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Sam and Eddie Hart Barrafina
After the successful Fino, Sam and Eddie Hart opened Barrafina, a traditional Spanish tapas bar serving tasty things to share. It's been crammed ever since. Rich pickings indeed. Read More
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Originally published on January 8, 2007
Rich Pickings
Barrafina Opens
Your idea of a decent lunch: a lengthy four-course feast, complete with amuses-bouches, continental cheeseboard, heaving sweet trolley and multiple petits fours.
Perhaps the Spanish tapas thing isn’t for you.
But if it is, you’re in luck. Sam and Eddie Hart, the charming brothers behind Fino, open Barrafina on Frith Street today. With just 23 seats at one stainless steel and marble counter, this new Barcelona-style spot serves the fast and the furious, as well as the laid-back and casual, from midday to midnight, six days a week.
Choose from traditional Spanish dishes like ham croquetas; assorted tortillas; pimientos de Padrón; jamón ibérico; and morcilla-fried black pudding with piquillo peppers. Fresh seafood includes grilled mackerel and sardines, mussels a la plancha and tuna tartare. Pudding? Santiago (almond) tart or crema catalana, washed down with Spanish sherry.
Fancy a little fast food?
It’s a great way tapas the time.
Barrafina, 54 Frith Street, W1D 4SL (020 7813 8016).
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Thomasina Miers Wahaca
Since this master chef opened her first resto, Wahaca, serving Mexican street food, Thomasina Miers has had hungry hawkers queuing 'round the block. With a cookbook to follow in 2008, she's a spicy hot one to watch. Read More
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Originally published on August 3, 2007
Hot Stuff
Wahaca Restaurant Opens
To market, to market to:
a) buy a fat pig.
b) hunt for a party dress.
c) eat like a local.If you fancy option ‘c’, you’ll like the recently opened Wahaca. The first restaurant from Thomasina Miers (MasterChef winner 2005), Wahaca has a menu and (mostly) recycled wooden interior inspired by a traditional Mexican food market (complete with a strict no-booking policy).
Most ingredients are locally sourced; the hot table sauce, for example, is made from Devonshire habanero chillies. Expect seriously good quesadillas, tacos, taquitos, tostadas, burritos, Wheetos and Cheetos (just kidding); followed by churros y chocolate or lemon margarita sorbet. There are plenty of authentic beers to wash it all down with, plus sangrita — spicy tomato and orange juices sipped with tequila.
It’s all pretty hot; to make it hotter, Wahaca offers diners a pack of jalapeno seeds to encourage the growth of British chillies.
Still need a fat pig?
Hit this place, and you won’t have to go too far to find one.
Wahaca, 66 Chandos Place, WC2N 4HG (020 7240 1883 or wahaca.co.uk). -
Anthony Demetre Wild Honey
After his Michelin-starred debut with Arbutus, Anthony Demetre has turned the site of the ailing Drones Club into a gastronomic haven, serving a sweet scene of hedgehogs and fashionistas alike. Read More
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Originally published on July 6, 2007
Bee Scene
Wild Honey Opens
KM for TS; V&R, Mrs. R and RC for H&M: the fashion world has long had a grasp on the concept of giving more for less.
Thankfully, fine dining ain’t too far behind.
When it opened last year, Arbutus offered high-end food at accessible prices. The restaurant — under chef Anthony Demetre — collected its first Michelin star this year. Consequently there’s a big buzz around Wild Honey, the latest eatery from the same team, which opens today (on the old Drones Club site) in Mayfair.
Expect trademark Modern European dishes like traditional bouillabaisse; braised pig’s head with roasted bone marrow; or Cornish Pollock, followed by wild honey ice cream with honeycomb or vanilla waffles with crushed warm strawberries. Prices are just as attractive: a three-course lunch will set you back a mere £15.50, whilst dinner (before 7 p.m.) is just £17.50.
It’s food for the palate and the wallet.
Fine dining indeed.
Wild Honey, 12 St. George Street, W1S 2FB (020 7758 9160 or wildhoneyrestaurant.co.uk).