Excellent tapas in Lower Regent St

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!