After going to see the “Inventing Impressionism” exhibition
at the National Gallery (excellent, go if you can), we’re looking for lunch. We
had considered Boyd’s on Northumberland
Avenue with its garish looking furniture, but when we walked past it looked
rather unwelcoming. So instead we decide to head for Bilbao Berria, a tapas and pinxtos
place on Lower Regent Street.
On the way we stop off at Pall Mall Fine Wines, in the Royal
Opera Terrace. This is a quirky little wine bar, featuring the cartoons of
Private Eye contributor, Simon Key. They
do charcuterie and cheese but we resist this, and have a bottle of unusual
Picpoul Frisant, which is very good indeed – softer and sweeter than a champagne, but with plenty of interest.
Then on to the tapas. It’s now 2pm, and it is fairly full.
But we do get a table near the window – and near a large office group, who are
fortunately a) not too loud and b) about to leave. There’s a lovely buzz to the place, and an
elegant modern style – no tapas clichés. The ceiling is a maze of winding metal
piping forming a false ceiling; there are three Iberico jamons ready and
waiting to be sliced; and attractive looking little pinxtos perched on the bar.
There is a 3-course “Business lunch” menu at £18, but we
decide to go for the interesting and unusual selection from the a la
carte. Naturally, first we order some
wine – I choose a white Rioja, called “Seduccion” at £25 (one of the cheaper
options), which the attractive waitress serves with a giggle. Though it may not
have been the name she was laughing at – the wine was bright yellow, and
seriously sweet, not at all what I expected, and probably not the best choice
to go with the tapas. Anyway, we
persevere (B eventually saying “this stuff grows on you”). We ask how many dishes to order, and as well as suggesting that four should be enough unless we were really hungry, the waitress suggests her favourites – curiously, the most expensive! There are several very nice sounding fish dishes, a good range of ham (obvs) and a number of other attractive options.
After much deliberation, we choose the plate of cured meats –
an Iberico ham, a spicy chorizo, a salami and some lomo, served with very crisp
little breadsticks, and some bread we order.
This is a good sized portion, which arrives first, and we pick at
throughout the meal. Next up is a “remarkable” prawn dish – two king prawns, in a “kataifi”
crust more like a Turkish sweet than a batter, served in a glass with a brilliant
spicy tomato sauce and garlic puree. Once the prawns had gone we were still
scooping up the sauce with the breadsticks, and the waitress then brought a
spoon.
The third dish to arrive is the sea-bream ceviche. This comes with what look like dark prawn
crackers that taste very strongly of salt cod – ugh! The ceviche itself is good, perhaps not as
sharply cured as it might be, and cut into smaller pieces than we expected.
The waitress arrives to tell us that, our fourth dish is on
its way shortly, but that 3pm the kitchen will close, so do we want to order
anything else. We decide against more
food, but have a 500ml carafe of Mont Ferrutx from Mallorca (£20).
The final dish is roasted
neck lamb, one of the waitress’s recommendations we’d already spotted. This
comes with some chopped nuts and olives,
a (one) fig and a weird rather solid foam, but the lamb itself is tender
and tasty. The way the dishes have been
phased has worked very well, especially as the cured meats lasted to the end. With the typical West End 12.5% service, the bill comes to £105, which we think is pretty good. As we’re finishing off, a waiter brings a replacement jamon to fit into the contraption ready for slicing. It arrives in a very lovely black sack with a gold foil over the heel. It seems such a waste the way the waiter cuts into the sack and throws all the wrapping away. We ask about the differences between the hams, and the waiter is happy to chat – normally there are three different ones apparently but at the moment they only have two, one from Cordoba and one from Salamanca.
Overall, a very
enjoyable lunch experience – just avoid Seduccion if you go!
