Barrafina, London

Every time we walk past Barrafina on Frith Street in Soho the queue seems to be out the door. With limited counter seating and a couple of tables there are constant waits of over an hour. We decided to brave the wait one Saturday night and were pleasantly surprised when it whittled down quite quickly, from out of the door to seated in under half an hour. Perhaps we were lucky to join the queue when a raft of diners were coming to the end of their meals. The patience of the staff needs to be commended as at least twenty people stormed in expecting to be seated oblivious to the waiting diners along the wall bar, each being batted down and told to join the end and wait.

Once seated the ever changing specials board was being updated in front of us. The whole lemon sole with dill vinaigrette caught our eye and it was a whopper. Fresh fish cooked on the bone with not much else and it didn’t need it.

Gambas al Ajíllo, big juicy prawns and no one batted an eyelid when I sucked the heads which are the best bits.

Grilled quail with alioli, the breast was nicely deboned and which made eating the quail a doddle. Octopus with capers, a large portion of meaty chunks of octopus again simple but effective.

Chorizo, potato and watercress, the simplest dish gave us our carbs. The chorizo was top notch and rounded off a light meal.

The service at Barrafina is exceptional despite the lack of space and popularity, dishes are served when they are ready and at a leisurely place so that diners are never overwhelmed with all the dishes arriving at once. Most of the food is cooked in the open kitchen in full view of the counter seats which adds to the atmosphere. If you happen to walk by my advice is to get in line!

Lima Floral, London

We recently found ourselves wanting a light dinner following an epic lunch at Gymkhana earlier on in the day. Trying to think of a few seafood places we were wondering around Covent Garden and popped across Lima Floral on Floral Street which opened last month and is the younger sibling of the Michelin starred Lima in Fitzrovia on Rathbone Place. The cuisine is Peruvian and not having tried ceviche before it seemed the perfect candidate for a light meal.

We chanced our luck at a table in the main dining area but as expected at 8pm on a Friday night it was fully booked and heaving. Although luck would have it that they had a downstairs bar area serving piqueos, tapas sized dishes which were even better for our appetite as well as scoring a comfy booth.

The menu is split between five sections, we ordered a selection from each of them to try a variety of different dishes. From the tiraditos part we tried salmon with yellow chilli pepper and camote chips. 

From the causas section we chose tuna with Amazonian cashew, blue potato, and uchucuta. A very pretty dish with striking colours, matched with delicate flavours.

We started with sea bream ceviche with yellow tiger’s milk from the ceviches section and this quickly became our favourite. The tiger’s milk and dash of lime lifted chunks of sea bream, a very refreshing dish. We enjoyed it so much that we ordered another ceviche dish of scallops, heirloom and tree tomatoes. Whilst not hitting the heights of the sea bream ceviche flavour combinations it was still good, although a little small even for tapas sizes.

From the antichuchos skewers part we had veal heart with anticucho marinade. The veal hearts were grilled very well and not over done which could make them too tough to eat.

Finally from the tostadas section we chose octopus with botija olives, annatto cream and red shiso. My one gripe with tostadas is that they are fiddly to eat and I usually end up picking at the topping and then eating the crispy tortilla separately. The flavours were once again on point and complimented each other, the flavour combinations from nearly all of the dishes were new to me but I am now definitely a fan of Peruvian cuisine.

To wash down the exquisite food we had to have a classic pisco with lime, sugar, egg white and angostura bitter. These go down quick! Overall, despite it being early days it is a great place for a quick pre-theatre nibble or light meal and drinks with dishes ranging from £5.50 - £8. Next on our list is to try the full a la carte.

Dehesa, London

Having tried Ember Yard of the Salt Yard Group I have been eager to try more of their restaurants. Working in Soho gave us the perfect opportunity to visit Dehesa on Ganton Street off Carnaby Street. The cuisine is probably best described as fancy tapas with presentation playing a big part of Salt Yards offerings.

The interior of Dehesa is simple with plenty of outdoor tables and wooden tables indoors. We were plonked on a small circle table for three right adjacent to a staircase leading down to the toilets. Not the best table for three of us but we let it slide. Onto the food, the dishes come thick and fast and we started with a Spanish charcuterie selection of Chorizo Ibérico de Bellota (Castilla y León), Salchichón de Vic (Catalunya) and Lomo Teruel (Aragon). Good fatty cuts of cured meat for a reasonable price.

The tapas soon flowed but the table was way too small to accommodate our plates, drinks and tapas. Scallop a la plancha with amatriciana, cumin yoghurt and crispy jamón was fine without being exceptional. More successful were the plump chili prawns with morcilla purée and apple, pomegranate and samphire salad.

We chose the Iberico pressa special and having had similar in Ember Yard it was a no brainer. However what came bore no resemblance in size or quality, no big meaty satisfying chunks of pork but small slivers of unremarkable flavourless meat. The next dish of confit old spot pork belly with rosemary cannellini beans also lacked in the size and flavour department, two small cubes of pork belly for £9 was scandalous. I would have been disappointed if given this for starter elsewhere let alone a tapas dish. 

Our last dish of grilled chorizo with pea purée and crispy red onions worked but only due to the produce and quality of the chorizo. In the end we were all scrambling for the patatas fritas with romesco sauce and alioli and tortilla which is a shame as I really enjoyed Ember Yard.

José, London

A recent lunchtime visit to Bermondsey Street led us to José Pizarros tapas bar aptly named José, within a couple hundred yards of his more formal restaurant named Pizarro. We wanted a chilled casual lunch affair and this was the perfect place to do so. The interior is simple and cozy with high tapas bar tables. With a nice bottle of red wine we ordered a range of dishes to graze on. The food at José hits the mark without complications, much like the venue.

Pan con tomate.

Boquerones, cava vinegar

Tortilla

Patatas Bravas

Clams, jamon fino.

Hake, alioli, pimento.

Croquestas, the dish of the meal for me.

Pork cheek with red wine sauce.

Sea bream, roasted peppers.

Lunya, Liverpool

Lunya is a restaurant based on College Lane within Liverpool One, serving up Catalan cuisine with some dishes paying homage to the Scouse link. It has recommended in the Good Food Guide since 2011. There are many strong tapas offerings in the city in Neon Jamon and Salt House Tapas and we wanted to complete the set with Lunya which seems to get rave reviews.

We visited one lunchtime and took advantage of the lunchtime offer of 3 tapas and bread for £10.75. Dishes we picked included:

Piquillo pepper stuffed with Bonito tuna, creamed cheese, parsley and cornichons. Whilst sounding interesting we were dissapointed when presented with a lone pepper with a filling not disimilar to tuna mayonnaise. Not the best start.

The 18month cured Trevelez Serrano ham fared much better, a quality ham given the price.

A locally inspired dish of Catalan scouse with Morcilla and chorizo. This was Mrs Nom's first scouse, sadly it was too thick and gloopy and was in much need of more sauce.

Lamb tagine with cous cous and yoghurt. The lamb was moist and well flavoured.

Gambas pil pil with chilli garlic and vanilla, we were surprised to see they were served with the shells removed, I suppose it made it easier for us to eat it but I prefer the shells intact for the flavour. The addition of the vanilla was interesting.

Confit chicken wings with a spicy mojo picon sauce, probably the best dish of the lot with well cooked chicken wings and a punchy sauce.

For our first experience of Lunya it didn't quite live up to the hype for us, maybe the full a la carte menu would fair better. Service also seemed to be an issue with only one waitress taking orders and handling bills whilst the others were only allowed to clear tables so the wait at the end was a bit lengthy.

Salt House Tapas, Liverpool

One of the strongest cuisines offered by the Liverpool dining scene is Spanish, tapas in particular, if you discount La Tasca that is. Situated on the corner where Hanover Street meets Liverpool One it is in a prominent position.  We have been in for cocktails but only recently for food. Tempted by the lunch offer of 3 tapas dishes for £11 it turned out to be great value.

Alot of the popular items from the main menu are included in the lunch offer which is welcome as sometimes the choice can be a bit limited. We started off with a charcuterie board with quality cuts of of Serrano ham, chorizo and pepper salchichón. 

Next was a satisfying portion of mussels with cider, thyme, shallots and cream. We mopped up the sauce with the sourdough bread.

Moroccan spiced chicken with yoghurt and flatbread had lovely flavours and was one of Mrs Noms favourite dishes during this visit.

Pumpkin risotto with sage and hazelnut pesto, a light dish which we enjoyed as the other dishes had quite strong flavours and on the plus it counted for one of our 5 a day!

The acid test was the crispy fried squid which were slightly greasy. Still they were ok with a nice ailoli dip, however the Malaga style little squids from Neon Jamon are yet to be topped.

Slow cooked crispy pork belly with apple and cranberry compote. The crackling was great, exactly what you expect from crispy pork belly.

Salt house ribs with sweet and spicy sauce, by that time we regret ordering the ribs as we didn't expect the generous portions from the lunch menu but polished them off all the same.

Salt house Tapas is an ideal place for a quick lunch or a fulfilling evening meal. We both really enjoyed the food here and we are very likely going to come back to try more small plates off the main menu.