April overview (1)

Catching up on some of the places I visited last month:

LAS FUENTES, High St, Purley
Our local tapas bar - very well-frequented. The welcome is always excellent here, with enthusiastic and lively waiters keen to help. We're so predictable in our choice of wine (the house white Rioja) that they are often ready to bring a bottle as soon as we've walked in the door - "quick wine" is what we like!

No sign of Gio, the proprietor, this time. He's still a keen cyclist, doing charity rides to Paris even though he's getting on a bit now. Used to have an eye for the ladies, though I've not seen him do that recently. The style of the place is classic Spanish tiling, with splendidly stocked bar.

Their speciality here is the skewers - lamb, beef, chicken or fish. This time we have the lamb - a good solid selection of nicely cooked meat, hanging over a plate of fried polenta. From their "specials" board (which doesn't change that much), we also have scallops and chorizo (comes with too many potatoes for my liking, but the chorizo is very good) and a relatively new addition, piquillo peppers stuffed with crabmeat. This is starting to become one of our regular choices.

Portions are always good, so 3 dishes between 2 works well enough. Good value as well - lunch usually works out around £50-£60 including plenty of wine.

It gets busy in the evenings, especially weekends. Also has a restaurant section with more formal meals.


WAGAMAMA Park Road Croydon
We're only recent converts to Wagamama, having struggled to find a suitable mix of dishes previously. We're also not that keen on the noodle dishes, so that rather limits things. The Croydon branch is much like the rest of the chain, with shared refectory tables and paper menus/placemats. On this visit it wasn't too busy, but if you're sitting near the back it can be claustrophobic here.

The food comes in the order it's ready, so that can be confusing. But this time it works OK. The spicy edmame beans are up first - good, but not as spicy as those at Dim T in Victoria. Next comes the duck gyoza (rolls) and the spicy squid. The gyoza is good and tasty, but the squid a bit of a disappointment - rather rubbery and no way spicy enough.

Mains come as hoped: beef and coriander salad and chicken tonburi(teriyaki) with a mound of boiled rice. Both good, the beef cooked well and the chicken covered in plenty of sauce. About £60 including wine, so pretty fair.


LE GARRICK WINE BAR Garrick St, Covent Garden
Meeting up with a group of friends for an annual memorial meal, at this cosy wine bar near Covent Garden. Downstairs has lots of nooks and crannies, and tables pretty close together - lovely wine bar atmosphere.

I had the calamari followed by magret de canard. Good service brought excellent French bread, and wines promptly. The calamari was good - sauteed in wine, tender and tasty. Magret de canard was correctly pink, with a fine red wine sauce and a few vegetables. A selection of chips from other people's dishes was also good - presented in the now predictable tin pots. The others all enjoyed their meals too - a very reliable place. Not cheap, as we had plenty of wine at around £20 a bottle, but fair enough to come away with £108 for 2.


AQUA South End, Croydon
It's the South Croydon Food Festival, so after wandering around looking at the stands, (surprisingly not buying anything), we fetch up at Aqua for a late lunch. Not surprisingly with all that's going on, it's pretty busy, and one room seems to have been taken over by a large group.

So to simplify things we order the mezze, while our friend H orders a mixed fish platter. The mezze is pretty impressive - first the dips, hummus, tara, tsatsiki, with plenty of pitta bread. Followed by the fish course: calamari and whitebait, both in batter - OK. Then a selection of keftedes (good and herby), dolmades, crumbly spinach pie, and tomato and halloumi. Finally comes the chicken and lamb souvlaki - a little dull, needed an enlivening chilli sauce. So a pretty filling experience overall.

Rashly we finish off with Metaxas. Outside of Greece this is rarely a good idea, and though we checked the number of stars ("25", said the waiter), the caramel flavour comes through really strongly. Not to mention the feeling the following morning!

£90 for two with lots of wine, was a pretty good result.