The Tapa Room

Last Friday, I headed up to Marylebone High Street to meet a couple of people for lunch. We went to The Providores & Tapa Room, the London restaurant of Peter Gordon. The Providores is the upstairs restaurant, really nice, I ate there a few years ago, and the Tapa Room is downstairs and a bit more relaxed. The wine list here is full of gems that you just don't see that often so is well worth an explore. We had the Mount Difficulty Pinot Gris 2007, a lovely lemony drop that you should grab if you have the chance. The food is of the "small plates in the middle of the table to dive into" philosophy - heavenly. We had the Pimientos de Padron - another must in my book, chilli roulette, fabulous! The Tapa Plate, which features grilled chorizo, guindilla chillies, marinated olives, grilled artichoke, spiced fig preserves, babaganoush and Manchego Villarejo cheese, those figs were an explosion of sweet and spice. Watermelon and feta salad with pomegranate dressing, basil and toasted sunflower seeds, the perfect palate cleanser. Deep fried New Zealand baby kumara with sweet chilli sauce, smoked kelp and crème fraiche; kumera is something I hadn't heard of before but is like a cross between sweet potato and plantain, I shall search these out myself again. Smoked Dutch eel and Parmesan croquettes with saffron aioli - my choice and so delicious. There is so much more on the menu that sounds so good, but we were defeated by then and split a dessert to go with coffee. The raspberry bavarois and Oloroso jelly trifle with kaffir lime leaf madelines and vanilla cream was a taste sensation. The Oloroso married so well with the softness of the bavarois. The madelines were very nice but could have been a touch more zesty and the coffee was superb.

Well worth a visit in my book but there is no reservation system so get there early or be prepared to queue for a while. I know I'll be back.