Tapas near Paddington

After seeing a friend off on the train at Paddington, we decide to have lunch in a tapas bar she had taken us to once before , San Miguel’s,  near Edgware Road station.  We descend the narrow steps down into the basement bar/restaurant, to be greeted warmly by the host. Not least because apart from one other person, we are their only customers on this Monday lunchtime.

Nonetheless there is still a warm and cosy feel to the place, with good linen tablecloths and napkins. It’s fairly small with nooks and crannies so that helps too.   We order a white Rioja – “Muga” (£22) – which is quite light for a wine from this region.  We chat with the patrone – he’s not worried by the lack of custom, Monday is always quiet – and they have been here 12 years.

There’s both a tapas menu and a main meals list – we go for the former.   B notices there is a cover charge of £1 a head – and we do in due course get a bowl of excellent bread.  We choose the garlic prawns, which are sizzling hot with a fair amount of chilli; the kidneys in sherry, rich and warming; the pork kebabs, good with peppers; and an unusual dish of fried aubergine slices, which manages to be crisp and dry.  The portion sizes lean towards the modest and four dishes in the end seems not quite enough. So we then order the plate of Manchego cheese (and of course another bottle). This also seems to be a modest portion, especially at £5.75.

Service has been attentive throughout, even through a change of shift – though as we’re only one in here by the end, you might expect it to be.  Service charge is just 10% so we come away with a bill for £78 – pretty fair. Even better, we are offered a drink on the house – glass of wine for B and a brandy for me.  Certainly somewhere to come back to, perhaps on a livelier occasion.