Dehesa
London
Reviews
Tapas In Need of Balance - While I mostly enjoyed my recent meal at Dehesa, I have one major gripe: It is nearly impossible to find anything on the menu that isn't fried or super-fatty. Of course fried and super-fatty are two of my favorite categories of food, but you need some balance, and no amount of wine or sherry could cut all the grease.
There was only one salad on the menu, which I ordered - it came in a teacup sized bowl, and while the lettuce was excellent and fresh, it was drenched in truffle oil, which canceled any potential for palate cleansing and made it taste as heavy as the other courses. Note to chefs: do not put truffle oil on a salad without mentioning it on the menu, and if you only have one salad on the menu, this is not the time to muck about with experimental dressings.
Looking back on the meal, I find that the items I enjoyed the most were (a) the things they didn't make themselves (meats & cheeses), and (b) the desserts. The meat and veggie tapas, which should have been the stars of the show, were less impressive: the crispy squid was light and delicious, but the aioli was bland; the squash blossoms had a nice mix of sweet and savoury, but were soggy and greasy; the pork belly with white beans was a complete disaster, with the beans undercooked, hard, and swimming in fat, and the pork fat only half rendered and hard to chew.
On the plus side, Dehesa is a nice place and an island of calm in this part of town. The coconut pannacotta with pineapple was so good that I would go back just for that. On a return visit, I would probably only use Dehesa for a pre- or post-show snack with a nice glass of sherry (oh, hell, maybe a pannacotta too), but I won't opt for a full meal unless they start adding some non-truffled salads to the menu.
25-08-08
Tags:
cheeses, cuisine: spanish tapas, meats, sherry, tapas
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Little Plates of Happiness - Completely agree with the previous reviews - Dehesa is one of the best new tapas places in London. Great location as well.
Mouth watering, I arrived around 5:45pm on a Thursday afternoon to a number of free tables - result! A group of drunken businessmen sat at the table next to me and were most entertaining whilst I waited for my husband. Apparently they had started at noon - Good effort!
A glass of cava for me and I began to peruse the menu: Dehesa offers a range of larger plates, categorized as Fish, Meat, Vegetarian and Desserts. On the other side of the menu are the bar snacks which range from olives and nuts, to a selection of ham and cheeses. I could see that our evening would be a rather long one as we began grazing. A good wine list was also on hand.
In the end we were complete gluttons and went for the scallops, cod croquettes and those amazing courgette flowers from the larger dish selection, accompanied by ham, grilled sour dough bread with aioli, chorizo, three slices of manchego and some olives. Everything was outstanding. A bottle of the red Spanish Fagus wine and a cold beer for husband at the start, and they rolled us out around 9:30pm... I can see why the businessmen had found it hard to leave! The place had also filled up during the evening and was heaving as we crawled past into the night.
Dehesa really reminds me of some of the modern tapas bars you see in Barcelona - none of that naff faux Spanish decor you find in some of the tapas places in London. Tables outside are also available for when it's hot and sunny (not this year obviously.. sigh), and the seating also lends itself well to lone diners - perfect if you're shopping in Soho and fancy a snack and a glass of something nice. Only problem is, it’s a bit like Pringles, once you start, you’ll find it hard to stop...
18-08-08
Tags:
tapas
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Quality Spanish tapas - I think I found my new favourite Spanish tapas restaurant in London. Dehesa is brilliant. I have no complaints whatsoever. The food, service, atmosphere are all top notch. A friend and I went last week before a play b/c I read the great reviews on Tipped and we walked in around 6:30 and with the place being packed, we were still able to sit at a 2-person table against the window which was intimate and nice looking outside.
The place is not large but they’ve done great space planning with a bar you can eat at plus a long table in the middle with high stools then tables or booths all around. The part I love most is the charcuterie bar in open view with the “butcher” slicing jamon off the bone. The key is sharing as with all tapas restaurants and the food is superb and unique. We had grilled calamari over red pepper humus; zucchini flowers tempura stuffed with cheese and drizzled with honey – more like a dessert and soooo tasty; sea bream with grilled fennel; and the best part was the various meats and cheeses. We had boar sausage and truffle salami. Yum! The do grilled breads with olive oil too although we didn’t try it but I was salivating over our neighbours order. The wine selection is good and the service impeccable. I think for 2 of us it came to £60 so not bad.
14-06-08
Tags:
al fresco dining, charcuterie, tapas, wine bar
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Perfect tapas in SOHO - We sort of fell into this place when searching for something low key on a Friday evening. It was outstanding! We got the last table for 4 by 7pm (get there early as no reservations are allowed) and enjoyed great wine and tapas. I'd say it was more Italian than Spanish with great cheeses and small plates to choose from. The service was fantastic and they gave me a table even without a full party with no hassles. Perfect date place or get together with your girlfriends. I'd highly recommend the cheese, shrimp,& zucchini flowers. Wine is reasonably priced and the staff is eager to help.
07-06-08
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Classy charcuterie joint - This is the new one from the people behind Saltyard and they get their Spanish jamon from the wholesale arm of Brindisa at Borough. It comes with these great credentials and so when I visited it for lunch earlier in the week I had high expectations. Fortunately they deliver in spades. The fitout is gorgeous, comfortable and intimate with a couple of window seats and some sharing tables. The central bar is glinty and there is a separate charcuterie bar where the plates of meat and cheeses are prepared. The service was friendly and efficient and portions are generous. All I needed afterwards was a siesta, but found that I wasn't in Spain after all.
15-02-08
Tags:
Charcuterie, tapas.
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