full.

Kohlrabi & broad bean raviolo, ramson

LM: Raviolo was gorgeous, the filling wrapped in paper thin slices of kohlrabi rather than pasta and served in a rich broth of beans and peas. So simple but so well made, and I loved the lightness of it. Really generous portion as well - but all about the flavours rather than the bulk.

Parsnip & white chocolate cream, matcha tea, pink grapefruit & passion fruit gel, caramelised puffed oat

SN: this was something I'd yearned for: a decently done parsnip dessert.  Be in no doubt, it tastes primarily of parsnip but the white chocolate is a surprisingly low key accompaniment and looks just divine.  I recall when making homemade parsnip and apple soup, I always struggled to maintain a pure colour but this is spot on.  The oat adds one sort of bite and the gel quite another - it's a hefty kick of tartness that the cream needs.  The shade grown (and therefore very green) matcha tea is a beautiful complement too.  Delivered as a powder it is sparing but a welcome added dimension.

Lemon & strawberries petit pot, rosemary crumble

LM: My dessert was delicious but probably the least adventurous of the dishes. A layer of macerated strawberries was topped with a creamy lemon layer and freeze-dried strawberry coated crumble. I couldn't taste the rosemary but it was tasty nonetheless.

Gorgeous  coffee too!

LM: Overall I think it's fair to say we were both really impressed with the quality of cooking and the inventiveness on offer, and the service was exceptionally friendly and warm. There were a couple of minor glitches from the soft launch including a light spraying for us as the plants were being watered and being charged for the wrong bottle of wine, but both were quickly rectified and with no drama.

Canteen, Royal Festival Hal

Canteen - Royal Festival Hall

Royal Festival Hall

Belvedere Road

http://www.canteen.co.uk

Book online

Celeriac, leek and mushroom POI and mash - with onion gravy and spinach

Both of us have been to Canteen before but we decided to do a StB because it offers such good value on a traditional English menu.  The atmosphere is busy and sometimes one has to wait a few minutes at the bar for a table - no hardship there are some very fine cocktails on offer.

There are monthly and daily specials and the ingredients are pleasingly fresh.  The canteen approach is not to rush customers which is great - they unfailing put water on the tables and the young front of house team are helpful, courteous and enthusiastic (also very happy to have a laugh).  It presents a wonderfully "open house" effect but the big space allows for privacy at tables too.

I started with an English classic - Devilled Kidneys - there's not much I can say about it other than the kidneys were beautifully cooked.  Anyone who cooks kidney's knows how important it is to get this just right.  The sauce was tangy and the toast ample.  No complaints at all.

Sourdough toast with fried duck egg and mushrooms

LM: I had sourdough toast with fried mushrooms topped with a duck egg and chives. Robust, tasty, nothing to dislike whatsoever.

SN: There seems to be plenty of Crozes-Hermitage about - it is a favourite of ours so the choice was easy and the price was right. The wine list is flexible and comfortable: high quality but affordable.  Casual dining is there thing and the drinks on offer match that aspiration.

SN: We both had a delicious pie - it's worth noting for carnivores and veggies alike - that the pie options change regularly and there is always one of each on offer.  The pies are served with either chips or mash, stacks of greens and a small jug of gravy to match.  Our choices were vegetarian - which I'll leave LM to describe.  For those inclined the offer was spiced mutton for omnivores.  I went for the veggie option on this occasion.  

LM: Celeriac, leek and mushroom pie was light and crispy and packed with vegetables - fresh vegetables at that - in some sort of creamy sauce - an absolute delight. 

SN: I reckon this unnoticed star of this dish are the glorious buttery greens - I'm guessing these could be anything from sprout tops to spring cabbage, but the real point is that they are glorious deep green leaves which are tasty and substantial, not an after thought.  All hail greens and gravy!

sticky sticky toffee pudding

LM: Sticky toffee pudding was divine - rich, unctuous and hefty without falling into stodgy territory. I'd be lying if I said I could remember much more, but it vanished rapidly and accompanied by appreciative noises.

SN: My pudding, not for the first time, was a succulent Apple pie with custard (so old fashioned it should be pronounced the proper way -  cus-Tard) - it ranks highly because there's something massively comforting about an apple pie made properly without the mangling a supermarket might give it, or I dare say a patisserie.  The sauce is pale and not to sweet or too rich and offers no hints of the kind of colour one ordinarily sees for cus-Tard in cans, boxes, cakes and pastries.  It is delicious and a belt-loosener - be warned!

Overall I like Canteen as the kind of place I can drop in with a friend and have a grand meal or sit after work on my own, eating and communing with my social media world over a light meal and glass of wine.  If I'm lucky someone will swing by...when they do Canteen welcomes them too.  With Louise, the critical faculties are sharper, the wit is drier and the meals much longer :-) StB isn't always about fusion, tasting menus and £100 bills - Canteen is in our top ten.

PS - worth looking at how responsive Canteen is to the comments on Trip Advisor - their overall rating is way off my 5 star dining experiences over the last 3 months, but they seem determined to address that.  Just shows how it is worth reviewing your experience.

Grainstore again

GRAIN STORE

Granary Square

1-3 Stable Street

King's Cross

London

N1C 4AB

This is a review of a meal in late February 2015 - the menu changes constantly.

Tuberose Collins

SN: It was our fourth visit to Bruno Loubet's oasis with a veg emphasis just north of Kings Cross - our previous write up was full of admiration in October 2013 found here:-

http://splitthebill.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/grainstore-garden-of-earthy-delights.html

Our affection for this place remains.  The overwhelming sense is of great food done well without fuss, comfort before show, and busyness being the way to keep customers happy.  Our Table was served by an enthusiastic food lover who knew her way round the kaleidoscopic menu and specials. She was the front of house for an organisations which puts food first.  It was remarkable looking around the tables at the variety of people there - from all walks of life, all ages and vocations. Parties, couples and single diners - all find something here.  We find solace that so little has changed around the ethos but the menu os as varied and fascinating as ever.

Onion Bread with homemade creme fragile butter
LM seizes on this so I have to be quick to take a photo ;-)

Wild Mushroom Croquettes with pine needle salt

Tasty tipple -
Gigondas 2012, Domaine du Grapillon d’Or, Southern Rhône, France:
Robust enough for game but not so strong as to ruin the delicate flavours elsewhere.
We also had Monbazillac 

This mushroom and truffle risotto was divine, spare in texture, smooth as silk and as you might expect, aromatic and busting with flavours.

Poached egg on buttery leeks and sourdough toast was simple, well executed and tasty - generous portion as well

Wild fruit puree, potted cabbage, parsnip crisps, bacon, roast wood pigeon breast and sausage
Amazing well done - crisps were fat-free and so tasty, rich and earthy

Split the billers

Vegetarian Paella was bursting with smoky flavours -
the veg was grilled to perfection and had plenty of bite - a wonderfully punchy dish.

Nice to have the appropriate glassware

Goats milk and yoghurt panacotta, poached rhubarb, wild strawberry sauce
Perhaps the creation of the night (v hard to choose).
Certainly  ongreat variation on the rhubarb theme, creamy texture but with a little structure still intact 

Dill ice cream - simultaneously the weirdest and most fantastic thing I've eaten this year - with gorgeous soft doughnuts.

Dill Ice cream hits the spot!

In conclusion: still one of our favourite places to eat in London.  We will go back again and again.  More pertinently we're also looking forward to GS Unleashed in April to explore with Bruno and team even further.

Salt Yard

Salt Yard

54 Goodge St,

London

W1T 4NA

+44 20 7637 0657

Salt Yard is part of a chain - though you wouldn't think it. It is in the heart of Fitzrovia near Goodge Street Tube station and sits a 100 yards or so off Tottenham Court Road.

The area is awash with bars, cafes and restaurants and I admit had I gone down Goodge Street uninformed there isn't much that would make you pick Salt Yard out of the line-up, except that the view from the path is intriguing.

Before Salt Yard we popped into the London Cocktail Club across the road for a quick drink. Fascinating decor, friendly service and lethally strong cocktails - good start to the evening. It's a proper hideaway - well impressed with the atmosphere & decor (such as it is). We sat in a booth kitted out with an old fashioned telephone and copious graffiti and drank cocktails with gin, fig and absinthe in them.

London Cocktail Club: Exhibit I

London Cocktail Club: Exhibit II

SALT YARD!

LM: One of the first things I noticed when we went into Salt Yard was the front of house service; a couple arrived just ahead of us and were shown to their table but immediately another member of staff came over to seat us. It was a good start and the service just got better.

The menu is divided into 'Charcuterie and Bar snacks' and then for the tapas, 'meat' 'fish' and 'vegetables'. I tend to steer away from tapas because from experience I end up spending an evening eating tortilla and patatas bravas; no such risk here. Our waiter was happy to advise on options, and as soon as he twigged I was a veggie offered the special without meat.

We started with country bread, warm and fluffy with a buttery finish, and aoili. My love of good bread is no secret to anyone who knows me; this was right up there with my favourites (second only to the bread board at Viajante). I could have eaten a whole meal of this stuff. Nocellara de Belice olives were juicy and bordering on buttery - divine.

SN: it was a nice change to see a choice of breads too. It may be a bit of a digression but why don't we eat bread and aoili more? It seems to me an ideal snack and we're rarely offered it in restaurants as a starter - surely it's not because we still juvenile worries about the smell of garlic? GOOD aioli is divine and with pasta its a meal in itself. As for the olives they were divine too - with no indication of the CoO its impossible to say under which sun they were ripened but I'd like to think it was their native Sicily. But the restaurant had us at hello - important because of the disasters at Moti Mahal but also because thereafter choices become a confident exploration of a wondrous garden, not a journey through a minefield. To accompany it we had a glass of Oloroso Seco, Don Nuno, Lustau - nutty enough to go with this basic fare. We were set fair.

As I was saying - the restaurant sets the mood for a guided exploration (it's not unknow territory for the most part but it encourages curiosity. So despite a host of good well known wines from Spain and elsewhere I went for a wine I didn't know but though it might suit our various preferences. Fagus, Coto de Hayas, Aragonesas (Garnacha, Aragon 2009) - mispelled on the wine list - turned out to be a thing of fortitude and some beauty - a huge fruity bouquet which sets up a very mellow and nothing like as powerful in taste. For me it was the kind of robust wine that tapas needs - sweet enough to compliment the food but not so strong as to overpower it. I think generally restaurants find good wines nowadays seldom have I had a shack. But this one was interesting and new and a delight - I might buy a bottle or two for rainy summer days.


Let the tapas begin!

LM: My first dish was a deep fried courgette flower with goats cheese and honey. The photo really doesn't do it justice; the courgette was firm and fresh on the inside, the batter light and crispy. I could have eaten it several times over. Our waiter was fantastic at recommending dishes; as soon as he realised I was vegetarian he also offered to adapt one of the specials of the day without meat but I was too smitten with the other menu options.

Next up for the veggie, a salad of beetroot, onions, hazelnuts and goats curd. Simple ingredients but well cooked; the onion and beetroot were tender but still had bite, and there was the perfect amount of curd to balance out the sharpness.






SN: I think it's worth a close up of this salad - the colours and textures engage the eye before the tongue and the taste. The taste matched the looks.

LM: Somehow we forgot (SN: I forgot) to photograph the patatas bravas which is a shame; they bore no resemblance to the tired chunks of potato in radioactive tomato sauce seen in most chains. Beautifully spiced and served with aoili and bravas sauce on the side we munched our way through two large portions.

SN: My choices were Slow Cooked Pork Cheeks with Prunes, Oloroso Sherry and Celeriac Purée and Slow Cooked Octopus, Ratte Potatoes, Lemon, Chilli and Capers - it was a night for slow cooked everything....

The Pork was a rich slow cooked small fist of meat floating on a cloud of the most delicate puree, the texture of shaving foam (OK, that analogy may not be of not a great help) but not so light that the meat is either overwhelmed taste-wise nor sunk under the laws of gravity.  When pork is so rich the edge of an Oloroso is to be welcomed and I think the prunes take the direction a tad sweeter too.  But the soft buttery flavour and consistency of the celeriac brings us back to the savoury - a handsome journey of four tastes each in it's place.

I should also say - the dishes are Salt yard are not small - but I guess the hearty eater will need 3 or 4 but they are good value

My second dish was different again.




The octopus showed no sign of rubberiness or indeed having lost any taste as a result of its long preparation.  The potato was gorgeous and despite herbs and spices and buttery sauces - the whole thing wasn't too hard to digest.  A refined dish against the pork cheek and the deeply satisfying cephalopdian bites were like nuggets on the plate.

A first!

SN: For the first time in our long relationship Louise decided that dessert was going to be the centre of her dining and so we shared the pudding Cold Chocolate Fondant with Turron Caramel and Crème Fraiche Ice Cream.  It would have struggled to justify it but I'm so glad I joined in for two reasons.  The Fondent ice cream wasn't too sweet and the fondant was firm enough to ……… no, its no good.  The pudding was lovely but the Pedro Ximenez was just divine and I'm sure contained enough calories to be a meal in its self.  It was like drinking a tot of Evian that had been lightly flavoured with the juice of a kilo of raisins and a quart of vodka…but that's way too crude to describe this huge wine.  Maybe overly sweet for many, but boy what a corker Pedro Ximenez, Fernando de Castilla.  I had too.  After which the coffee was well met. Maybe Lou remembers the dessert…..

LM: Dessert was a wonderful cold chocolate fondant with turron caramel and creme fraiche ice-cream. The dictionary definition of indulgent, the fondant oozed out and mixed with the caramel…within around thirty seconds of the photo being taken the plate was empty. Creme fraiche ice-cream was a great idea as well; subtle but with enough body to cut through the sweet chocolate and caramel.

LM: It's worth mentioning that the amazing service and food here wasn't a one off; more recently I went to sister restaurant Opera Tavern in Covent Garden, where the veggie options were different but the service, cooking and presentation were equally wonderful; clearly a team who knows what they're doing. 

SN: In summary this was the kind of tapas to which I could get accustomed.  Varied, tasty, not to greasy, not too heavy and full of light and sweet delights from the olives to the creme fraiche ice cream.  More notable and enjoyable and atypical was the quality of the service - helpful, alert and very personable.  Our waiter was a delight and worth so much in a Soho eatery especially after I'd endured Moti Mahal and Cinnamon Soho's rubbish service recently.  Its worth an adventure at around £50 each - explore the sherry and wine, explore the veggie tapas and the delightful side lights to these filling and satisfying dishes.