Posted by Krista on May 29, 2008
Buen Ayre
50 Broadway Market
E8 4QJ
Tel: 020 7275 9900
Date of Last Visit: Saturday, May 17
The Victim: K
The Damage: About £17 each
The Background: K is leaving me. She and A are going back to NY (Connecticut, actually) next weekend. I am DEVASTATED. I suggest a day out around town to some places K has never been before. We start at Broadway Market. Afterwards, we hit the British Museum for K’s first and last look at the Rosetta Stone (my second), and then it’s off to tea at Liberty and some fondling of Liberty’s household goods. I do love fondling the goods at Liberty.
With such a big day out, sustenance is necessity. K likes her steak. I’m glad we’re in Broadway Market because of her affinity for steak and my affinity for going somewhere I’ve never been before so I can pump up my London food blog.
The Entrance: Everyone is speaking Spanish but us. We’re the total gringos. To give K credit, she speaks some good Spanish. But she doesn’t break it out. I was kinda hoping for that.
The Food: We order two small filets and some empanadas. I think the empanadas are good. Cozy. But I am not falling all over myself over them. The steak, on the other hand, is a masterpiece. And I’m not a steak eater. K proclaims it one of the best steaks she’s had in the U.K., which is high praise. I also order a green salad, which ends up being a waste because both steaks are served with green salad. (I wish someone had warned me of that.) The steaks were also accompanied by some lovely nice big chunky white beans. Yum.
The Nice Bit: They have a lovely outdoor patio at Buen Ayre. It was pouring rain when we were there, of course, but I’d come back just for that.
The Verdict: Nice. Would have been better with some Malbec. 
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Posted in E8, Latin, London, United Kingdom | 5 Comments
Posted by Krista on August 3, 2007
The Date: Sunday, July 8, 2007
The Victim: Stacey
The Damage: Well, it was probably something like £40, but I loaned Stace some money so she could buy some fab dresses and she insisted on paying for a lot more than she should have from there on out.
The Background: It’s funny…I’ve just been on the phone to Rutton (it’s 8 p.m. on a Sunday as a write this), and I told him about my day. And he said, "You’re very good at planning your weekends."
And that gave me pause. Because although I’d so like that to be true, it’s not. I’m a planner, for sure, but planners can’t plan alone.
So yesterday, I was supposed to go over to Al & Louise’s for a barbecue with baby Oscar. (Al & Louise have the distinction of being this American gal’s "English friends.") At 8:30 a.m., I checked my phone and there was a message from Al that said something like…
"Stuck my head in a bucket of PIMS last night. I’m dying. Barbecue is off. Sorry."
So that left me wondering what to do next. (Cue Al Green, Tired of Being Alone.) Result? I read Vogue. I read Travel & Leisure. I update my blog. I start the dinner music mix for Matt & Feathers’ wedding. I hang out on my patio. I rent a car in Mexico. I call my friend Brian who is somewhere in the Middle East. I pick things up, I put things down. In short, I do nothing until around 8:30 p.m. when I head over to Au Lac for dinner with Chris & Evelien.
Fast forward to Sunday morning. I have plans to have brunch with K&A. I get back from my run around 10:30 a.m. and there’s a text from K…they’re not feeling very brunchlike. How about dinner on Tuesday instead?
Sigh. Cue Al Green again. The best laid plans.
Enter Stacey and a "What are you doing?" text around 1 p.m. And a trip to Camden. And the most delicious lunch ever…arepas from Arepa & Co, live from Venezuela. An arepa is a cornmeal patty. I love cornmeal. I love grits, corn bread, corn muffins…and arepas. Ours were stuffed with beef, beans, and cheese. They were super-delicious. You should get one sometime. Get me one too while you’re at it. Or e-mail me first and we’ll go together.
And then…we went to Gilgamesh…
Camden Stables Market
Chalk Farm Rd
NW1 8AH
Tel: 020 7482 5757
Have you read about Gilgamesh? Well, it’s huge. And you take an escalator to get there. And there’s a lot of carved wood. It reminds me of a hotel in a small city in China. It’s trying really hard from a decor standpoint. But at 3 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon when the market is packed, Gilgamesh is empty.
We are shown to the bar area and we wait forever for someone to take our order. We just get drinks. Fruity cocktails. They are actually quite pleasing, but they’re pricey. £9.50 maybe? Eventually, our server drops off some complimentary prawn crackers. And an hour or so later when she gives us our bill, it’s £5.23. I was so very tempted. But the Catholic guilt kicks in.
I go to the ladies and I am again reminded of being in a hotel in small city in China. There is a mop bucket and some mops in the stairwell, as well as some red velvet ropes. Dude, that stuff should be in a closet. And in the ladies’, there are orange traffic cones. Because apparently, they’re about to start some roadwork. How random.
We tried to eat, but they wouldn’t let us, despite having a bar menu. Apparently, they don’t serve any food between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Not even food from steam baskets. (You know, because that’s hard.) Bummer. But we can have some more prawn crackers.
Stacey and I decide that we would maybe come back to hang out at Gilgamesh. It’s in a good location, and the decor is sorta cool. And it’s so weirdly bizarre. Although I do pray for the rainforests.
So…in our search for sustenance, we decide on a CHANGE of VENUE!
The Cuban
The Long Stables
Chalk Farm Road
NW1 8AH
Tel: 02074240692
Well, we like The Cuban immediately because there is live music. And the band rocks. And every so often, a few people get up to dance. It’s fun.
We get some mojitos, and we get some food. It’s bar food…quesadillas (with goat cheese?), croquettas, and something The Cuban calls Nachos, but I call "the bottom of the tortilla chip bag, with some sour cream spread on top." Yikes. Nachos are the easiest thing to get right…why do so many (non-American, non-Mexican) people screw them up?
But then I got thinking–what if they got the Arepas guys to come in and make Arepas? (I’ve had arepas in Puerto Rico, so I am guessing that Cubans do arepas too?) That would be a sure hit.
The Verdict: Love Arepa & Co. Intrigued by Gilgamesh, but frightened as well. Had fun at The Cuban, but wouldn’t eat there and would only go back if I knew that there were many mojitos were in my future.
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Posted in Latin, Live Music, London, Miscellaneous, NW1, Pan-Asian, United Kingdom | 5 Comments
Posted by Krista on June 18, 2007
108 Essex Road
N1 8LX
Tel: 020 7226 5551
Date of Last Visit: Thursday, May 24th, 2007
The Victim: Nick
The Damage: £35 per person with two margaritas each.
The Background: Nick is in town for work and wants to know if I want to go anywhere new. Is this a trick question?
I do want to go somewhere. Sabor. I’ve read nice things. And I have a hankering for empanadas. Plus, Sabor is a convenient bus ride away.
The Entrance: I order a house margarita and it is GREAT. It has passion fruit and lime juice. Very tasty. Nick turns up a few minutes later and orders the same. He too is happy.
The Starters: I get my wish and go for the empanadas. They are very tasty. Nick goes for the quesadilla and he seems satisfied, but I want to say that something was missing from his quesadillas…I am not sure what. Yes, she fails once again in her London-food-blogging-task.
The Atmosphere: In the background, they are playing Buena Vista Social Club. At 8 p.m. on a Thursday, the place is buzzing. The wine list is mostly Chilean and Argentinian–and there are descriptions! (Oh how I do love a wine list with descriptions. Such an easy thing to do, but alas, few restaurants do it.
Heck, if you are a London-based restauranteur and don’t have any descriptions on your wine list (or don’t like the ones you do have), I will do it for free. For the first ten restaurants that ask me to. The only caveat is that you’d have to give me credit and include my blog’s URL. Plus, you’re going to let me do some pre- and post-list analysis. Oh, and if you have like more than 20 wines, we’re both in trouble. )
The Mains: I am intrigued by the chimichangas. But here’s the rub–they are vegetarian chimichangas. Our server assures me that they have a very strong flavor and he’d really recommend them. So I go for it. And these are so not TGI Friday chimichangas. They are light and flaky and full of all sorts of delicious things. I wish I could tell you what, but I am a very bad food blogger and neglected to go for an in-depth inspection. What struck me, however, was that these were not deep fried, but rather wrapped in a light and flaky phyllo-like dough. They were good.
The Verdict: I can never speak for my guests, but Nick wiped his plate clean and gave the restaurant strong marks across the board. I think we both agreed that the service was a bit too preoccupied. And they didn’t trust me with the tap water jug. But all-in-all, I’d go back.
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Posted in Latin, London, N1, United Kingdom | 2 Comments
Posted by Krista on March 15, 2007
91-93 Great Eastern St
EC2A 3HZ
Tel: 020 7613 5228
Date of Last Visit: Saturday, February 24, 2007
The Victims: Yusuf and Company. 12 of us in total.
The Damage: £40. I left early, so I gave Yusuf the money before taking off. I hope it was enough.
The Background: Yusuf has invited me out to dinner. I have said "Yes" of course, because he is one of the most interesting guys I know. He is Swedish. But Turkish. And oh but just a little American. I forget sometimes.
I arrive for dinner at Favela Chic and I am one of 12. There are Turks and Greeks and Italians. And the few token Americans. The place is empty and I am glad because I live in the general neighborhood and I know that there is usually a queue. We are some of the only people there at 7 p.m.
The Starters: We get a combo plate, and it arrives in all its deep-fried goodness. I would tell you what was on the plate, but I can’t because it was all deep-fried. This made it delicious, so it was fine. Sorta.
The Mains: I remember that in 2005, I flew from London to Anchorage, Alaska. I had saved up my air miles so I flew business class. On my flight from Chicago to Anchorage, they served Chicken with white rice in Business Class. Maybe some people think that’s a nice meal, but to me, it was a high margin dish. You can buy 45 kg bags of rice for super cheap. I couldn’t believe they had the nerve to slap that crapity-crap down in front of me. OMG I am a snob.
So the same thing happened at Favela Chic. Chicken in a nice sauce. With white rice. Now that’s pretty lazy.
The Dessert: I left early to head over to The Ritz to pick up Eugene. One of the best sentences to say EVER, "Taxi driver, can you take me to The Ritz? Please."
The Verdict: Well I did like the music. And the company was fantastic. But this is a blog about food (mostly). And you know it’s bad when I totally forget to write up a meal until like three weeks later.
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Posted in EC2, Latin, London, United Kingdom | 1 Comment
Posted by Krista on September 3, 2006
72 Upper Street
N1 0NY
Tel: 020 7354 9998
Date of Last Visit: Saturday, September 2, 2006
The Victims: Feathers, Destri, Stacey
The Counterbalance (Yes, a new measure!): 2.62 miles on the treadmill
The Damage: 20 quid pp
The Background: Feathers and Destri went to high school with Stacey back in California. Stacey was on the tail end of a Scandinavian tour and was in London for 48 hours. The girls took her shopping, and I met up with them for dinner.
The Selection: I can only guess, but as we were walking out of Ping Pong the other night, I said to Feathers, "I’ve always wanted to go there," as we passed some restaurant across the street. The sign looked like it said Cuba Libre, but it actually said something else. And then we go confused with whether there was a Cuba Libre in Chicago on Southport. (I don’t think there is.)
The Bar: I was early, as usual. So I headed to the very festive bar area, where I stook next to some very tall guys. They were so tall I had to move away because I felt so very much shorter than my respectable 5 ft. 4. A very attractive bartender brought me a mjoito, my mixed drink of choice.
The Food and Drink: The ladies arrived, and we were shown to our table. Now the tablecloths were covered with plastic, which I hate. If you happen to be wearing a skirt, the tablecloth sticks to your knees. And if it’s a little muggy, your drink sweats, and it has nowhere to go, so there are big wet puddles all over the table.
But I digress. We ordered that appetizer selection plate, which I felt was amateurish. Someone just threw a bunch of stuff into the deep fryer. There was no love. Everything was dumped unceremoniously onto a not very special plate. And then arrived our mains. Mine was something called "old clothes," which I would write en espanol, but I forget. It was heavily seasoned beef, with rice and beans and mushed up yucca. The rice and beans were good, as was the yucca. The beef bore a serious resemblance to dog food. It wasn’t bad though, it just wasn’t seriously good either.
Feathers ordered the chicken and avocado, which turned out to be chicken and avocado smothered in cheese. Uggh.
The girl at the table across from us sent her food back because she discovered a very long hair in it.
All of this was accompanied by two pitchers of mojitos for 16.50 a pop. This was a happy hour special–apparently, you saved 3 quid off the list price by ordering at the bar. I thought this was stupid. Like it would have killed them to let us order the pitchers from the table? I don’t understand this logic. It wasn’t like the bar was that far away either–so no time/aggravation argument either.
The Verdict: Eh. I was not impressed.
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Posted in Latin, London, N1, United Kingdom | No Comments
Posted by Krista on July 29, 2006
2 Abingdon Road
W8 6AF
Tel: 0871 223 9658
Date of Last Visit: Friday, July 29, 2006
The Victim: Kristi
The Damage: 35 quid each
The Setup: K and I hadn’t seen each other in ages. Or so it felt like. A was sick (or ill as they say here), so it was a girls’ night out. I was hoping to check out The Ambassador in Exmouth Market, but K has this thing about smoke, so that was off the list. (I will quote her as close to directly as possible–"Having a no smoking section in a restaurant is like having a no peeing section in a pool.") As it turns out, L does allow smoking, just upstairs at four small tables. So hopefully K is still feeling guilty about depriving me of The Ambassador. All that being said, she remains redeemed. L was a very fine choice.
The Starters: Well, we went with the tapas menu, so there were no starters per se. But there was fantastic walnut and raisin bread. That was very nice. And rosemary and something-or-other bread. Yummy. But before I get into the food, let me just focus on the drink: for those of you that know me, you know I do not enjoy hard liquor. Vodka tonic? YUKKK. Gin and tonic? Double YUK. Rum and Coke? Gag! The only two mixed drinks I will really ever drink are margaritas (it’s the salt) and white russians (it’s the milk). So when K persuaded me to try the 3.50 mojito (yes, let me write that again–3.50!!!!!), I was tentative. But ultimately, I appreciate a good value, so the Mojito it was.
The Drink: Yes, let me call it "The Drink." Because it was, is, and forever will be "The Drink." Mojitos are not so good at the very beginning. They are minty, but not pepperminty. They are limey, but not really-good-limey. And they are not so sugar-y, even though there is supposedly sugar in there somewhere. But stir and stir and stir and man do you have a nice drink. And for 3.50? Is this the cheapest high quality mixed drink in London, or is it me? I will return for the mojitos alone! (Feathers, are you reading this? Our next girls’ night will be here.)
The Food: As always, I digress. K and I ordered a plate of Iberian ham, which was much more ham-y than its Italian counterpart. It was thick, meaty, and smokey and tough to chew. It’s not that I didn’t like it, but it wasn’t my absolute best thing ever. The tortilla was the highlight–eggs, potatoes and basil all cooked up nice and hot and delicious. We had some bread with tomatoes–bruchetta-like, but not called bruchetta, and that was nice. And then we had this cucumber/radish/anchovy/cheese thing, and although that sounds pretty random, it was actually kinda nice. And the most interesting thing of all was the special of the day–cod and olives and oranges and red peppers. It wasn’t super-delicious, but I actually mean that in a good way; it was super-interesting. As my old roommates from college would say, "Interesting. Very complex."
The Loos: Very sparkly tile work. Clean. Nothing exciting.
The Service: Too efficient! Let me be, please! As soon as I had drank a tablespoon of water, they were refilling my glass.
The Verdict: I would go back here. Particularly for the 3.50 mojitos. Fantastic.
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Posted in Latin, London, United Kingdom, W8 | No Comments
Posted by Krista on June 25, 2006
111 Westbourne Grove
W2 4UW
Tel: 0871 332 3831
Date of Last Visit: Friday, June 23, 2006
The Victims: Kristi, Adrien
The Damage: 28 quid each
The Set Up: K&A are not huge fans of British beef. They keep trying, but nothing compares–in their opinion–to good ole’ American beef. Not being a huge red meat eater myself–Does duck count as red meat? It is red. But it’s fowl, right?–I cannot speak to this subject. But I trust their judgement.
Hence how we end up at Rodizio Rico. They have meat, lots of it. And it’s all-you-can-eat! Unheard of for this country. And K had called ahead and asked where their beef comes from. Now, supposedly, their red meat comes all the way from Brazil. I find this hard to believe, but that’s what they said. My Uncle George, the recreational tuna fisherman, would want to know how long ago those cows went to cow heaven.
The Starters: Rodizio Rico offers a salad bar. An ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT salad bar. I love Rodizio Rico already. Why this country (meaning the UK) hasn’t embraced the all-you-can-eat-salad-bar, well, I just don’t get it. Now I should note that this particular salad bar was a little short on salad, but chock full of rice and beans, potatoes, and all sorts of delicious carbs. Yum! We stocked up.
The Mains: Then the meat parade began. And I do mean parade. Men kept dropping by our table with huge slabs of meat and big knives. And boy was I glad that A speaks portugese because I do think we got a little preferential treatment. The red meat kept coming and coming. Most of the other folks didn’t see the beef as often as we did. They got lots of pork and ham (are they the same or different?) and chicken. Not us. K&A probably had three full steaks between them. I had a couple of pieces of the beef and it was pretty delicious. You can’t go wrong with this stuff cooked in a big fireplace. Ialso enjoyed a delicious piece of chicken wrapped in bacon–yum! But I skipped out on the chicken hearts.
After a while though, I started getting ill. There was just SO much meat. I couldn’t take it anymore. So I switched to rice and beans, and although the beans weren’t brown (they were more red than brown), they were still pretty good.
The Verdict: Without drinks, our bill would have been a reasonable 18 quid each. Not bad, particularly with our Brazilian connection (A) getting us all the top quality stuff. Add the margaritas and caipirinhas though and the bill will sky rocket from there. This would be a good group outing kind of place, or maybe for a stag night or something.
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Posted in Latin, London, United Kingdom, W2 | No Comments
Posted by Krista on April 3, 2006
32 Charlotte Road
EC2A 3PD
Tel: 020 7613 4411
Date of Last Visit: Thursday, March 23
The Victims: Too many to mention
The Damage: Not so bad! "Just" 30 quid a head.
Cantaloupe was not what I was expecting. I was expecting a tapas restaurant. Small little tables, dim lighting, maybe some spanish guitar playing in the background.
Cantaloupe is a bar. I must not be the only other person puzzled by this because at the front of the bar is a relatively large sign pointing you to the restaurant.
The bar is fun though. On a Thursday night, relatively early (7:30 ish) it was packed in a good way.
Being me, I told my guests the booking was at 7. It was really at 7:30. This is good because no one showed up until 8 p.m. anyhow, despite Feathers best efforts. (Thank you Feathers.)
It always makes me nervous to take people from a specific country to a restaurant in a different country that matches their origins. So I was a little nervous about sitting across from Javier; Javier is from Spain. I wanted Javier to like Cantaloupe!
The good news is he did! He loved the platter for two, which was really more like a platter para tres, there was so much jamon and queso. And he loved the Rioja, which he was originally suspicious about because it was organic. But heck, organic doesn’t necessarily mean "tastes bad," right?
Now let me just take a moment to share some of my recently acquired knowledge about Rioja. Did you know that there are three main types? These are clearly labeled on the bottle, and should be such on the restaurant wine list as well. If not, then you might be drinking a Rioja-wannabe; that is, the Spanish Wine Authorities have not certified it as a Rioja. Here’s the breakdown…
* Vino de Crianza: Wine in its third year, matured for at least one year in oak cask.
* Reserva: Carefully selected wines, aged for at least three years, of which at least one is in oak cask.
* Gran Reserva: Belongs to great vintage´s wines which have been aged at least two years in oak cask and three years in bottle.
What else can I tell you? Javier gave Cantaloupe two thumbs up and told me it was a great place. He also told me I am a dangerous person. Aren’t I, though?
Javier gave Cantaloupe two thumbs up because he liked his main, which escapes me at the moment. Me, on the other hand, thought my main had been confused with Fido’s dinner. (And that’s not Fido as in Fidelity Investments, dorks.) It was totally gross. Uggh. I don’t even want to think about it, that’s how gross it was. Uggh. Uggh. Uggh. I think it was the Argentinian Beef thingie. Not the steak, but the casserole. YUCK. Gross. Double-yuck.
The Verdict: You know, I’d actually go back. I just wouldn’t eat. Or I’d stick with the platter of nibbley things.
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Posted in EC2, Latin, London, United Kingdom | 1 Comment
Posted by Krista on March 19, 2006
I love when The New York Times covers London restaurants. New article talks about tapas-style eating in London and they check out Gordon Ramsey’s Maze, as well as a few others. I haven’t been to any of these, but good to file away for future reference!
London Restaurants Where Good Things Come on Small Plates
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Posted in Latin, Miscellaneous | No Comments
Posted by Krista on February 25, 2006
39A Hoxton Square
N1 6NN
Tel: 020 7739 8824
Date of Last Visit: It was a Monday. The last month has been a blur!
The Victim: Feathers
The Damage: Feathers, bless her, paid my bill. I had worked all weekend and needed a little pick-me-up.
So, it was a Monday and I’m always suspicious of restaurants on Monday. But going with my New Year’s Resolution of trying out everything in Hoxton Square, we settled on the Cube and Star.
Me, being a dumba**, had no idea that it was CUBAN restaurant. I’m such an idiot sometimes.
Loved the decor. I would like some of those photos for my flat, which has too many white walls at this juncture and is need of some artying up.
Loved the service. It’s all in the person, isn’t it? Our server was very sweet and attentive. This was helped by the fact that we were only one of four tables I saw filled during out evening out.
Food–no foie gras! Yes. But what did we have??? I don’t remember. I remember that what we really wanted was out, so we settled for something else. Shucks, though, I have no idea.
And I totally want to remember my entree, but I can’t remember that either–EXCEPT–that it was served with "wontons" stuffed with goat’s cheese. You know I love goat’s cheese. They were also deep fried, which is bad. But they were oh-so-tasty. I’m fairly certain I had seafood as my main, as did Feathers. If I remember correctly, her fish was accompanied by a nice potato-y-polenta-type-substance. Yummy. I do remember that we had yummy bread and olives, which I believe were complimentary, at the beginning of our meal. Very nice.
The Veridct. Eh. How can I not remember my food??? Shame on Cube and Star. Loved the art. Loved the vibe, but really, they need to find some more peeps. It’s no fun eating in an empty restaurant when the food isn’t bad (I would have remembered if it was bad).
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Posted by Krista on September 23, 2005
70 Leonard Street
EC2A 4QX
Tel: 020 7613 5346
Date of Last Visit: Thursday, September 22, 2005
The Victims: David, Ben
The Damage: Unknown, but assumed to be in the 40 gbp a head range
David was back in town and it was time to amuse him. We know he likes to go out around Old Street. I got out the list of restaurants I offered him last time, and Eyre Brothers was on the list.
Ben and I headed over, after salivating over the olive recipe on the Web site. We arrived and took some seats at the bar. We were brought the olives. And yes, they were good. Lemony. Zingy. Firm. Wonderful.
I have skipped our entrance though. Eyre Brothers is very pleasing to my eye. It is wood. Lots of wood. There’s a retro 70s olive and wood thing going on. I like it. David, being the astute one he is, noticed that they had used flooring on the ceiling, which would have saved them money. I only noticed that it was all wood. And I liked it.
At the bar, I ordered the beer. It was the black beer. And it was good. The waiter warned me that I would not like it, but being the (apparently contrary) person I am, it was just what I was looking for. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Ben went with the Portugese wine. It had the right combo of zinginess and spice and fruit. David eventually arrived, and we were–sadly–forced to leave the bar.
We all ordered starters. Mine was chickpeas, peppers, and anchovies. It was good. The anchovies were the saltiest I had ever tasted, and I appreciate a good anchovy. David’s starter was fantastic…it was squid and corn and something. It was spicy, but mild. An amazing combination of ingredients. Ben ordered something with chorizo and it was a lot of chorizo. But he enjoyed it.
For mains, Ben and I went with the paella. I am normally a sucker for paella. But somehow, I managed to miss that this was VEGETARIAN paella, so although I found my entree tasty, it was so not what I imagined. David went with a seafood dish and he totally licked his plate clean.
For dessert, Ben and I again went with the same dish: the ice cream with caramel something or other. It was absolutely fantastic. It better have been homemade.
The Verdict: Loved the vibe. Service could have been a bit more paying-attention-ish. But it was lovely. I liked it. I’d go back. And you should too.
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Posted in EC2, Latin, London, United Kingdom | No Comments
Posted by Krista on April 1, 2005
404 North End Road
Fulham
SW6 1LU
Tel: 020 7381 3810
The Victims: Becky, Jill
Date of Last Visit: Wednesday, March 30th
Ah, Chile. Ah, Pisco Sours and Casillero del Diablo and sun everywhere! It was fantastic. But that was 2002, and this is 2005 and I am not in Chile anymore. So Becky and I had been meaning to meet up for a while, and Jill has just moved to town from Paris. So I had read such great things about 1492 and off I went.
After an adventurous taxi ride–who knew Fulham was so close to Parson’s Green yet so far from The City–I made it to 1492 just a few minutes late. The decor was nice and welcoming–a little Breckenridge thing going on, but without the moose. Lots of brown leather and wood.
The waiter showed us to our table and called us Senoritas. I said "Gracias, Senor," and he actually corrected me with "Senorito." Uh, okay. Maybe there’s some operation going on there? He was a bit spacey (which seems to be a trend) and later forgot our sparkling water.
I ordered the Pisco Sour–just like Chile–and was pleasantly surprised by the size of the portion. Jill and Becky stuck with white wine. We ordered a mixed plate of hams and olives and anchovies (who knew they were so tasty?) and red peppers and cheese. Good nibbles. We also ordered empanadas, and I must say that I was disappointed that only three came on the plate. I expected more!
For entrees, Jill and I opted for the steak. Mine was served a little less than medium, but it was on some sort of metal platter which was very hot, so I was able to sear slices of steak to bring it up to less than bloody. Also, it came with some delicious buttery garlic-y sauce-y-sauce. Yummy. My side was spinach and it was honestly almost as good as the Spinach at Brindisa. A few pine nuts and it would have been perfect. Good stuff.
We skipped dessert and instead got some coffee and chatted a bit about life and everything else. All in all, a delightful evening.
The Damage: 30 GBP each.
The Verdict: My food was good. I was pleased. It wasn’t melt-in-my-mouth delicious, but it was good. I would go back potentially if I were in the ‘hood.
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Posted in Latin, London, SW6, United Kingdom | No Comments
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