Barrafina

[david goodfellow]

No we have not been. Or should I correct that. We have been, last Sunday in fact, but we missed our two bar stools by a couple of minutes.

Let me explain.

After our recent meal at Spanish restaurant Cambio de Tercio I wanted to go here simply because it seems to have been around for an eternity, and quite a few people rave about it.

It has recently started opening on a Sunday and I figured it may be easier to bag a couple of their twenty three bar seats (no tables) if we arrived a bit before the one o clock opening. Indeed I e-mailed them and it was confirmed that arriving about fifteen minutes before opening should result in a seat.

Now I think I can understand a first come first served, no bookings policy, but there is not a cat in hells chance we are going to queue up on a Saturday night (or any other night for that matter)for an good hour or more for a seat. Hence the Sunday thing.

Well cut a long story short. We left our hotel room early, and hit Soho at about 12.30, well in time, and driving up Lisle Street we could see a small queue forming, so no real worries. We had plenty of time.

Well wrong, trying to park in Soho, even early on a Sunday is a lottery, your lucky or your not. Around and round we went, the queue getting bigger every time we passed.

Eventually I remembered the underground car park in Chinatown proper and headed their with some sucess.

Breathless from our brisk walk back up Lisle Street, we joined the back of the line just as the doors opened at 1. Only to find along with two others, twenty three lucky folks had already filled the seats.

Never mind, but not prepared to wait, we ambled back down the street to Bar Shu. So no real loss, just a different cusine.

I will add to this thread as soon as we eat here, but the question is now,

Anyone been here recently, who can whet our appetite by posting a report?

[david goodfellow]

London is a mess currently, with so many roadworks going on. Its virtually impossible to plan any journey time. We stayed overnight in West London near to Heathrow and left the hotel about 11.20 with a planned journey time of approx an hour to get to Barrafina. Wrong. With all the roadworks along Cromwell Road, then through Knighsbridge past Harrods, down to single file traffic in many places, we eventually arrived here at 1.10 fully expecting to have missed the boat with regard to one of those precious twenty three bar stools.

Amazingly surprised, we bagged the very two seats which would have been my first choice if we had of arrived early.

Not perhaps everyone's choice, we had a good view down the room. The only downside was that we were by the "waste station" so all the scraps of uneaten food, which admittedly was not a lot, were binned virtually right in front of us. No worries our eyes were only really for what was on our plates.

The paper menu is in the form of a placemat, split as follows. Para Picar (for the table) eight choices. Spanish cold meats, seven choices, Tortilla, three choices, Veg and Salads, three choices, Seafood, six choices, Meat, six choices, and finally Desserts, seven choices. On top of this are a specials list of about six or more options. Sadly by the time that we ordered, the suckling pig that Jason Atherton had raved and tweeted about had just sold out.

We started with three dishes, Sardines A La Plancha,(£7.80) Gambas Al Ajillo (£7.90), and one of the specials, Razor Clams with garlic and olive oil (£8.80).

The sardines and gambas were simply served and both amazingly fresh, as of course were the razor clams, although having tried the latter a couple of times prior (not here) I'm not convinced by the texture and ultimate flavour. They just would not be my first choice again. Purely personal preference of course. We asked for bread to soak up the olive oil, garlic jus. This was very good although a bit mean a portion to charge one English pound for. Portion sizes for all dishes were decent. The sardines were quite large in themselves.

We had a very refreshing course of Baby Gem salad, anchovies and Smoked panchetta (£6.90)

We followed this with another special Presa Iberica (£9.80) The loin of the black Iberica pig. This was an extremely tasty piece of pork, absolutely delicious. It sat on a bed of potatoes and the sweetest of roasted red pepper that I have ever tasted.

I can't resist quail in any form so we took the simply sounding Grilled Quail Al-i-Oli (£6.90). I was happy just to chomp on the just cooked and pink quail although they are a tiny bird so it was gone in seconds.

Our final dish was one which we lusted after seeing it arrive at another table Grilled Lamb cutlets (£9.90) although we did not realise it at the time, they had ordered an extra portion. So instead of the expected four chops, only two arrived.

We were disappointed, a bit of a mean offering, and not very good value for money. Also the lamby flavour was missing, no real depth of flavour like the pork, just so so, I'm afraid, thats all.

Well, all in all, we understand why this place is so popular. Busy buzzy atmosphere. Proper decent quality, well sourced food. Mostly good value. Whats not to like?

Service by the way was as good as you may expect given the rather intimate surroundings. In fact i would guess that you would have to love your job to be able to work here, as there is no hiding place.

Well to sum up. You could get a decent meal here consisting of two courses and a glass of wine for about £25. We however went the whole hog so to speak, and demolished seven courses, some bread, a bottle of wine, no aperitifs, coffees or extras. However on reflection we should not have ordered the final lamb dish and our bill would have come in at a more reasonable amount.

So there you have it, all the eights, £88.88 which includes that miserable 12.5% service charge.